Now it is the scheduled time, so we would like to start LIXIL Corporation financial results for the fiscal year ended 31 March , 2024 briefing session. This session is streamed live on the internet. First of all, I'd like to introduce the presenters for today. Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO, Kinya Seto. We have made the disclosure of the structural changes. From 1 April , we have Mariko Fujita, who became the Executive Officer, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer as of 1 April , and Aya Kawai, leader of the Investor Relations office. I will be serving as the moderator. My name is Fukushima from the Investor Relations office. The materials for this briefing session is posted on our website for investors and shareholders section.
Regarding today's proceedings, first of all, from our CEO, Mr. Seto, there will be an explanation regarding our financial results for the fiscal year ended 31 March , 2024, followed by Q&A session. For those of you who have questions, on your screen at the bottom, there is a Q&A button, so please click that and write your company name, your name, and your question. Regarding the questions, we would like to limit two questions per person for the first round. We will be accepting the questions throughout this session. This session is scheduled to end at 6:00 P.M. Japan time. Without further ado, from Mr. Seto, there will be an explanation regarding the financial results.
Ladies and gentlemen, hello. I would like to explain the financial results for the fiscal year ended 31 March , 2024.
So, this fiscal year ended March 2024, the summary of that, the Q4, we had a slowdown. The reason for that slowdown is that for the full year, the international business, especially Europe, performance was weak. However, the Japan business became slower, especially for the March new housing starts. It went down by 12.8%. So we're not able to build up the renovation business, and that is why the Q4 we struggled. And also, on the other hand, up to December, there was the LHT window renovation subsidy that have supported that, and that went into the transitional period, and that further actually slowed down the business performance.
On the other hand, there is a sluggish demand in the international business, so therefore, we have implemented structural reforms, and that has progressed more than what we have initially planned. Because of that, in a way, there were operating expenses that hit the business profit, and also the other expenses also impacted the other profits as well. Therefore, for the full year of performance, well, the Q4 was worse than what we had expected. When we look at the full year picture, on the other hand, the international market had a high interest rate and a prolonged inflation, and the housing-related products, especially in Europe, did not perform well, and I think that is one of the significant factors for this fiscal year.
On the other hand, regarding the structural reforms, in Europe and the United States, we were able to accelerate that. For Japan market, the new housing starts, in total, it was about a 5%, 5%-6%, decline. But compared to the original plan, we thought it will be flat year-on-year, but it has been lower than that and which resulted into a disappointment result. Therefore, it was a struggling year ended March 2024. Overall, for the new fiscal year, the surrounding situation has not changed that much, but due to the structural reforms, we are forecasting the revenue of JPY 1,570 billion, core earnings of JPY 35 billion and annual dividend of JPY 90 per share.
Specifically speaking, the structural reforms we were able to start it in the Q4, as I have mentioned previously. We will continue this structural reform throughout the Q4. Regarding the economic situation, we believe that it will be the same as the previous year. However, the impact of the structural reform will start to materialize more in the latter half of the year, and the core earnings is JPY 35 billion that we forecast. Overall, compare to the H1, the H2, meaning the latter half, is going to be more heavy in terms of the impact of the structural reform and the new housing starts. We believe that it's still going to remain weak.
For Europe and United States, regarding interest rate situation, there is a possibility that it may improve this fiscal year, but the demand, we have a forecast as same as last fiscal year. The structural reform that we implemented last fiscal year, we are going to see the results of that and a positive impact on the earnings for this year. Regarding the structural reforms, we cannot continue it forever. In this fiscal term, we would like to complete about 90% of that. Of course, some of them, due to various reasons, we still need to continue, but for the overall structural reform that will be driving the business, we would like to complete that within fiscal year ending 2025, March.
This is the key highlights, and this is a waterfall chart. Up to now, every year, there is a cost increase due to raw material prices and higher labor costs. Through the price optimization, the Japan business, we're able to increase the sales or we were able to do the price optimization for the renovations and window renovations projects. But on the other hand, what actually had a negative impact with the sales decline due to sluggish demand in Europe and the United States, which led to a decline in profit. That was a disappointment reflecting our performance last fiscal year. As for the outlook for fiscal year ending 2025, March, the external situation is not going to change.
The raw material prices are increased, and we are responding to that through price optimization. And the demand there was lower than what we have expected. But having that as an assumption, through the structural reform, we would like to boost up the profitability, and that's why we have forecasted it at JPY 35 billion. So when is it going to show recovery? Well, we cannot have a full visibility, but regarding the European economic situation, the best situation in June, when the interest rate will be declined, then the overall consensus is that in the next following January, the demand will recover. On the other hand, for the United States, regarding the interest rates, recently, they said that the changes will occur in September.
However, on the other hand, we are seeing as demand that is coming up without being able to wait for the changes in interest rates, but we believe that there will be changes in Europe and United States compared to the previous year. And in the short term, from the COVID-19 pandemic, the commodity price went up, and there was a decline in a sluggish economic situation that continue. However, if the demand goes up, ROIC 10% or more, and the net profit we are aiming for a 10% and above increase as well. But what is important for us is our sustainable corporate growth and creating a positive impact on the society. We are starting to see the buildup of the materials that will materialize this aim.
As a transformation, in the last 2 to 3 years, various things happened, inflation, and we have responded to supply chain issues and the structural reforms. As I have explained before, we were able to start that earlier than initially planned. Last fiscal year, we spent JPY 12 billion for the structural reforms, and a part of that did impacted the core earnings. However, that impact for this year is going to be JPY 6 billion, and in addition to that, it's not a plus, but in a minus. FY 2025, we will spend JPY 6.5 billion for the structural reform.
On the other hand, when it comes to growth, particularly about water-related products in Japan, we are going to include AI embedding in order to promote digital transformation, not only in LWT, but also in LHT. We are going to improve efficiency. Resources for development will be allocated more towards the international markets. In international markets, we will focus on faucets and flushing systems with higher profitability. While we keep growing, we are going to stabilize our portfolio. That's what we needed to do. In Japanese domestic market, although we are saying that reform or renovation needs will be increasing, but not so significantly, how we are able to make contribution from Japan business in order to grow international markets.
In Japan, the water business in Japan, in an unprecedented manner, we are expecting to launch a lot more new products than ever. In international markets, we are going to make the full scale roll out the GROHE SPA announced in Milan. And in May, starting from May, in China, KINUAMI, which gave a very big impact on the market in Japan, is going to be rolled out from China throughout Japan throughout the world. So now we would like to put focus on these new products. In the strategy playbook, LIXIL Playbook, we announced that we would like to make contribution to the society and the environment by having a new products for expanding the sales of those new products.
We have laid groundwork for those products and how we are going to market them, how we are going to increase the sales, how we are able to increase the profitability by expanding such differentiating products. One of the key product is, as you see in the top left, PremiAL. In the process of making aluminum, not from bauxite, but using the scrap, and a 97% CO2 emission reduction can be expected in the profile products. At the end of last year, PremiAL 100 was launched, and now on the average, about 75%-
... of the raw materials is derived from the scraps. For these products, because this is PremiAL, therefore, we needed to sell this on a PremiAL price. In the world, Hydro in Norway and us are the two only companies which have these technologies. Therefore, in order to reduce the CO2 emissions, we believe that this could be used by various customers, and we would like to switch to PremiAL. And we have already received the offers from several companies to buy PremiAL, not only for building applications, but also, for example, automotive applications. This has started to be used. So the JPY 450 billion is the size of the business related to aluminum, out of which about JPY 300 billion will be by 2030.
In terms of the overall movement towards the reduction of the CO2 emission in Japan as a whole, I believe that we can grow this business so large as it is expected. And the Revia, below PremiAL, the waste of plastic, which is said to be non-recyclable, but using such a waste of plastic and wood are combined to make this material called Revia. For this, for the first time, starting from this year, we are going to make the full-fledged production in factories. So far, we have been making the pilot production in the laboratory facility, but we believe that we can start full-fledged production from this fiscal year.
How this product will be received by the market, the issue of waste plastic, how seriously the world is viewing this issue, and I believe that it will change the contribution to the sales increase. And I believe that this is quite a possible number to achieve JPY 100 billion by 2030. And as I said earlier, KINUAMI, we are going to roll out this product in the world from this year. And this was intended to be used for the sensitive skin, as well as the caregivers who are not able to use the usual shower. But in the overseas markets, this can shorten the time of showering as well as this is good for your shower experience.
Starting from China, we would like to launch this product all over the world. We will first introduce this product in China in May, and from winter this year on, in early next year, we are going to launch this product widely in Europe. Next, shower toilets. For shower toilets, JPY 55 billion is the current size of sales, and what is differentiating us from other companies most is the shower toilets are equipped with two nozzles: nozzle for washing the sensitive area of women, and also another nozzle for washing the ass. So when women are outside of their home, they are able to alleviate the discomfort of the periods by being able to wash their sensitive areas, and this can be called a femtech, and this is a gentle toilet for women.
So using this toilet in order to differentiate us from others. If you could look at the top right, Green Tap and GROHE Blue. From the water tap, you are able to drink tasty water. As for a Green Tap, we are working with Suntory, using Suntory's mineral water, which you can drink directly from the tap, and also carbonate the carbonated water can be drunk directly from the water tap by using a GROHE Blue and reducing the gas cost, as well as the logistic cost to deliver these products to households. And also the plastic containers for such water could be reduced. Therefore, we believe that we will be able to contribute greatly to a better environment. How much the size of the market for this product is going to be?
It's going to be very difficult in Southern Europe, Spain, Italy and France. In these countries-
...
So-called the sparkling water or carbonated water. Thinking about the demand for such water, it's said to be the hundreds of billions JPY. Therefore, I believe that it's possible to achieve tens of billions JPY here. And lastly, in the bottom right, you see the renovation products for better heat insulation and sash and door. We are subsidized, but also exterior walls. Of course, that's the national government's policy because we lack this ample supply of energy here, therefore, we needed to increase the insulation. The semiconductor plants and the data center are going to be invited to this country, so there will be a lot of possibility of shortage of the power, and therefore, there is a lot of attention paid to this, you know, heat insulation products.
So this time, the sash subsidies are provided, and JPY 50 billion or above sales was achieved the last fiscal year. In addition to this, if we add other products, and I believe that JPY 80 billion is quite achievable and realistic number. Adding all these numbers, and furthermore, these products I have already introduced to you today have been already completed. So if you ask us tomorrow, we are able to sell them tomorrow. So in addition to this, the warm water after showering can be filtered again for reuse. So that is incorporated in the EverStream Shower, and also the Trivalent Chromium is used for the surface instead of a hexavalent chromium for compatible faucets. And also reinvented toilets, which will do away with the sanitation or the sewage system.
These have been the technology have been completed, and we are going to make a fine-tune it and finishing these products, so that we can launch these new products in one or two years from today. By adding these new products, values provided by this product could be appealed to the market, and the market will be ready to buy these products, and then differentiated products will be sold with a differentiated price. There will be impactful products to the society, and the environmental will account for over half of our sales. I think that this is achievable enough, and but in order for us to have a higher operating margin, I think that this is one of the pathway we are going to take. This is the highlights for the current term under review.
Last fiscal year, unfortunately, the revenue and the profits, because of the sluggish demand, not only international market, but also in Japan, have decreased. And the core earnings as well, unfortunately, in LHT, although there was a positive benefits of the subsidies, however, overall decline in the demand hit us negatively. And profit for the year, because we implemented structural reforms, we wanted to reorganize Permasteelisa. And perhaps this is going to be the last accounting for the cost, and also the increase in the financial expenses due to rising interest rates and the increase in tax expenses due to temporary decline in profitability. So we had to make the loss in terms of profit for the year, but we are not losing cash, therefore, as I am going to explain this later, but the financial position has been stable.
Given these circumstances, this is the consolidated business results. I will explain this later when I touch upon the dividend, and the core earnings was regrettable results, but the 7% increase was recorded, an EBITDA, EBIT and JPY 104.5 billion was secured. Now, by segment, this time, in particular, we struggled in LWT because in Japan business, there was a decrease in the new housing starts, and also we couldn't increase the renovation demand or response to renovation demand as expected. This is where we needed to improve further. Of course, in the core earnings, the profit source of a profit for us in Europe, where we struggled a lot. So that was the major factor for the decrease in the core earnings.
Consolidated financial position is as follows: in the quarter, the interest-bearing debt was reduced by JPY 150 billion, and then the equity ratio is 34.1%, and we are increasing, maintaining this equity ratio. I believe that, we have been approaching the number that we expected. When it comes to the cash flow, we have seen improvement. Due to the fair trade declaration, there was some increase in accounts payable. However, we were able to improve the cash flow by JPY 32.4 billion, and I think given this situation, this is a good news.
Regarding the shareholder return policy, up to now, we were saying the payout ratio, but in reality, what we have been doing for the last several years is that we have the money that we have generated from our businesses, and with this cash that was generated, we made investments that was necessary, and we paid our tax and paid the interest rate and whatever remained afterwards. Well, for investment, there's a maintenance investment, and there's growth investment, and after that, what is remaining, we want to return to the shareholders as much as possible. So we thought that it's appropriate to think about the dividend based on EBITDA. And currently, the cash-generating capability is slightly weakening, but if we want the EBITDA basis of 30%, we're able to do so.
Therefore, this fiscal term, our forecast for the dividend, annual dividend is 90 JPY per share. So the assumptions, the new housing starts. Honestly speaking, this has been slowing down. I'm concerned about 12.8% reduction in March year-on-year. Given this fact, I believe that the situation is very tough. If you could, top right, turn to the top right, the interest rates in Europe and the U.S. In Europe, the relatively hawkish Dutch minister said that they are expecting to see decline in the rates in June this year. ECB and Germany and others, continental Europe is expected to have a consensus in reducing the interest rate in June. And in America, the rate may decline in September.
Regarding the impacts on the market by the interest rates, and then it will take six months, and suppose that the rate will be declining in June, and at the earliest, the benefit or effect of the rate decrease will be seen from January next year onward. But we don't know whether the impact will be seen so sharply, but we are using the same assumption as regards to the demand. Regarding the existing home demand in America, given the high interest rate and still they are not able to wait until the declining of the rates, and there are some increasing number of people who are starting to buy homes.
As in Europe, we believe that the demand will stay flat, but throughout the year, we believe that we may expect that the U.S. situation will be better than Europe. Lastly, how we are spending money. As you can see here-
...As for CapEx, which will continue to be contained within the depreciation costs, and on the other hand, we are going to spend for R&D activities. As a result, as I said earlier, there have been very many excellent products that are being born, so that we are able to make contribution to the society and the environment. That shows that we have been able to make appropriate investments. With this, I have been quite fast, but, I'd like to conclude my presentation on the financial results for the last fiscal year, and also the outlook, and what we are going to do going forward. Thank you.
Now, we would like to move on to the Q&A session.
For those of you who have questions, please click the Q&A button at the bottom of the screen, and please input your name, your company name, and your question. The first question, I would like to share the first question. It is from Okada-san from Goldman Sachs Securities. We have received two questions, so I would like to share each one of them in order. The first question: the situation of the low margin of the international LWT business, I believe that it was largely impacted by a rapid change of the industry environment. However, including the effect of the structural reform, towards the improvement of the margin, that it's the level up to now in the midterm, and mid to long-term and short-term, what kind of a strategies are you going to take?
I think it's going to be quite a straightforward response. The largest cost of the low margin is because the demand went down, so the fixed cost was not able to support that situation, therefore, the margin itself declined. So it's more than a cost push, but it's more of... There is a larger fixed cost that needed to be paid. And in Europe, there's about a 20% decline in terms of demand. So once the demand recovers, the margin automatically will improve. But it's not just that. Given this opportunity for us, we are putting the efforts to lower the cost through structural reforms as well. What I can further say is that this faucet water faucet business conventionally has a high margin.
Almost all of the products are manufactured in-house and sold in-house, from the in-house members to the customers. We are trying to change that structure through structural reform, and I did introduce various new products. So new products towards environment and the society, the competitors are not manufacturing nor making announcements for such products. So when we look at the long term, being able to launch such a differentiated product will have a large positive effect.
The second question is regarding your dividend policy. You said that it will be based on the EBITDA after adjustments. Are you able to receive the understanding of the financial institutions about this? And what is the background why you have changed this dividend policy?
Of course, we did not knock on their doors and ask what they feel about this. However, this after adjusted EBITDA as the base, what this means is that the cash that was generated, we pay for investment and the tax and interest rate, and what remained, how are we going to allocate that? I think that is a normal way of thinking about things. The issue that our company faces, that EBITDA is at a high level, but the depreciation, of which there's no cash outflow, that number is high. That is why, regarding the profit, there is quite of a volatility, meaning in absolute amounts. Our company having a payout ratio as a dividend policy, I think, was not the appropriate way.
So I think in that sense, I think, we actually matched the actual situation and the policy.
From Jefferies Securities, we have a question from Fukuhara-san. There are two questions. Let me read out the first question. I have a question about the change of the dividend policy. You will determine the amount of annual dividends based on the medium-term EBITDA level, as well as to buy back shares in a flexible manner. But, are there any hints or clues, such as numerical targets, like the payout ratio? As for buybacks, given the current share price level, you haven't announced any plan for share buyback. What is the internal criteria for considering the buyback? And you are still working on the issue of improving your financial position, can we expect that you may consider share buyback?
Well, 30% or 40%, the payout ratio is not considered by us. As I said earlier, first, given the EBITDA, what needs to be spent as an investment, and also what needs to be spent, such as the, interest, as well as the tax, and the remainder will be considered for, the dividend. And in the medium-term perspective, we are able to make the appropriate investment and to develop the new products, and I believe that, we will be able to maintain the current policy. And absolute value may be increased, for example, increasing the EBITDA 30%, and then are we going to increase the dividend by 30%? It's not the case.
This is not something I, as a CEO, should mention, but this is to be considered by the board of directors, and then if you could consider the hint, and then I believe that the stability of dividend is a very important thing. For a buybacks of shares, we do not have any plan to conduct a buyback in the sometime in the future, but of course, there are pros and cons in the buybacks. By selling the assets and generating the large amount of cash temporarily, and the cash is not intended for the immediate investments, then it is possible to consider share buyback. But no, we do not have any specific plan for doing so. The second question?
I have a question about the business plan for a fiscal year ending in March 2025.
Comparing to the increase in the revenue, the increase in the profit is expected to be smaller in Japan market, and I believe that you have incorporated the increased cost for procurement, but I think that there will be some benefits of the window renovation sash subsidies. Could you please give us more specifics about the outlook for the business in Japan market? And on the other hand, in international markets, the 3% increase in North America may include the benefits of acquisition of Basco, as well as a price optimization and also the numeric benefits. And the +6% increase in Europe seems to incorporate the recovery from the H2 of last fiscal year. What have you been seeing such signs of a recovery recently?
Regarding Japan market, the increase in the profit seems to be smaller than the increase in revenue. Because of the increase in personnel, labor costs, and comparative procurement cost increase of all in the procurement costs, suppliers are increasing their own wages, therefore, from whom we are buying. And also, there is an issue of timing of increase of such costs, and also the subsidies for the window sashes and, and then JPY 100 billion-JPY 135 billion increase, and that has been factored in. For international markets in North America, because of the benefits of the acquisition of Basco and DPI, sales benefits are also incorporated. And DPI sale, in terms of the sales, of course, we divested, therefore, sales will decrease.
But in terms of the profit, we believe there will be a positive impact because that was a loss-making company. And in North America and Europe as well, the assumptions on the market conditions will stay the same. But for Europe, frankly speaking, we have seen the positive effect of increased share of the market, and we have seen the increase in the volume, particularly in the segments of shower, and particularly in the shower-related new products. And e-commerce or retail channels where we were not able to sell well, and the share of those segments have increased more than we expected. Therefore, I believe that this is what we can say about Europe, but I think that the demand will stay the same.
Next, from Mitsui Sumitomo Trust Asset Management, Takekawa-san.
I'd like to introduce two questions from Takekawa-san, so I would like to introduce each one of them. In the briefing session material, page 15, it says, "The actions to be better focused on cost of capital and share price." For that slide, there are measures 1, 2, 3. Specifically speaking, till when are you going to do this? I do understand that you will be impacted by the economic situation changes or market changes, but what is the timeline and also the measures towards the recovery to PBR multiple of 1? And you are continuing the structural reform, and every year the profit is going down, but why is there no effect coming out regarding this structural reforms?
Well, this may sound like an excuse, but from 2020 to 2021, it's due to COVID-19, and from 2021 to 2022, after the COVID pandemic, the raw material prices had suddenly increased. The aluminum prices and copper, especially the copper price increased, and we were not able to fully have a timely response to that. And from 2022 to 2023, after we came out of the COVID pandemic, our shipping was stagnant, and there's the Ukraine issue, and then there's the Israel geopolitical issue, and the economic situation has declined. So, everything was directly linked to no recovery of the demand. And this may become an excuse as well, but if nothing happened, we would have a certain result.
This 1, 2, 3 is linked to all what I have explained. Regarding number 3, if the demand increases, then the core earnings will improve, and within the core earnings, the net profit will improve once we complete the Structural Reform. So number 2, number 1 and number 3 is strongly linked. Regarding number 2, the effect of Structural Reform, if we are able to complete the Structural Reform this year, that we will be seeing positive effect.
The second question, regarding the changes of the shareholder return policy. In Japan and international market, there will be no changes of the environment.
So in the future, let's say that in the case that EBITDA is going to be lower than the plan, is correct to understand that there may be a decline in dividend, that you will prioritize the strengthening of the financial position and investment?
Well, regarding the dividend, it's not my decision, but it will be decided by the board of directors meeting. So I believe that I should not overstate things. And if we're talking about ifs, if we have a wonderful investment matter, are we going to prioritize the dividend? Probably not. And regarding the financial position that we have right now, we are in the improvement direction, so there's not much of a probability that we will be allocating the money there. So can you please understand up to this?
Thank you.
Mochizuki, Mochizuki-san of CLSA Securities have given us two questions. Let me read out the first question. In Europe and America, interest rate will stay at the same plateau, but on the other hand, according to the company's guidance for fiscal year ending in March 2025, LWT revenue is expected to increase by 3% in America and 6% in Europe on a local currency basis. Could you please explain why you expect to see increase in revenue?
If I may repeat, the market conditions or environment will stay the same. But for America as well as Europe, in principle, we are expecting to see increased share of the market. And realistically, we have seen some numbers in America, and fittings will increase.
And in Europe, as I said earlier, the shower-related products and the sales channel, e-commerce and retail sales are increasing. These are incorporated. The numbers in Europe have been realized already, and for America, we are going to realize numbers going forward. Particularly in Europe, DPI was divested. Because of that impact, temporarily, there may be some decline in revenue in the initial phase. So in a local currency basis, the benefit will be emerging towards the latter half of the year in America.
The second question, for fiscal year ending March 2024, the company's plan was revised downward, and the company guidance has stayed inaccurate. For the outlook for the fiscal year ending in March 2025, there may be some positive factors and negative factors which may cause a deviation from the company's guidance.
I'm sorry, but, if you say that the company's guidance is not precise, the biggest factor is with the low core earnings and profit for the year. Even if the impact is, the change is minor, but there will be a bigger impact on those smaller numbers in these earnings and the profits. Particularly in international markets, the sales have been changed significantly because of the recession in Europe. In March and April, we couldn't anticipate that, that the recession will continue throughout the year. This is lack of the capability on the part of the company. The positive factors, which may cause the deviation upwardly from the company's guidance in Europe, I suppose that the rates will decline in June, and there will be a benefit emerging in January in the following year.
I think this can be a potential positive factor. On the other hand, for negative factors in China and Asia, frankly speaking, we—I don't think that there are many people who are able to foresee into the future, but, the size of the business is still small, but there will be some deviation. The number of new housing starts may further decline as a negative factor as regards to the Japan market. There are many others, but I believe the biggest factor on the negative side, which we are concerned about, is the demand in the world as a whole may see second dip, which we have not seen yet. On the other hand, I would like to give you a positive note towards the end.
Looking at the positive factors in India and Near East and the Middle East, we do not see it yet, but there are some potential very large-scale projects or programs emerging, particularly in Near East and the Middle East and India. We have a very large share of the market, so if those projects are realized, and these are not incorporated in the numbers yet, so this could be upside.
Okay. Next is we have received two questions from, Fukushima-san from Nomura Securities. The first question: It seems that you are conducting structural reforms in the international markets. What, in specific terms, did you do in the March ending 2024? Can you please let me know what you did in Europe and United States? And as for year ending March 2025, what are you planning to do? And there's a 10% worth of the structural reforms that you're bringing into March 2026. What are they?
Well, structural reform, it is related to our people, so I cannot break it down in detail for you. However, for March 2024, as I've mentioned, DPI-
... and also sanitary hygiene product manufacturing plants were partially closed. Some of them were closed, and the aluminum plant in Maebashi was closed as well. Well, that is not overseas, but for the international markets, well, LI-FIT, meaning that a right fit, meaning that the we are reducing it to the appropriate level of a headcount is what we have done. And for March 2025, in addition to what I've said, the LI-FIT, the last part, we will be completing that. And also for us, what we feel is necessary, the structuring of the manufacturing plants that we have not completed yet, those will be completed as well.
And what will be carried over to March 2026, which is 10% of the overall efforts that we will be making regarding this part, I would like you to understand that I will not be able to touch upon this at this point. However, but basically, it is similar to what I have shared with you as the structural reforms.
The second question on page 23 of the materials, the water technology business, there's a slide of the revenue breakdown by region for the international business. And there is the increase in sales at the local currency basis. In Asia, it's 10%, in Europe, it's 6%. It is rather at a high level. With which product are you going to increase your revenue?
So depending on the region and the country within that region, it differs. And what was really weak in March 2024 was Vietnam, and that is still continuing. And because it is continuing, that weak situation is continuing, it's hard to say if it's going to further decline. But on the other hand, we believe that there'll be a large increase in India. For India, we are experiencing a rapid growth, and the product that is experiencing that growth is 2: Shower and the Flushing System is performing strongly. And regarding Europe, as I have been mentioning several times, the new product at the shower category is performing strong. And also for Europe, furthermore, the e-commerce and retail share, already as of April, we are seeing promising numbers.
Therefore, in those terms, for the European market, the market condition has not changed, but it is going to become better due to the increase in market share. The Asia number is small, but it will be mainly India.
MB from SMBC Nikko Securities. Kawashima San has asked a question. In mainstay products in Japan, America, and Europe, you have gained their top ranking market shares, and we believe that you needed to increase the profitability of the products with the affordable pricing range in Japan and Europe. Sorry, in Japan and the US. What strategy do you have? Or do you think that the earning the value added values by offering the impactful products contributing to the society and the environment will enough? Therefore, only having the contribution by the mass products to improvement of the utilization rate will be enough.
Ceramics and fitting is the area we are focusing on, and we have been focusing to expand the fitting. As you said, we have been able to gain the market share, and in such a mass market, products in the sanitary ware accounts for a large portion of our revenue for retail and trade as channels. For retail, we are competing against the private brand products with a lower profitability. For trade market channel, the relatively speaking profitability is higher, so we need to increase the trade products. Products towards the product trade channel, and then the resources which are catered to the retail channel needs to be allocated more to trade channel. In America, we needed to sacrifice the growth of the sales in the retail.
We needed to increase or improve the quality of sales, then the products to be sold through the trade channel, and then we need to consider avoiding the cannibalization with the retail channel. We have to be selective in products to be sold there. Compared to what we have been producing, the products which we have developed for a U.S. market, which may compete against the private label products, but we have to consider developing other types of products. In Japan, the low profitability with the water-related products in Japan is related to the product mix. The main products in the water-related products includes the toilets and also the washstand, and also kitchen and bathroom units and faucets, and so forth. Out of which, the lowest profitability is seen in kitchen, and next, followed by the bathroom units.
These are the two products where we have a large market share. On the other hand, toilet and washbowl, and also the relatively higher profitability. Therefore, because of the product mix, the profitability has been affected. So in toilet, we needed to improve, and washstand and also faucets. It is very important for us to improve... in these segments, as I have been telling you, for example, differentiating a product such as Femtech is going to be key to achieve that. And also in shower, as I said earlier, impactful products to environment and the society needs to be offered.
If we do business as usual, and then the same products are offered as total, our competitor is offering, like the faucets and water stand and also toilets, and then it will be difficult for us to win. But we needed to create products which will be wanted by the end users, are going to be the key for us. For bathroom and/or kitchen, what we needed to consider is we have to transform ourselves from the conventional business model, and doing a business with large asset needs to be revisited. And also kitchen-related, a big challenge in business performance, the logistics. Now we are saying that we are in the first year of the transformation in the logistics.
Because of the large logistic cost, we are not able to make profit, so we have to provide a solution products. For such products, as I said earlier, offering solutions to the issues of the society and the environment, we are developing the product groups. Although we have not make announcements yet, so we'd like to refrain from making further comments on that. But as I have shown you, the potential products which may be impactful on the solution to the societies and environmental issues, we have such products in pipeline.
Next, we have received two questions from Teraoka-san from Daiwa Securities. The first question is the performance of the European water business companies for 2023. They have not dropped as much as GROHE, but how are you analyzing this difference?
There are two factors.
The first, as I have explained to you before, the water business in Europe and their sales channels, well, compared to us, all the facilities, they are less than what we have. Meaning that they are all they have to do is lower the OEM vendors work. So the fixed cost, how they drop, is not as significant, and so there's a BS, a balance sheet model, how it's structured. And also, with the major products, if a large selling product drops, then they have the impact more. If the 20% ones drop, then it'll be a 5% drop, but if it's the opposite, it's not a large drop in terms of performance. So how it is structured, that is a major difference.
But regarding the cost issue that I have explained at the start, when they're in a good economic situation, they turn a positive. That was the trend that we have seen up to now.
So the second question is, what is shown on page 8, the new products that will impact the society and environment for fiscal year 2024-2025. What will be the percentage that these products will comprise in this as for sales?
Well, in fact, as I've explained before, the PremiAL as a product, we already sold JPY 300 billion, but it's not sold as PremiAL. And the shower toilet, we are selling JPY 55 billion. So such a impactful product, we're not able to sell it in a way that is fully showing their positive impact.
And also, if I may say, the window part, the insulation of the window, that's about JPY 50 billion. As PremiAL, we are selling it. So in overall picture, looking at the current percentage, it has not yet JPY 100 billion yet. In other words, what the products are already sold, if we're able to appropriately market them, about JPY 20 billion-JPY 30 billion, we would like to achieve.
Morgan Stanley MUFJ Securities. We have two questions from Yagi-san. First question: under the current dividend policy, you will have a plan to remain at JPY 90 per share. Can we say that this is the lower limit? But or if there is going to be a further deterioration of the business performance, is it possible to see decrease in dividend?
Well, this is not something I should respond to this question. I think this is to be determined by the board of directors, but I should refrain from making response to this. And, this is my job to prevent a such occurrence of a business deterioration which may cause concern. And, if we are not able to generate enough cash, and then we may have to have a risk of a decrease of dividend, but this is not something I should respond directly.
Second question: you are expecting to see significant improvement in operating profit for, international LWT. Could you please share with us, the factors for improvement in GROHE and ASB, respectively?
GROHE, in particular in Europe, as I have said, we are increasing the share of the market. This has started to be seen in shower, in e-commerce and retail channel. If I may repeat, in principle, the biggest reason for the low profitability in GROHE is because of the decline in the overall demand, and therefore, the essentially has declined. American Standard, first, the DPI, which was a loss-making business, it's gone. So that has given us a positive effect. The fitting business, as I said earlier, particularly in trade channel, is increasing. In fitting, this is having the more profitability than fixtures. So I think that this will give us a positive effect.
ASB, on the contrary, as related to the previous question, if you take the long-term perspective and the volume is earned by retail business, how are we going to change the quality of the retail business? This is going to be the key.
We still have some time remaining. So, Takekawa-san from Mitsui Sumitomo Trust Asset Management, we received one more question, so I would like to share that with you. This time, CFO and the director in charge of investor relations, there was an organizational change. I would like to know the background of this change. Till now, within a very difficult environment, they were having a very core and important role, so I think I felt it as a very big change.
Well, this involves the each individual, so I don't think it's appropriate to explain everything. Well, Matsumoto-san has been the CFO for a long time and has been fulfilling in a very important role, and a company cannot have just one person to serve for long term the same position. So as a company, we had a succession plan for this, and this time, based on that, it was a timing to change. And regarding the executive officer in charge of the investor relations, thinking of the individual career, she was doing a great job. Ms. Kitano was doing a great job, but for herself, being in the one role for a long time, she probably selected this path for herself.
So I think it will be inappropriate to comment more on this, so I would like to stop here. But, regarding Ms. Kitano, this is, Hirano. Excuse me, Ms. Hirano. It's just, my assumption. So I think I would like to conclude my answer at this point.
With this, we would like to conclude the Q&A session. With this, we'd like to conclude the briefing session for LIXIL Corporation Financial Results for the Fiscal Year ended March 31, 2024. We seek your continuous support and understanding. Thank you very much for today.