Thank you. I am Horikoshi, the CFO. Let me present the business results for FY 2024. Page 4 shows the highlights of FY 2024 business results. Exchange rates were JPY 152.8 to the dollar, JPY 163.5 to the euro, and JPY 99.5 to the Australian dollar. Yen has weakened against these three currencies year-on-year. Net sales grew 6.2% year-on-year to JPY 4 trillion 104.4 billion. Operating income grew 8.2% to JPY 655.1 billion. Operating income ratio went up by 0.3 percentage points to 16%. Positive effects impact improved selling prices and others led to higher sales and profit. Net income increased by 11.7% and reached JPY 439.6 billion. Net sales, segment profit, profit ratio, and the operating income and its ratio, net income, all of them were record high numbers.
Also, net sales, segment profit, operating income, and net income were record high three years in a row since FY 2022. ROE increased by 0.1 point year-on-year to 14.2%. We plan to increase the dividend per share for FY 2024 from JPY 167 per share that we announced in October to JPY 190. Consolidated payout ratio will be 40.1%. Including the JPY 100 billion share buyback that we implemented in 2024, the total shareholder return will be 62.7%. Page 5 shows the net sales of construction, mining, and utility equipment. The sales were JPY 3 trillion 798.2 billion, up 5.1% year-on-year. Segment profit was JPY 598.9 billion, up 4.3% year-on-year. The retail finance net sales were JPY 123.2 billion, up 19% year-on-year. Segment profit was JPY 29.4 billion, up 21.4% year-on-year.
Net sales of the Industrial Machinery & Others were JPY 223.6 billion, up 14.3% year-on-year. Segment profit grew about 2.7x year-on-year to JPY 27.4 billion. I will explain the causes of the differences by segment later on. Page 6 shows the net sales of Construction, Mining & Utility Equipment by region. Net sales were JPY 3 trillion 787.5 billion, up 5.5% year-on-year. Excluding FX impact, the overall number slightly increased year-on-year. By region, Oceania and Asia, net sales increased in real terms excluding FX impact, but declined in North and Latin America and Africa. Page 7 shows the causes of the differences for Construction, Mining & Utility Equipment, showing the net sales and segment profit. Negative impact of the lower volume was more than offset by the positive impact of the weaker yen and improved selling prices.
Net sales increased by JPY 183.1 billion year-on-year. The positive impact of the weaker yen and improved selling prices was bigger than the negative impact of lower volume and higher cost. Segment profit grew by JPY 24.9 billion year-on-year. Segment profit ratio was 15.8%, 0.1 percentage point lower than the year before. Page 8 shows the retail finance. Assets increased from previous fiscal year and mainly with the increase in new contracts. New contracts grew mainly due to the yen's depreciation. With rise of the interest income ratio, the positive impact of the weaker yen, increase of the financing receivables, and others, net sales grew by JPY 19.7 billion year-on-year. Segment profit grew by JPY 5.2 billion year-on-year. Page 9 shows the net sales and segment profit of Industrial Machinery & Others. Net sales were JPY 223.6 billion, up 14.3% year-on-year.
Segment profit was JPY 27.4 billion, about 2.7 times that of the year before. Segment profit increased by 7.2% to 12.3%. As for sales and segment profit for the presses, sheet metal machines, and machine tools for the automobile industry, sales segment profit increased mainly due to higher sales of large press machines and machine tools. For the semiconductor industry, sales profit increased with the recovery in the maintenance revenue of Exima Lasers. Page 10 shows the consolidated balance sheet and free cash flows. Total assets increased by JPY 136.9 billion from the previous year end to JPY 5 trillion 773.5 billion. Inventories decreased by JPY 32 billion from the previous fiscal year, mainly due to the higher account receivables to JPY 1 trillion 406.7 billion. Shareholders' equity ratio was 55%, up 1.2 percentage points.
Free cash flow increased by JPY 76.1 billion year-on-year to JPY 306.5 billion. Page 11 shows the status of the achievements of management targets of the Mid-Term Management Plan. The management target of the previous Mid-Term Management Plan for FY 2022-FY 2024 were largely achieved. In FY 2024, despite lower volume, higher raw materials cost, and fixed cost, selling prices were improved. With weaker yen and effects of the growth strategy and structural reform, sales and profit increased year-on-year. Both net sales and operating income were record high three years in a row from 2022- 2024. As for the profitability in FY 2024, the operating income ratio was 16%, 0.3 percentage points improvement year-on-year and the record high. As for the efficiency, ROE was 14.2%, exceeding the target of 10%. Shareholders' return, the consolidated payout ratio of 40% or higher, was maintained.
External evaluation of the ESG, we were selected to the Dow Jones Best in Class World Index, and we made CDP A-List in climate change and water security. As for CO2 emission reduction and the increase of the renewable energy use, we made steady progress toward 2030 targets. As for the retail finance, ROE, net debt equity ratio, we achieved the targets. That concludes my part of presentation. Next, for the projection for FY 2025, Mr. Hishinuma will present.
Thank you. I am General Manager of the Business Coordination Department. I'd like to now present the projection for FY 2025 and condition of the major markets. Page 13 shows the projection for FY 2025. FX assumptions: JPY 135 to the dollar,JPY 150 to the euro, and JPY 84 to the Australian dollar. Net sales projection: JPY 3 trillion 745 billion, down 8.8% year-on-year.
Operating income: JPY 478 billion, down 27.3% year-on-year. Net income projection is JPY 309 billion, down 29.7% year-on-year. At the BOD today, we resolved that of the share buyback up to JPY 100 billion or 40 million shares and cancellation of the old acquired shares within FY 2025. FY 2025 ROE is expected to be 10%. As for the dividend per share, we plan to pay JPY 190, same as the year before. Consolidated payout ratio: 56.7%. Total shareholder return, including the JPY 100 billion share buyback that we announced today, will be 89%. Page 14 shows for the Construction, Mining & Utility Equipment. Sales projection is JPY 3 trillion 440 billion, down 9.4% year-on-year. Segment profit: JPY 428 billion, down 28.5%. Retail Finance sales projection is JPY 107.5 billion, down 12.8% year-on-year. Segment profit: JPY 24 billion, down 18.4%.
For industrial machinery and others, sales projection is JPY 231.5 billion, up 3.5% year-on-year. Segment profit projection is JPY 31 billion, up 13.2% year-on-year. I will explain the causes of the difference by segment later on. To explain the impact of the U.S. additional tariffs factored into the projection, page 15 shows the structure of our construction and mining business in the United States. Komatsu's export of products and parts from the United States is more than the import from overseas. We are an exporting company. About 50% of the products sold in the United States are manufactured outside of the United States and imported mainly as finished construction equipment and parts. The other 50% are manufactured locally. Construction equipment are mainly supplied to the U.S. and Canada, and mining equipment are supplied worldwide.
Among locally manufactured products, construction equipment has a high proportion of imported parts, while mining equipment has a high proportion of US-made parts. Page 16 shows the impact of the additional US tariffs factored into the projection for FY 2025 on sales and segment profit. Decline in demand, higher tariff costs are incorporated into the projection. This is based on what we know as of April 24, Japan time. If the situation changes, we will revisit them. Page 17 shows the sales projection by region for construction, mining, and utility equipment. Sales will decrease in almost all regions due to the stronger yen. The total sales projection is JPY 3 trillion 430 billion, down 9.4% year-on-year.
Excluding the impact of the forex, sales will increase in real terms in the regions except in North America, Oceania, and Asia, where there was a high volume of sales of mining equipment in FY 2024. Page 18 shows the causes of the difference in projected sales and segment profit for FY 2025. Expected lower volume due to the additional U.S. tariffs can be offset by the improved selling prices. However, mainly because of the yen's appreciation, sales are expected to decline by JPY 358.2 billion year-on-year. Expected lower volume, tariff cost, and higher fixed cost due to the impact of the U.S. additional tariffs will be partially offset by improvements of the selling price and cost, but due mainly to the stronger yen, segment profit is expected to decrease by JPY 170.29 billion year-on-year.
Segment profit ratio projection is 12.4%, down 3.4 percentage points year-on-year. Page 19 is a retail finance projection. Assets in real terms, excluding FX effects, will slightly increase, but with yen's appreciation, assets are expected to decrease JPY 72.3 billion from the previous fiscal year end. With yen's appreciation and absence of the large-scale project of the year before, new contracts projection is down by JPY 192.9 billion year-on-year. Due mainly to the stronger yen, net sales are expected to decline by JPY 15.7 billion. The segment profit is expected to decline by about JPY 5.4 billion. ROI is expected to come down by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year to 1.9%. Page 20 shows the sales and segment profit projection for Industrial Machinery & Others.
For concerning presses, sheet metal machines, and machine tools for the auto industry, sales will increase due to higher sales of the large press machines and services. For semiconductor industry, the sales will increase due to an increase of the sales primarily in maintenance with the market recovery. Net sales projection is JPY 231.5 billion, up 3.5% year-on-year. Segment profit JPY 31 billion, up 13.2% year-on-year.
Now I'll walk you through the demand trends and forecast for the seven major construction equipment on page 21. We revise the definition of demand for the seven major construction equipment. The demand for the seven major construction equipment in China and other regions has been retractably adjusted to include the demand of Chinese manufacturers. The demand volume for the seven major construction equipment includes mining equipment. The figures for the fourth quarter of FY 2024 are our preliminary estimates.
FY 2024 unit demand appears to have been almost flat year-on-year. We expect year-on-year decline in demand of plus minus 0%- 5% in FY 2025. According to the global economic outlook released by the IMF in April, GDP growth in each country is expected to slow down due to the impact of trade frictions. We have estimated impact on demand and factored it in. On next page, I'll give you an overview of our key markets. Page 22 shows the demand trend and forecast for the North American market. The demand volume for FY 2024 decreased 7% from the previous year due to a drop in housing starts and other factors. Demand for construction equipment decreased in the rental and energy sectors. We estimate the demand in FY 2025 will be down 5%-10% versus the previous year's level.
Demand for rental equipment is expected to continue to weaken. The impact of U.S. tariff policy on demand in the North American market is unclear, but we will continue to closely watch the development. This page gives you demand trend and forecast for the European market on page 23. In FY 2024, demand fell 19% from the previous year. Our key markets, Germany, the U.K., and France, saw less demand for construction equipment. Demand in FY 2025 is expected to range from being stable to decline 5% year-over-year. Despite positive changes such as consecutive interest rate cuts by the ECB and Germany's massive fiscal expansion measures, business confidence in the region remains sluggish. Therefore, we'll closely monitor the situation. Page 24 shows the demand trend and forecast for the Southeast Asia market. The unit demand in FY 2024 increased by 2% year-on-year.
Our largest market in the region, Indonesia, has recovered demand for construction equipment since the second quarter of FY 2024 and beat the previous year's level for the four-year performance. The regional demand, except Indonesia, was almost on par with the previous year. In the mining equipment market, demand in Indonesia remained strong. Its demand in FY 2025 is expected to range from being stable to decline by 5%. In Indonesia, coal price has been slowly declining, but we expect a recovery due to power generation demand during the summer season. Back in last October, following the presidential election, demand for construction equipment recovered, and we expect the level to be consistent in the current fiscal year. Page 25 now indicates how Japan market will trend in demand and our outlook. FY 2024 demand dropped 7% year-on-year, primarily due to a decrease in demand for rental equipment.
We expect its demand for FY 2025 to be ± 0% to fall by 5%. Page 26 shows the trend in its outlook for prices of key minerals as it is related to demand for mining equipment. The key mineral prices have remained high over the long term, though it has been widely fluctuating recently due to U.S. tariff policy and moves in demand. On this page 27, it highlights the demand trend for mining equipment. The number of units in demand in FY 2024 appears to have been almost the same as the previous year. Demand remained firm overall, although it decreased in North America, Indonesia, and other regions. FY 2025 demand is expected to range from being stable to fall 5% from the previous year's level. We expect the demand in North America and Oceania to decrease, but are expected to remain firm overall.
On page 28, here are mining equipment sales. In FY 2024, sales increased 12% year-on-year to JPY 1 trillion 916.2 billion. Excluding impact of FX, sales would have increased 6%. Net sales for FY 2025 are projected to be JPY 1 trillion 727.9 billion, a decrease of 10% from the previous year. Excluding FX impact, sales are expected to increase. On page 29, you see the forecast of sales of a construction, mining, and utility equipment segment with equipment, parts, and services. In FY 2024, parts sales are expected to increase 8% year-over-year to JPY 1 trillion 51.4 billion. Overall aftermarket, including services, is expected to be 51% of total aftermarket sales, and its sales were up 2% year-over-year, excluding FX impact. In FY 2025, parts sales are expected to decrease 6% from the previous year to JPY 987 billion.
Aftermarket sales portion, including service and others, are estimated 53%. Overall aftermarket sales, excluding FX impact, are expected to increase 4% year-on-year. Here on page 30 is our outlook on capital expenditures and others. Capital investment, excluding investment in rental assets on the left-hand side, is expected to remain flat year-on-year, primarily due to continued investment in production facilities, sales offices, and solution businesses. R&D expenses in the middle are expected to increase from the previous year, primarily due to focus investments in electrification and automation and others. Fixed costs on the right are expected to increase from the previous year, mainly due to increase in labor costs resulting from wage hikes and investments in mid-term management plan projects while incorporating the effects of structural reforms. Now, the following is the main topics.
Komatsu exhibited at the International Construction Equipment Trade Fair, Bauma 2025, held in Munich, Germany, from April 7 to 13. At Bauma 2025, we presented its latest initiative to realize smart and clean construction and mining sites of the future under the themes of innovation, sustainability, and digitalization. On this page, again on the Bauma 2025, as a new generation construction equipment, we presented PC220LCI-12, equipped with the latest ICT functions such as 3D machine control. This is a PC220/LCI-12, a new generation hydraulic excavator tailored to the European market, which was originally launched in Japan in December 2024. The flagship model, PC220/LCI-12, will be launched in Europe, North America, and Australia in FY 2025. We demonstrated the PC7000-11E, a wired ultra-large electric hydraulic excavator as an electrified construction equipment and a megawatt-class quick charging vehicle manufactured by Dimaag Inc. as a charging and energy storage solution.
Komatsu is jointly exhibiting with Aoki Asunaro Construction under the theme of Underwater Construction of the Future at Osaka Kansai Expo, which started on April 13. The exhibition is at the City of the Future Pavilion until October 13. Please come and visit us. That's all from me. Now, new mid-term management plan will be presented by the CEO, Mr. Imayoshi.
Thank you. I'm Imayoshi, CEO. My presentation discusses a new strategic growth plan announced today. My comments will mirror the details of today's announcement. Our new plan, as shown here, is titled Driving Value with Ambition. As I will discuss in detail later, the external environment surrounding Komatsu is growing increasingly complex. In response, we'll focus on ambition, which is one of our corporate values.
The title of this plan indicates our commitment to working closely with our customers, stakeholders, to create new value and achieve growth across the Komatsu group. This title also expresses our expectation of every Komatsu group employee to take on issues and pursue change, thinking outside the box of the past successes and conventional wisdom. This slide describes what I plan to cover today. Now, before walking you through the strategic growth plan, I want to talk about the role of the plan in our company and recap our previous mid-term management plan. First, let's look at the role of a strategic growth plan. We revisited our purpose, values, and brand promise on occasion of our 100th anniversary in 2021 to put our values into words.
We formulated the strategic growth plan based on our purpose, values, building on the management principles of a commitment to quality and reliability, and a drive to maximize corporate value. Our growth plan also reflects the Komatsu corporate social responsibility as described in our sustainability policy. Built on this foundation, the growth plan will guide us as we create a sustainable positive cycle of social issue solutions and improved profitability. This strategic growth plan covers three years from FY 2025 through 2027. At the same time, we create this plan in consideration of the next six years through FY 2030. Now, I'll provide a review of our previous mid-term plan. Under the previous plan, we pursued a number of different initiatives toward a vision to create safe, highly productive, smart, and clean workplaces of the future with our customers.
As you see on the right-hand side of the slide, our efforts created customer value in terms of innovative products and solutions and putting us well on the road to achieving workplaces of the future.
Now, let's take a look at the new strategic growth plan. Based on the achievements of our previous mid-term plan, we redefined our vision, becoming a collaborative partner committed to optimizing safe, productive, and clean workplaces. As a collaborative partner with our customers, we promise to create safe, highly productive, and clean workplaces throughout the world. We create advancement in products and solutions through innovation, digital transformation, and a growing value chain business, investing in our people and forging greater partnership at the same time.
Specifically, we offer an expanding scope of solutions that include advancements in the global deployment of smart construction as well as open technology platform and wider adoption of our app in the mining industry. At the same time, we pursue advancements in automation, remote control, and support for the variety of power sources aimed at decarbonization, offering a growing lineup of the SDB machinery highly compatible with the solutions affinity. Next, I will address the view of the external issues we identified when drafting the strategic growth plan. As shown here, we expect the external business environment to become increasingly complex and uncertain due to the complex interrelationship of the political, economic, and other risks, not to mention the drive toward carbon neutrality and rapid advancement in technology. We identified the implications for our businesses based on our forecast of the changes in the external environment.
These implications are, as you see here. First, in mining, we must respond quickly to growing customer needs for the decarbonization and automation. While preparing for the reduced core demand in the longer term, construction method changes with deeper mining should be taken as a growth opportunity. Next, we must take a more detailed approach in construction business by region and country to meet the needs of customers in the growing markets of Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. In other areas, we must mitigate the impact of the geopolitical risks and heighten economic security across the supply chain. Here, we must change the sources and reassess the procurement ratio to build a more robust supply network. We see an opportunity for medium to long-term growth through solutions for customers in the forestry, machinery, and other sectors, fostering efficiencies and mid-shrinking labor force.
Keeping an eye on the growth trend of the EV market will be important for our industrial machinery business for auto industry, where we see opportunities through Gigacast and other new technologies. We must also respond to long-term market growth and technological innovations in semiconductor equipment sector all while considering measures for economic security. Last, we understand the importance of compliance with increasingly diverse regulations across the countries and regions. We must invest in the human capital to attract and retain talent. We must make decisions quickly on the global scale. These elements are all essential to Komatsu Group business growth. Our new strategic growth plan properly identifies the aspect of the changes in the external environment, not only for the group as a whole, but also for the individual businesses such as mining, construction, forestry, machinery, and industrial machinery. The plan also identifies the risks and opportunities by region.
We have incorporated these considerations into our strategy. Now, let's look at solving the social issues through our business activities. We conducted a new analysis from the perspective of double materiality, identifying challenges according to the aspect of the business impact and environmental social impact. From these challenges, we highlighted those of particular importance. Given the diversifying interest of our stakeholders, our aim is to achieve sustainable growth through the positive cycle of the social issue solutions, improving profitability. We accomplished this aim by incorporating materialities in six areas, namely employees, human rights, customers, ethics and governance, and local communities and environment. This summarizes the key business challenges reflecting our analysis of the external environment and materiality, as well as demand forecasts for the construction and mining equipment.
We project moderate growth for mainstay construction and mining equipment business over medium to long term, amid the population growth and urbanization in emerging economies. However, external risks over the short term will mean ongoing volatility. Given these assumptions and forecasting for our vision, we conducted scenario planning toward the sustainable growth in light of risks and opportunities. We established the main scenario for the future, as well as several sub-scenarios. Through this process, we identified three important management issues: sustained investment for the future growth, strengthening profitability, and enhancing management resilience. We incorporated detailed efforts related to these important management issues into the growth strategy of our new plan. Our aim is to achieve the growth above that of the market average, even in the event of the downside scenario.
At this point, I want to talk about the big picture and certain details from our strategic growth plan.
Our overall approach is to tackle business issues throughout the Komatsu group, guided by the keyword ambition, which represents one of the Komatsu values. With this in mind, we chose Driving Value with Ambition as the title of the strategic growth plan. The three pillars of our growth strategy are as follows: create customer value through innovation, drive growth and profitability, and transform our business foundation. First, in terms of creating customer value through innovation, we intend to co-create new value through strategic investments, new technologies, and new business areas and new solutions. Further, we will deliver product and solution innovation through AI and other technologies for carbon neutrality and customer workplaces optimization. Second, to drive growth and profitability, we aim to achieve growth and improve profitability through advanced workplace operations for our customers.
In addition to growing our value chain businesses, we intend to maximize revenue opportunities by offering labor savings and optimization through AI and DX. Further growth will come as we respond in detail to customer needs through optimized marketing strategies for each business, region, and country. Third, to transform a business foundation, we will accelerate efforts to recruit and enable the success of diverse human resources to support business growth while strengthening the Komatsu brand through enhanced branding activities. In addition, we will introduce bold and agile initiatives to streamline business infrastructure, meaning systems and processes, through AI and DX. The next slide highlights specific priorities based on these three growth strategy pillars. Here are the priorities of our new strategic growth plan. We plan to grow through detailed priority activities established for each business and region, paying greater attention to the three axes.
Number one, the axis of development and production. Second, the regional axis of North America and Asia. Three, the axis of business from the perspective of mining and construction. Our main activities under the growth strategy include the following: to create customer value through innovation, we will focus on responding to diverse power sources and achieving higher levels of automation and remote control. To drive growth and profitability, we will focus on stronger product competitiveness by region, particularly in Asia and Africa. To transform our business foundation, we intend to accelerate the use of AI and digital transformation, strengthening our management infrastructure, reinventing our core systems, and developing solution platforms for our sales agents. This slide indicates the direction of our business portfolio over the medium to long term, which we will achieve through the priority activities of our strategic growth plan.
We will improve growth and profitability in our mainstay mining and construction businesses through evolved and more widely adopted solutions that drive product and solutions value. At the same time, we plan to grow our aftermarket business and strengthen product planning in growth regions. The forestry machinery business will become stronger, playing a role as a third pillar of our business, together with mining and construction. We intend to improve our already high-profit structure in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, keeping an eye on geopolitical risks and taking advantage of higher market growth. Our business for industrial machinery in the automotive sector will grow and become more profitable as we deepen aftermarket services and expand our automotive battery business. As we engage in M&A and other means for existing businesses, we'll continue to explore new business areas for long-term growth.
This table below describes the management targets for the span of a strategic growth plan. In terms of financial targets, we will continue with the goals from our previous plan to outgrow our general markets and be the most profitable business in our markets. At the same time, we intend to secure profits and continue investing growth, supported by free cash flows and a goal of a cumulative JPY 1 trillion in profit over three years. We will maintain our target ROE of at least 10% as a goal indicating efficiency. We change the target D/E ratio in our retail finance business from five times or less to six times or less, making use of leverage. Our shareholder return policy continues to be a consolidated dividend payout ratio of 40% or more.
We also intend to conduct share buybacks in a timely manner, balanced by considerations of financial soundness and our shareholders' equity ratio. Our non-financial targets include overall assessments of KPIs related to solving social issues. We also added KPIs for evaluation by external organizations. Indicators related to reducing environmental impact, including CO2 emissions reductions, remain as separate items and targets of particular importance to our organization. Last, I want to discuss our effort to solve social issues. Reaffirming the purpose of a sustainability policy, we aim to achieve sustainable growth through a positive cycle of social issue solutions and improving profitability. This way, we intend to carve out a future in which people, society, and Earth can prosper together. We establish and track KPIs for activities that are particularly important from the perspective of materiality. This slide shows our main activities and KPIs for solving social issues.
We will provide more details in our annual integrated report. This concludes my part of our presentation. Thank you.
Now, we'd like to take questions.
Thank you very much for this opportunity. My name is Sasaki of UBS Securities. First, my question goes to Mr. Imayoshi. Congratulations for your nomination. A new strategic growth plan was explained. Now, as a top management of the company, while you are the CEO, are there any things that you want to make sure you achieve? Any strong intentions to achieve? I'm sure that you have given us a lot of details in your presentation, but in terms of your passion as a president and CEO, what are the things that you want to definitely achieve?
Thank you for your question.
The goals of the strategic growth plan were explained, and we mentioned the cash flow, and also there are qualitative targets and basics for that. They said that our industry is very cyclical. As I became the President and CEO, what I wanted to say was that the strengths that we have at Komatsu, we want to maintain and strengthen them in our business. There are various strengths that we have. Quality and reliability, those are our strengths, and the production network and the sales network that we built in the world, and the aftermarket initiatives that we have been working on. Also, not just the products, but also the experiences and the projects and so forth. How to grow that is something that we would like to focus upon, including the solution.
In terms of achievement, our goal, I talked about the cash flow, and we will be focused on the cash flow so that we can focus on the growth as well as the profitability of our businesses, and also how to use the proceeds. We would like to make sure that we spend that for the investments to have a high ROI and to show the good results and achievements. Thank you very much. Basically, what we have done so far, you want to go deeper and generate the cash or cash flow. Yes.
Thank you. My second question is on the impact of the U.S. tariffs on page 15 and 16. Thank you very much. This time, you have given us those presentations. I think $140 billion is mentioned on page 16.
On page 15, you mentioned that, for example, in mining, procurement, and also the construction equipment export, and you also mentioned the export from the United States. $140 billion cost. What is the breakdown of that? If you can quantitatively talk about that using page 15.
The tariffs or tax is very complicated. It's very difficult to calculate and show on the slide. In terms of the structure of our business in the United States, the machinery is manufactured in the U.S., including everything exported and used inside of the United States. Half of that is actually imported ones. The breakdown of the import is shown on page 15. Actual production, so it's about half of this amount. Based on that, we made a calculation.
Nominal GDP 1.1% is used as a basis because in the past, the construction equipment demand, we tried to look at the, for example, the real GDP, nominal GDP, inflation rate, and so forth. I think the nominal GDP is the strongest in terms of the correlation. Nominal GDP, when it comes down by 1.1%, IMF says that it is a real GDP, but we are looking at the nominal. Nominal GDP, when it goes down by 1.1%, a 2.7% decline in this business is what we expect. It is based on the regression analysis, and we tried to come up with the appropriation line, and we made a calculation. A 2.7% decline is what we expect. Right now, the demand that we have is distributed in the different regions. When it comes down by 2.7%, it will look like this.
In terms of sales, on page 16, about JPY 50 billion, and the profit is a JPY 15 billion decrease that we expect. In addition, as I mentioned, there is a tariff side. This is the JPY 140 billion, and we have inventories locally for about five months or so. Seven months' worth of that, so JPY 78 billion is what we calculated in terms of the increased tariff cost. The impact of the U.S. tariffs as a total, as you can see, is JPY 78.5 billion. In addition, as I mentioned, the lower sales, so JPY 15.8 billion is added. JPY 94.3 billion is the total impact. I see. Thank you very much. JPY 140 billion, going back to that, which part is the highest in terms of the cost burden? You export from Japan.
Is it higher for that, for the construction equipment and the mining equipment, or you procure from overseas? Is that bigger? This JPY 140 billion, this is quite big. Is that going to be a big burden? In terms of the breakdown, the export from Japan is the biggest, and also from China, including parts. Japan and China, the parts and also the construction equipment go to the United States, and that would come under the US tariffs. Thank you.
Thank you. I would like to take the next question. Morgan Stanley MUFG. Ibara San, go ahead.
My name is Ibara from Morgan Stanley. My first question goes to FY 2024 performance. The performance of FY 2024 is much better than what you had expected. Could you please give us a breakdown of why and what drove that performance?
In your presentation, you said the U.S. and Asia and Oceania.
In FY 2024, there was good shipment. Because of that, for FY 2025, you are seeing those performances to be a little bit tighter. Q4, Oceania Asia revenues increased significantly.
Does that mean that in Q4, there was much shipment, much earlier than we had expected? Could that have a significant impact on this FY 2025? Maybe that reason is coming from the different section, but could you please give us details of the reasons? Thank you.
Versus October announcement, annual performance, meaning the second-half performance. Let me give you the figures. The net sales versus the plan, JPY 119 billion outweigh the plan, and JPY 132.5 billion of the FX that is coming from the FX, and JPY 12 billion coming from the volume, pretty much in line with October announcement.
Pricing, JPY 2 billion shortfall, which is very much on par with the plan versus October announcement, and new consolidated group impact coming of the JPY 1 billion, so JPY 119 billion of the net sales. I said the JPY 12 billion of the volume, and let me give the breakdown of the mining equipment, almost in line with the plan. Shortfall of JPY 12 billion is coming from the construction equipment. As far as this equipment is concerned, back in January, we made an announcement too, and we said that Japan demand will be plus ± 0% to 5%, and North America, conversely, 5% increased. That impact was considerable, and that came to the numbers. Versus October announcement, Japan significantly made shortfall. Plus, European market was considerably lower than what you had planned, which drove the negatives.
North America was positive, and also Middle East, large-scale projects were coming in. Net error allowed, I would say JPY 12 billion is a shortfall against the plan and announcement. Now, as far as the mining equipment is concerned, the Oceania region was great. Significant jump, significant positive. Also in Indonesia market, Q3 and beyond, significantly better. That gives us positive. Conversely, mediocre performance was observed in South Africa because Anglo American, which is a main client.
What are our main clients? This client tried to restructure his business and tried to improve efficiency. That gives us a negative impact. Also in North America markets, versus the plan, it gives us a little negatives. That's what it looked like. Now, looking at profits versus October announcement, JPY 58 billion exceeded the plan. FX impact, JPY 37 billion, and volume difference of the JPY 5.5 billion.
The mix difference came large. Product mix and region mix, I mean, Indonesia increased a lot, and also product mix was a large reason. Mining equipment and spare parts and those gross profit was great. Product mix and region mix in total, together with other reasons, including cost, JPY 19 billion exceeded versus the plan. JPY 2 billion negative in some regions, and also cost of goods, JPY 2 billion positive versus the plan. Fixed cost, JPY 7 billion or so. We tried to cut out the cost. That is why there was some surplus, and five on the consolidated basis. Okay. In the new fiscal year 2025, Oceania and Asia market, you try to see the performance to be tighter.
It's rather than making and realizing those businesses earlier, but you're trying to see those performances reflecting the good performance from North America or so. Is that what you're saying? In the OSEA market, FY 2024, based on negotiation basis, it was great. It's not that the situation itself is significantly changed, but the net sales will decline.
Okay. Thank you. My second question is on mid-term management plan or strategic growth plan. Some changes were made from the previous mid-term management plan. It's not that you ignore the health, but the item was gone. And the finance item, like a debt equity, times increased. To an extent, the leverage and balance sheet is something you try to value a bit. That's what it looks like, at least from our perspective. What's the message we want to communicate to investors on your value on leverage and balance sheet?
How much freedom, latitude, would you enjoy from it? And what can we expect that how much latitude would you enjoy so that you can change your business? How much expectations can we have in the future?
To be sure, yes, we remove the healthness item, but it's not that we will ignore them altogether. That doesn't really make sense to have it in a Mid-Term Management Plan period. Five times to six times that times change, currently 4.5, because in emerging markets, Africa and other regions, and those play an important role. We continue to take advantage of that as we go forward. At a certain control level, we need to make sure, and we believe that we can take certain risks. All right. A little bit on the JPY 1 trillion of free cash flow.
Back in FY 2024, versus the guidance for FY 2025 and actual FY 2024, there's a difference of 3x . There are many ways and barriers otherwise to generate free cash flow, but working capital or any of the things.
Are there any things you'd like to value or commit it so that you can do their value in the future? I know you may not be giving us any detailed figures, but do you have any ideas around it?
FY 2025 guidance, I know it looks a little challenging, but including potential impacts from Trump tariff, these figures have been done in math. We would like to generate and improve cash flow through our efforts and others. Together with top line and profitability, something we are valuing together with the control of the working capital. This is a goal that we should achieve.
I know there is a little fluctuation, and depending upon how much impact, how much disruptions we might have to suffer from over the next three years, the figures might be different.
What JPY 100 million are we expecting for FY 2025?
FY 2025,
Yes.
A little bit less than JPY 320 billion.
Okay, less than JPY 320 billion. The working capital inventory will be better. Has it been included?
Currently, JPY 360.5 billion, but originally, I said JPY 370 billion in April announcement because it does not include M&A. If you exclude that, then 2024 fiscal year, JPY 40 billion was in short. The reasons are that net sales in March with so aggregated net sales coming. Net sales are coming in aggregate, but accounts receivables increased significantly. That was right before we were able to correct those. That is why there was a JPY 40 billion in short.
FY 2025 inventory assets will be squashed, and working capital itself will be squashed too. Its impact is something we need to be mindful of, and the profit will be decreasing a little bit based on the plan, but there is more free cash flow.
Okay, thank you. Thank you.
Next question from Nomura Securities. We have Maekawa San.
Thank you. This is Maekawa from Nomura Securities. I also have two questions. First is about the tariffs and tariff-related question. In this plan, the impact of the tariff at the price increase is not included. I want to confirm that. The selling price difference to JPY 74.1 billion. This is quite a high impact of the higher profits. Could you explain the background of that?
Yes. With the higher tariffs, we did not include the price increases indirectly related to that.
As a surcharge, eventually, it is possible to have a surcharge, but we'd like to wait and see. That is not included in the projection. At the same time, as I mentioned in the analysis, the price gap at JPY 74.1 billion, this is the ordinary activities. Rather than single year, the cost increase and the improvement through our initiatives will be included, as we have been doing. Partially, with this JPY 70 billion, we want to offset the impact of the tariffs. As I said at the beginning, we'd like to wait and see what would happen and consider how to pass it on to the prices. Right.
When you try to watch what would happen, of course, we don't know what would happen to the tariffs, but say that after the 90 days grace period, and you mentioned that there's an inventory of five months. During the five months, you will look at what the competitors would do and then make a decision. Yes, basically, that's correct. On page 15, as I mentioned, the procurement structure changes for the different periods. How to reflect that to the price would be different. As you said correctly, we'd like to see what would happen. Thank you.
You mentioned that JPY 74.1 billion, that is the regular level, and the parts and the services, and also the mining and the construction equipment. When you have the breakdown of those, which part is bigger? Compared with the year before, this is a higher level.
Mining probably will remain, and the parts, there are probably more parts with the higher prices. If you can give us a bit more background.
First of all, 2024 fiscal year, as we mentioned in October and also January, the parts price increase was the big price increase. The parts is big and also the overall products. In comparison to the construction equipment, the mining equipment prices have gone up more. For the FY 2025, currently, what we factor in is, in comparison to 2024, the construction equipment price increase is probably stronger this time or higher. Just as last year, the parts price hike is big in terms of the amount and the percentage as well. That continues to be the same, but it is not as high as last year. To offset that, we include that to the finished product.
That is for FY 2025.
Thank you. My second question is also about the strategic growth plan. You mentioned ambition and also the solution provider, collaboration provider, the partner was mentioned. It is also related to the cash. To pursue the new areas of the business through the mergers and acquisitions, I felt that was something new. In the previous Mid-Term Management Plan, you mentioned that you would enhance your advantages. New areas of the focus, what are the new areas? If you can explain the way of thinking.
As a title, the positioning of the strategic growth plan was already explained. One of the values that we have at Komatsu, and at this 100-year anniversary, we had a global discussion. These are the values that we came up with. We chose the word ambition for this plan.
We want to be very positive and aggressive. As we explained, there are various areas of the challenges we have in economics and politics and so forth. We want to address those headwinds positively. Solution partner is the new term that we are using. As we mentioned in the previous term, we talked about the future and smart control. We mentioned that, and we want to expand that and to realize it as our positioning in the smart construction. I think that we have to become more of a solution partner. That was the word that came up in the internal discussion. We would like to work on that as a group as a whole. About the M&A, if you can mention that. As you know, since the past, we have been growing through M&A.
We'd like to watch the areas of the businesses, and we'll be working on the M&A positively. So far, as of now, we do not have any major M&A, but under GHH acquisition was done, GHM. Through those acquisitions, if we can grow mutually, we will be considering that in a positive way. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else from the floor? Goldman Sachs. Adachi San, go ahead.
Thank you very much. My name is Adachi from Goldman Sachs. I got two questions too. Number one, the growth strategy of the strategic growth plan. Page 47, you talked about growth strategy by business, but I mean, this sector itself is cyclical. It's really all about how you can grow the aftermarket sales. That's been a consistent challenge from the previous president. What will be the third pillar for that?
Would it be the emerging country or underground or forestry? I mean, what will be where would those scale-up businesses come from? What area would you expect the most?
In terms of the scale, we have so much potential to grow in the forestry business and in construction equipment, especially in aftermarket. We have grown the business, but the various efforts around the way, there is much potential to grow. We like to practically work on that. In terms of the region, as you see here, the Middle East and Africa, those are regions that are growing, that could grow in the future. This market growth needs to be captured as a business opportunity. That's areas we have to allocate the resources, and the Asian distributors need to grow and invest it. Also, we have to do that more in our efforts.
Those are something we'd like to do more.
What about underground?
Especially in North America, there was a management change like hard rock. What do you mean by underground? You meant underground?
Yeah.
Yes, underground, soft rock and hard rock. There are two buckets for that. Soft rock, the demand of the coal will edge down in the future, we believe. Still, it's a stable business. Our clients continue to keep using our products. We continue to support them to drive profitability. Its profit structure is in place already, but we continue to do that sustainably. Also, soft rock area, other than coals, like helium and also the others. These are some demands that remain. We continue to grow that. Hard rock. These were going to, including copper, these are going to the underground business.
Thank you.
Second question is a production and inventory. Still, five months inventory is for remain in the United States. You do not necessarily have a great visibility for demand. Production will continue to be consistent from the previous year, I think. In March, you disclosed the numbers. FY 2025, you said that you can expect a little bit. By six months, like first half and second half, the production will continue to, production will grow in the second half if the pace is consistent from the previous year. What would you say?
First of all, in North America, 2024 fiscal year, we squashed a lot of inventory. Wholesale was weaker in FI 2024 versus retail. At the end of FY 2024, we almost finished adjustment of inventory. FY 2025, slowly inventory will increase. That is what our plan says in North America.
As we look ahead at FY 2025, demand and production will continue to, production and demand will match in wholesale and retail. That's what the FY 2025 will look like. Conversely, in European markets, in FY 2024, we significantly decreased the level. We continue to slightly decrease inventory level in the market too.
Thank you. Could you please focus on the United States? The end of FY 2025, will the five months inventory be reduced to what level? Almost the same. Thank you.
Thank you. Now, we'd like to take questions from the remote participants. From Yomiuri Shimbun, we have Takamura-san. Can you hear me?
Yes. Takamura from Yomiuri Newspaper. Thank you.
First question, at the point of clarification earlier, the person from Nomura asked a question, and you have five months inventory, and as for the price reflection, you would wait and see what would happen. Mr. Imayoshi was giving that answer. Is that right? In addition to that answer, any reaction to the potential Trump tariffs? Anything that you are considering? Another question is on page 15. The local production of the construction equipment, you mentioned that the import of parts is high. What is the percentage? If you can give us the ballpark figure.
Yes, Imayoshi speaking. Yes, that's correct. The reflection to the prices in the United States is something that we will decide eventually.
As for the countermeasure against the tariff on page 16, the cost difference, as we mentioned on page 15, from the import from Brazil or components to manufacture in the United States and mining equipment parts, there are different products that are related. As a countermeasure that we can do right away, for example, the product export from Japan, if we bring that directly to Canada, that's one of the things that we can do right away. We have already started the initiatives, and the effect of that is already included here on the net basis. In the medium term, JPY 78 billion, JPY 140 billion for the full year. In order to offset that, we are working on the medium-term initiatives, and those are not yet included, but we like to be as effective as possible.
Thank you.
Thank you. Kuzesan from Nikkei.
Hello. This is [Kuze] from Nikkei Newspaper. Do you hear me?
Yes, please. Go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. I got two questions. Number one, on tariff. Let me clarify one thing. Each country retaliatory tariffs can be enforced, and would that impact come into the cost increase and demand fluctuation? Have you included those into projections?
Retaliatory tariffs have not been announced officially, so we haven't incorporated that into our plan. Only in China.
Okay, China. Only China does include numbers. Okay. Thank you. European markets, that's my second question. The demand is expected to increase, as you said, but because of the FX impact, the net sales are expected to increase, you said. Inventory adjustment will continue, I guess, but could you please clarify the overall picture in this market?
Are you asking a question on the European market?
Yes.
In the European market, 2024 fiscal year, considerably declining. Looking at the order trend, slightly it started to pick up over the last few months, and the rates were cut probably because of that impact for FY 2025. We are seeing the performance as a positive. Also, inventory adjustment will continue for fiscal 2025, as I said, but FY 2024 inventory adjustment was extreme. That impact will be gone for FY 2025. In terms of net sales, that will be increasing. Okay. Inventory adjustment in the European market, when will that be finished? I do not think it takes so much time. That will be finished in Q3 or so. That is my personal guess.
All right. Thank you. That is all from me.
Thank you. Coming back to this room, any questions? Daiwa Securities, [Aisan]. Tai from Daiwa Securities. Thank you. Just one question.
Last year, December business briefing, during that session, Horikoshi-san said that you would be focused on the cash flow and the capital efficiency and others. Those are factored into the strategic growth plan this time. As an extension of that, I think you talked about the difference of the PR against the Caterpillar . This time, I think you are probably keeping that in your mind. You talked about the leverage and others. Sorry to be long in the question, but Imayoshi-san, vis-à-vis CAT. Of course, that would be very difficult to beat CAT, but to get close to number one or to be on the equal footing, you said that you talked about the six-year in the future. As you talked with the various investors, I think that the discussions have been similar to the past.
How do you catch up with CAT in terms of valuation? I think that you have to really show the excitement of your growth. What was the discussion that you had internally and how to include that into the strategic growth plan? The forestry and underground, there are different areas, but it is very comprehensive. Among those, to catch up with the capitalist, what kind of stories are you going to be telling? Of course, maybe you do not have a conclusion, but what kind of discussion did you have?
In the strategic growth plan, in formulating that, we had various discussions. As we discussed so far, in comparison to capital, the business portfolio is not exactly the same. If you compare the construction and the mining, in terms of mining, I think we are on par on sales and profitability.
The construction equipment, the volume is much smaller, and profitability is still lower. One of the reasons is that the U.S. is a homegrown for them, and it's very difficult to compete against them. We are trying to work hard, but it's difficult to catch up with them quickly. I think that India, the Middle East, Africa, and also Asia, we want to grow in those areas and to capture the growing demand. Also, the aftermarket profitability needs to be enhanced. We want to improve our profitability. The capital structure, talking about that, as you know, it's completely different from the U.S. company, and the procurement structure is quite different.
As one of the messages that we can send out, I talked about the return policy and the JPY 100 billion share buyback that we plan to do. We are keeping that in our mind, and also we will be focused on the cash flow. That is how we are looking at this. This time, including the companies in China, you are showing the demand trend. Until now, in addition to China, you have Indonesia in the coming three years or six years.
I think you are more aware of those regions in terms of the spread of the graph. The part in China is not so different from the past. Are there any changes that you are feeding? As for the demand, not in terms of the competition, there are different areas and so forth that we decided to include this time.
That's an improvement. Competition against the Chinese players would become more intense. In the plan by region, we want to mention that. By region and by country, we have to have different strategies that we need to focus on. We stopped using the traditional markets and the strategic markets, but rather we want to think about the future. That's how we discussed in this strategic growth plan. We decided not to use the term strategic markets or the regions. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else from the floor? Are we good to move on? It's 10 minutes left. As much as we can, we would like to entertain questions from the people joining us online. I'd like to take questions from the people online. Mr. McDonald from Citigroup, do you hear me?
Yes, please. I'd like to be brief.
I got two questions. Number one, let me clarify one thing on tariff. Page 16, you said JPY 78 billion, JPY 78.5 billion. You said JPY 94.3 billion in the middle of the conversation. The JPY 15.8 billion of the gap between the two, I might have missed something. This JPY 15.8 billion is coming from where?
As you see in page 16, because of potential impacts from tariff, demand might increase, net sales might increase, and because of that profits might decrease. I said JPY 94.3 billion because we added those numbers into JPY 78 billion.
Okay, got it. Thank you.
JPY 50 billion decrease in net sales. Without potential Trump tariff, we had not projected this decrease. We should say that this is coming from the Trump tariff. That is why I said JPY 94.3 billion.
Okay.
Page 49. Strategic growth plan targets for financial.
ROE over 10% targets over the past three years. 14% or so, right? More than this 10%. This is about my question. Could you please be more straightforward? If you can decrease the gap of the valuation, maybe you can talk about the capital structures or so. What about you should higher aspirational target like over 15%? I have a question mark on this 10%. 40% or over, it's not that bad. This fiscal year 2024, the dividend payout ratio has been consistent. I get it, like a total payout ratio or total shareholder return, I think you should include those targets into this target. Didn't you have the discussion? The discussions around total shareholder return or total payout ratio and why do you think 10% or more target is valid? Could you please justify those targets? This is Horikoshi speaking. ROE 10% target.
I guess I talked about it before. For example, sustainability growth ratio. This math, net profit will increase into equity ratio and that will become denominator. Without doing anything, ROE decreases in a linear fashion. For example, 10% need to be sustained for ROE. For us to do that, then total payout ratio of 50%, then net profit needs to increase by 5% every single year. Otherwise, we can't maintain 10% of ROE or 40% of payout ratio. Net profit growth rate has to have 6%. Otherwise, we can't maintain 10% of ROE. Theoretically, such a higher level of ROE is very difficult. I know this is a logic and theory basis, but if you do the math, you get it. That's one thing. Total shareholder return or total payout ratio, and you should set the numbers. Yes, we discussed that thing.
Buyback, like a seven years and how much, like the one you see in the United States. We can do that in Japan from the legal perspective. We only talk about these things annually. If we say dividend payout ratio of some %, then how much buyback are you going to go ahead? That's the kind of calculation that investors and analysts will make. That will arise speculation. It's not a good thing. That's one thing. Total payout ratio, total shareholder return has been announced by some companies. If you analyze those companies, then if you pursue total payout ratio or total shareholder return, we can really get good numbers. Dividend payout ratio and the buyback based on future cash flow, potential future cash flow, we will do that in an agile manner. That's kind of the method some companies return.
Based on those ideas, I set those targets. I would like to have some more questions, but because of the interest of time, I would like to end my questions here.
Next question will be the last question. SMBC Nikko, Taninaka-san, go ahead.
Taninaka from SMBC Nikko Securities, thank you very much. Two questions. First, is the prices of the thermal coal coming down? Indonesia and the power generation, and you said that the demand is very solid. Once again, this thermal coal price is coming down, and what is the impact of that? Demand for the mining equipment, I mentioned is strong. Could you explain the background of that? Thank you.
Hishinuma speaking. About the thermal coal price, $50 and lower, it continues to be the case.
Having said that, when you consider the customer's profitability, even at this level, it is still positive. Looking at the situation in China, the import is going to be increasing. For the time being, we think that the strength will continue. That is our view. Thank you. Another question in this strategic growth plan. The growth, you mentioned that it would be higher than the industry average and also the profitability higher than the overall average of the industry. Those are the explanations. I am sure that the cycle is very fast, and that is why you did not give us the quantitative targets. I am sure that there were views to it is better to have come up with quantitative targets.
Why did you mention only the qualitative ones? The growth rate and also the profitability in the industry, what have been the reaction to your goals?
About the qualitative targets, yes, in discussing the strategic growth plan, we discussed that matter many times. Our industry is very cyclical. In the past, for example, one year after we made a plan, we achieved a target. That happened. There is also uncertainty or changes. We wanted to go with the qualitative targets. As for the profitability, we are one of the leaders in the industry, but we are not number one. We want to aim for the top level. We want to have the aggressive targets. That is one of the discussions that we had. In the previous midterm plan, the sales and profitability in comparison to Caterpillar three-year average, we did not see the big differences. About the sales and profitability, how do you evaluate your results in the past three years?
The growth of the net sales on page 11, as an average, 6.2%. Compared to other companies, this was quite good. Profitability, 16.0%. This is very high. As for CAT, it's about 20%. In comparison, we are number two. Compared to other competitors, we are better. In comparison to CAT, we further need to make efforts. As for the size of the sales in mining, depending on the forex, of course, but in comparison to CAT, the size of the sales is bigger and the profitability is better than CAT. The issue is in the area of the construction equipment. The volume difference is so huge. With the gross margin of 30%, when you have the same volume, profitability would be at a similar level. How do you increase the mass for the construction equipment? That would be very important.
Thank you for your explanation. Thank you very much. That's all.
Thank you very much for many questions. With that, we would like to end FY 2024 financial briefing of Komatsu Ltd. Thank you very much for participating, Deben. Thank you.