Good afternoon. This is Akitoshi Ichii, President and CEO of NSK. Thank you for joining our financial conference. I will report the full year results, forecast, and progress in the midterm management plan, and future policy for the steering business. Let's begin on page four, which shows the key points of the financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31st, 2025, or fiscal 2024. As explained on the slide, we posted a year-on-year increase in both sales and profits and recorded JPY 4.6 billion in restructuring expenses. We finished the year with sales of JPY 796.7 billion and operating income of JPY 28.5 billion, or JPY 36.4 billion excluding one-time items. Below the results, we have a summary of the full year forecast for this fiscal year, fiscal 2025. In this uncertain economic environment, we have assumed that volume will remain flat from the previous year.
In addition, we have adopted a policy of passing on the impact of additional tariffs in the U.S. to sales prices. We also expect the yen to appreciate against the U.S. dollar and to record one-time structural reform expenses of JPY 6.5 billion. We are projecting sales of JPY 760 billion, operating income of JPY 22 billion, or JPY 30.5 billion excluding one-time expenses. We have set 2.5% dividend on equity as an approximate lower limit and plan to continue to pay a stable dividend of JPY 34 per share in fiscal 2025, the same as the dividend of JPY 34 per share in fiscal 2024. Next, on page five, I would like to go into further detail on the full year results. Sales came in at JPY 796.7 billion, while automotive sales declined by about JPY 18 billion year-on-year. Sales of industrial machinery increased by about JPY 6 billion.
In addition, the depreciation of the yen has also contributed to the increase in sales. Operating income was JPY 28.5 billion, an increase of JPY 1.1 billion year-on-year, which increased due in part to the exchange rate impact. In addition, compared to the forecast announced in October 2024, industrial machinery came in slightly lower and automotive came in slightly higher, but we were able to achieve increases in both sales and profits thanks to a slight increase in sales, the effect of the yen's depreciation and by suppressing operating costs. Next, on page six, I will touch on the factors behind change in operating income. The blue bar on the left side shows JPY 27.4 billion, which is the full year result for fiscal 2023.
From there, real volume fell by JPY 3.5 billion and profitability increased by JPY 4.2 billion, which includes inflating and unexpected costs and the effects of structural reforms and improvements to our business structure toward profitability. Overall, we finished the year with operating income of JPY 28.5 billion, including one-time expenses related to structural reforms and the impact of foreign exchange rates. One of the reasons we were able to achieve this result was that we succeeded in making improvements to our business structure. One of our challenges was that the growth of the industrial machinery business was weaker than expected in the second half of the year, and we may have been a little late in optimizing labor at our plants. Next, on page seven, we have the breakdown for the industrial machinery business.
The total sales for fiscal 2024 was JPY 361.5 billion, an increase of 4.8% year-on-year, including exchange rate impact. Operating income was JPY 13.9 billion, an increase of JPY 5.9 billion. Looking at the full year, the pace of recovery and demand was slightly sluggish. Year-on-year, sales of bearings for machine tools and rail cars increased. There was a rebound in sales of precision machinery products for machine tools and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In the fourth quarter, operating income was 6.2%, partly due to JPY 1.8 billion in one-time factors such as structural reforms. There were some differences between the third and fourth quarters, and in real terms, the operating income ratio for industrial machinery returned to the 4%-5% range. Next, on page eight, here I will explain our automotive business.
Although global production volume remained flat, Japanese automakers struggled, especially in the Chinese region, and the sluggishness in Europe was conspicuous in fiscal 2024. Sales were JPY 401.7 billion, including the impact of exchange rates, down slightly by 1.7%, or JPY 7.1 billion. In real terms, excluding exchange rates, sales were down by about 5%. Operating income was JPY 16.1 billion, a decrease of JPY 2.5 billion from the previous year. One-time expenses related to structural reforms were about JPY 3.1 billion for the entire year, as shown here. The differences between the third and fourth quarter figures are the same as for the industrial machinery business. If you look at the third and fourth quarter figures together, you can see that the performance of the business has recovered to about 4.5%, similar to our past results. Next, on page nine, we will show a breakdown by region.
In Europe, sales for industrial machinery and automobiles remain sluggish. In China, there have been signs of a slight recovery thanks to the recovery of the industrial machinery market. We are seeing that inventory adjustments are coming to an end and that the situation is normalizing, although still weak. The automotive industry is improving but still a little sluggish. In the Americas, demand continues to be firm. In Japan, the recovery of the industrial machinery industry is still a little slow, and the decline in the automotive market was noticeable last year. Next, on page 11 is the full year forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2026, or fiscal 2025. Please note that the steering business is not included here. With regard to our full year forecast, we have assumed that recovery and volume will be sluggish amidst an uncertain economic environment. Regarding U.S.
Tariffs, we plan to pass on the cost impact of additional tariffs to sales prices. We also plan to record structural reform expenses of JPY 6.5 billion this fiscal year, and in the forecast, we've included a positive impact of JPY 4.4 billion as a result of reforms. Our exchange rate assumptions are JPY 135 to the dollar, JPY 155 to the euro, and JPY 19 to the renminbi. Investment for the year is planned to be JPY 55 billion within the scope of amortization and the dividend or shareholder returns of JPY 34 over the year. The full year forecast is sales of JPY 760 billion, which includes approximately JPY 40 billion of foreign exchange impact and operating income of JPY 22 billion. Year-on-year, we regret to say that we are forecasting a decrease of JPY 36.7 billion in sales and JPY 6.5 billion in operating income.
Similarly, income before income taxes is JPY 19 billion, and net income is JPY 7 billion, which is also a decrease from the previous year. Next, on page 12, we have the breakdown of forecast change in operating income from the fiscal 2024 result to the fiscal 2025 forecast. Starting from the left, you can see the impact of the strong yen of JPY 9 billion. Volume and mix is also expected to have a slightly negative result. In response, we have incorporated into our plan for this year to continue to improve our business structure as we did last year. The improvement in profitability is aiming to achieve a benefit of JPY 6.2 billion after accounting for inflation, cost reductions, structural reforms to improve profitability, and the benefit reaped from the previous fiscal year.
In terms of one-time expenses compared to the previous year, we are forecasting costs of JPY 1.7 billion, which brings our forecast operating income to JPY 22 billion for the year. As for the risks of tariffs, we expect the impact of so-called Trump tariffs to be about JPY 12 billion on a full year basis. The tariffs will affect industrial machinery and automotive, with industrial machinery accounting for a 1/3 and automotive accounting for 2/3. We are currently negotiating with our customers, and our current feeling is that we will be able to offset the tariffs, but there may be some risks, such as the timing of when the results of negotiations come into effect. In addition, even though we have factored in a level of economic stagnation, we cannot rule out the possibility of a bigger downturn.
In this case, even if it is a downturn affecting 2%-3% of sales, that is still about JPY 20 billion, and in terms of marginal profit, it would be an impact of about around JPY 10 billion. In other words, on the risk side, if the JPY 22 billion in forecast operating income is further affected by a slight shift in the volume of goods sold and a slight shift in the transfer of tariff costs to sales prices, it may be reduced to about half. However, we expect that we will be able to maintain a surplus.
As for the positive side, our assumption is at JPY 135 to the dollar, and the actual impact of exchange rates may be lower than a negative impact of JPY 9 billion, such as reducing the impact by half or even more, and we may be able to expect a positive effect from volume, which we are forecasting slightly conservatively. Taking these factors into consideration, we forecast JPY 22 billion operating income for the year. The next page, page 13, shows the full year forecast breakdown by business segment: industrial machinery and automotive. As you can see in the table on the right-hand side, we have assumed that industrial machinery will remain flat in most segments, and automotive volume will also remain flat. Our forecast for sales in the industrial machinery business is JPY 352 billion, with operating income of JPY 13.5 billion.
In the automotive business, if we include a JPY 20 billion impact from exchange rates, we see a slight decrease in sales of about 1% to put us at JPY 380 billion, with operating income of JPY 10 billion. Both of these figures show a slight drop in profitability compared to the previous year due to the exchange rate impact. Next, looking at page 15, let me continue by saying that we are making progress in our midterm management plan in 2026. Page 15 was shared at a previous financial conference, but here I will highlight that our financial targets for 2026 are JPY 900 billion in sales and JPY 75 billion in operating income while promoting growth and improvement of our business structure and portfolio. Page 16 shows our progress on portfolio reform. The industrial machinery business is on the left, and the automotive business is on the right.
We feel that we are making progress step by step for both the industrial machinery business and the automotive business. However, demand recovery in the industrial machinery business has been slow, and we have been focusing on aftermarket precision products and MRO business, including condition monitoring. The red line on the left graph shows the percentage of sales in these key areas. As you can see, we got off to a good start up to fiscal 2022, but sales have since stagnated. We would like to further increase our sales in key sectors in fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026. As noted on the page, we will expand sales in the aftermarket and in the Americas and India. We are also working to expand sales of new products and target new segments, including precision and condition monitoring. We are determined to increase sales in these areas.
So far, we have achieved steady growth and sales expansion in India and the Americas. However, we are still lagging behind in securing adoption of new products, and this is where we are facing challenges. Looking at automotive on the right side, I would like to talk about EV customer expansion and market share increase. The upper part of the graph indicates that in terms of sales share, sales to Japanese customers have decreased from 78% to 69%, which means that we are improving and diversifying our customer portfolio. The lower section of the graph indicates that the sales ratio of strategic products has increased and is expected to triple over the midterm management plan period through fiscal 2026. We are making steady progress in expanding sales to targeted projects and customers and making progress in order intake.
One issue is that the number of orders and the number of vehicles produced globally each year is lower than expected due to the recent automotive business environment. How do we make up for this decline in sales growth, including through fiscal 2026 and beyond? This is a major issue that we are tackling. Next, on page 17, we have structural reforms. Here you can see we are reducing our labor force by around 1,000, with 600 in fiscal 2024 and another 400 in fiscal 2025. Unfortunately, the effects of the restructuring, including the production reorganization that we have promoted in Europe, Japan, and the Americas, are expected to be slightly less effective than expected for fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026, as volume or demand is expected to remain flat.
We will take additional measures to account for the slow recovery of the business environment and improve profitability in line with changes in the business environment. For fiscal 2025, 2026, and 2027, we will spend approximately JPY 8 billion to reap an additional JPY 4 billion in benefit, and we will proceed with the implementation of additional projects. The first is to further narrow down our production in Europe and review our sales structure. Looking at the situation in Europe, it is very difficult. In the midst of this difficult situation, we have decided to move forward with slimming down of production sites. We are also now reviewing the scope of product types to be produced in Japan and China. Fortunately, we are growing our sales and production of products for electric brakes, so we will review our production structure, including reinforcement of production of growing products.
Next, on page 18, I would like to summarize what I have said so far. This chart shows the targets of JPY 900 billion sales and JPY 75 billion operating income that we presented last May and how we are improving toward it over fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2026. We have set a target of JPY 15 billion for improvement and JPY 30 billion from growth and recovery in terms of volume to achieve JPY 75 billion operating income and ROE of 8% or more. The actual improvement results for fiscal 2024 and the forecast for fiscal 2025 are JPY 4.2 billion and JPY 6.2 billion, respectively, which means that we are on track for an improvement of approximately JPY 10 billion. Together with the additional measures for structural reforms that I mentioned earlier, we are on track to achieve JPY 15 billion in improvement by fiscal 2026.
In terms of improvement to reduce reliance on volume, we are aiming for an operating income of about JPY 40 billion on sales of JPY 800 billion at the fiscal 2023 level, which means that we must improve our profitability by 5% by fiscal 2026. In terms of the JPY 30 billion we had projected in growth and recovery, in light of the current business environment, we feel we may fall slightly short of our projection. Although we are expecting a recovery, we have a sense of crisis and believe that we need to take another step forward or accelerate our efforts in areas that do not rely on demand to recover. We will pursue about JPY 50 billion in sales expansion in key areas, which would contribute JPY 20 billion in operating income, and we will also pursue JPY 10 billion in additional fixed cost reductions.
In both cases, we are not starting from scratch, as we have already started to reduce fixed costs through the ultra stabilization of production and DX, as well as through new products and other projects. However, we are not yet at a point of fully realizing a JPY 30 billion increase in profits, so we need to work on firmly achieving this goal, and for us, we will move forward to aim for operating income of not just 8%, but 10% and beyond. Toward this, we will start planning a new midterm management plan ahead of schedule to fully incorporate and lead new initiatives. Next, on page 19, we have shareholder returns. Shown here is the dividend trend over the current midterm management plan. The dividend for fiscal 2025 is again JPY 35 for the full year.
I believe that sustainable and stable income is necessary to continue providing stable returns to shareholders. We will continue to work to ensure sustainable and stable shareholder returns, starting with the initiatives I mentioned earlier. Finally, on page 21, I would like to explain our future policy for the steering business. I will first explain our decision to buy back the steering business, which was previously carved out of our control. For the past two years, everyone in the steering business with JIS as a partner has worked very hard to turn the business around, including improving the structure of the business. Frankly speaking, it has been very difficult with the declining number of vehicles being produced, but thanks to a great effort, we have been able to create a solid business structure and return to profitability. I would like to say, well done.
We looked for a strategic partner for two years. We engaged with several companies and had a good feeling about them, but we had a set of firm goals of three years to return the business to form. We took the initiative to remodel the steering business as an independent standalone business and to continue to search for a new partner. However, especially in the area of finding a strategic partner, due to the increasingly difficult business environment in the automotive industry, we have not been able to reach a final agreement. Of course, we have reached the point where synergies have been identified and agreed upon between us and our prospects, but ultimately we could not progress. In this situation, we needed to make a decision on how to proceed regarding the partnership with JIS and whether to continue for a third year.
We decided that it was the right time, and we decided to buy back 100% of the shares. Naturally, we had to achieve profitability and improve the business structure, and we had to be confident that we could do this on our own. We are now confident, and we will continue to operate the business on a standalone basis. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, we have not been able to reach an agreement with a strategic partner, but of course, we have two or three new prospects that have come forward, so we need to be flexible in our discussions with them as well. Considering these circumstances, we have made the decision to buy back 100% of the shares. This concludes my presentation. Thank you.