Thank you very much. First, Yoshida will give a presentation about our financial results, and after that, Kainuma will talk about our management policy and business strategy. After that, we will have a Q&A session. We are planning to end this session by 7:00 P.M. In line with the environment policy that we've made with the MinebeaMitsumi Group, we do not distribute presentation material by paper. Please download the material from the website utilizing the QR code which is on the top right of our questionnaire sheet. Please respond to our questionnaire. Today, with this meeting, including the Q&A session, this will be broadcast live on the internet. This meeting is recorded so that it can be viewed on our website afterwards. Please understand this situation. Please refrain from taking photos or recording this meeting, aside from our company personnel. Without further ado, Mr. Yoshida, please the floor is yours.
This is Yoshida. Today, I would like to explain the consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31st, 2024. Consolidated net sales for the fiscal year ended March 31st, 2024, totaled JPY 1,402.127 billion while operating income reached JPY 73.536 billion. That is a decline by 24.6%. And profit for the period attributable to owners of the parent has declined by 26.1% to JPY 54.035 billion. Net sales hit a record high and increased for 12 consecutive terms. Current currency exchange rates are estimated to have a year-on-year-over-year impact of JPY +73.3 billion in net sales and JPY +8.8 billion in operating income. We may cite restated retrospective changes to last fiscal years and this fiscal year's financial statements due to the PPA for HONDA TSUSHIN KOGYO and MINEBEA CONNECT and Minebea AccessSolutions.
Please note that both the full year and the quarterly results for the fiscal year March 2024 are revised. The figures on the following pages are using revised figures. Consolidated net sales for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year March 2024 was up 2.7% year-on-year and down 8.5% quarter-on-quarter of JPY 348.83 billion. Operating income was down 35.3% year-on-year and down 17.7% quarter-on-quarter to total JPY 20.342 billion. Profit for the period attributable to the owners of the parent decreased by 39.2% year-on-year and increased by 24-20.5% quarter-on-quarter to total JPY 18.327 billion. We estimate that current currency translations have a year-on-year impact of JPY +27.5 billion in net sales and JPY +4.4 billion in operating income. Quarter-on-quarter impact was JPY -3.2 billion in net sales and JPY -1.1 billion in operating income. This is the annual trend in net sales, operating income, and operating margin.
The bar graph on the left is net sales and the one on the right is operating income, along with a line chart for the operating margin. The operating margin for the fiscal year ended March 2024 was 5.2%. This was down 2.3 percentage points year-on-year. This is the quarterly trend in net sales, operating income, and operating margin. The operating margin for the fourth quarter was 5.8%. This was down 3.5 percentage points year-on-year and down 0.7 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. On this slide, this is the difference between the forecast as of February and actual results for the net sales and operating income by business segment for the fourth quarter. PMC sales, or P/T, exceeded the forecast due to steady sales for automotive and aircraft applications despite the slow recovery of the data center market.
MLS sales exceeded expectations due to motors, mainly HDD motors and motors for automotive applications, but sales of electronic devices fell short of the forecast. SC sales was above expectations, mainly in optical devices. AS was below expectations due to stagnant automobile production in China, Japan, and other countries. Operating income for P/T was generally in line with the forecast partly due to improvement in the mix of products. MLS exceeded the forecast mainly for HDD motors and motors for automotive applications. SC exceeded the forecast partly due to the effect of increased sales. AS was lower than expected due to lower sales. Next are the results by segment, starting with Precision Technologies segment. On the left is a graph indicating yearly net sales trends, and on the right is a graph with a bar chart showing yearly operating income trends along with a line chart for operating margins.
From the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2024, the subsegment name has been changed to Precision Mechanical Component from Pivot Assemblies. Going forward, we will call this PMC. In the fiscal year ending March 2024, net sales were up 7.1% year-on-year to total JPY 21.14 billion. Sales of ball bearings increased 1.7% year-on-year to reach JPY 14.88 billion. The monthly average of bearing sales volume totaled 240 million units. This is a decrease of 9.6% year-on-year. Looking at the sales by applications, we see that sales of products for automotive applications increased while sales of those used for data centers and home electronics declined. Sales of rod ends and fasteners were up 28.4% year-on-year to total JPY 45.2 billion. This is a record high level, recovering steadily from the effects of the COVID-19 with fiscal year March 2022 as a bottom.
Sales of PMC increased 10% year-on-year to total JPY 17.5 billion. Operating income for the fiscal year March 2024 totaled JPY 38 billion, putting the operating margin at 18%. We saw the operating income decrease 11.4%, and the operating margin declined 3.8 percentage points year-on-year. Looking at the year-on-year results by product, operating income for rod ends and fasteners rose while operating income for ball bearings declined in PMC as well. With fiscal year ending March 2025, sales for ball bearings for automotive will continue to be strong, and demand for data centers is expected to recover from the second half and sales will increase. In our aircraft-related business, including rod ends and fasteners, we expect aircraft production rates to exceed pre-COVID levels in the second half of the year, and we expect to achieve record results.
For PMC, we also expect recovery of demand in this fiscal year following the third quarter of 2024. Next is a slide of the quarterly trends. Fourth quarter net sales increased 7.7% quarter-on-quarter to total JPY 58.1 billion. Sales of ball bearings increased 2.9% quarter-on-quarter to total JPY 39.2 billion. The monthly external shipment volume was down 4.1% quarter-on-quarter for an average of 210 million units. This was due to the slowdown in the market, mainly for data centers, although the market recovery and content growth trend for automotive remained unchanged. Sales of rod ends and fasteners, totaling JPY 13.9 billion, were up 21.1% over the previous quarter. Sales of PMC increased 14.9% quarter-on-quarter to total JPY 5 billion. Operating income for the quarter totaled JPY 11 billion, and the operating margin was 18.9%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, operating income increased 12.2%, and the operating margin rose 0.7 percentage points.
Looking at the results by product quarter-on-quarter, we see the operating income for ball bearings, rod ends, fasteners, and PMC increased. Now, let's look at the motor, lighting, and sensing segment. Net sales increased 0.8% quarter-on-quarter to total JPY 369.4 billion. Looking at the results by product, we see that sales of motors increased 2.7% quarter-on-quarter to reach JPY 280.2 billion. This is mainly due to solid sales, particularly of motors for automotive applications. Sales of electronic devices were down 4.4% from the previous quarter to total JPY 49.3 billion. Sales of sensing devices, totaling JPY 35.7 billion, were down 4.7% from the previous quarter. Operating income was JPY 11.9 billion, with an operating margin of 3.2%. Compared to the previous fiscal year, operating income was 12.9 times higher, and the operating margin increased 2.9 percentage points.
In the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2025, we expect an increase in both sales and operating income due to steady sales of motors for automotive applications, a recovery trend in motors for HDDs, and an improved product mix. For electronic devices, we expect a decrease in sales and an increase in profit. For sensing devices, we expect an increase in sales and a decrease in profit. This slide shows the quarterly trends. Net sales increased 5.6% quarter-on-quarter to JPY 97 billion. Looking at the results by product, sales of motors increased 8.1% quarter-on-quarter to reach JPY 75.2 billion. This was mainly due to strong sales of motors for automotive applications and an increase in motors for HDDs. Sales of electronic devices were down 13.6% from the previous quarter to JPY 10.9 billion. Sales of sensing devices were up 3% from the previous quarter to JPY 9.2 billion.
Operating income came to JPY 3.6 billion, and the operating margin was 3.7%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, operating income increased 27%. Operating margin dropped 0.6 percentage points. Let's look at the performance for semiconductors and electronics segment. In the fiscal year ended March 2024, net sales decreased 6.7% year-on-year to total JPY 494.7 billion. This is due to lower sales in semiconductors and mechanical components, despite higher sales in optical devices. Operating income came to JPY 35.5 billion, and the operating margin was 7.2%. These figures represent a 14.9% year-on-year decrease in operating income and a 7 percentage points year-on-year decrease in the operating margin. The fiscal year ending March 2025 includes the results of Minebea Power Semiconductor Device, former Hitachi Power Semiconductor Device, which became a consolidated subsidiary as of May 2, 2024. This slide shows the quarterly trend. Net sales decreased 25.3% quarter-on-quarter to total JPY 109.5 billion.
This was due to decreased revenue, caused by seasonality of optical devices and mechanical components, etc. Operating income totaled JPY 9.5 billion, while the OP margin was 8.7%. Operating income decreased 25.5%, and the OP margin remained flat quarter-on-quarter. Finally, let's look at the Access Solutions segment. Net sales increased 65.4% year-on-year to total JPY 322.1 billion, in the fiscal year ended March 2024. This is due to a recovery in sales to the automotive industry and in-vehicle devices, in addition to the performance of Minebea AccessSolutions, which became our consolidated subsidiary as of January 27, 2023. Operating income came to JPY 10.6 billion, and the OP margin was 3.3%. These figures represent a 45.2% year-on-year decrease in operating income and a 6.6 percentage points year-on-year decrease in the operating margin.
In the fiscal year ending March 2025, we expect an increase in sales and operating income due to the impact of market recovery and business integration. This slide shows the quarterly trends of Access Solutions. Net sales decreased 5.5% quarter-on-quarter to total JPY 83 billion. This was mainly due to temporary adjustments in automobile production in China, Japan, and others. Operating income came to JPY 2.3 billion, and the OP margin was 2.7%. Operating income decreased 64.5%, and the OP margin fell 4.6 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. This was mainly due to a decrease in profits resulting from lower revenues. The bar graph here shows the trends in profit attributable to owners or parent, while the line graph charts changes in the profit for the period per share. The profit for a period was JPY 54 billion, and earnings for the period per share was JPY 133.1 billion.
Likewise, the bar graph here shows trends in quarterly profit attributable to owners of the parent, while the line graph charts changes in the profit for the period per share. The profit for the period was JPY 18.3 billion, and earnings per share was JPY 45.3 billion. Next, we have quarterly inventory trend. At the end of the fourth quarter, inventory totaled JPY 294.9 billion, which is JPY 5.6 billion less than what it was three months ago. This graph contains a bar chart showing trends in net interest bearing debt, which is total interest bearing debt minus cash and cash equivalents, and the line charts indicating free cash flow. At the end of Q4, net interest bearing debt totaling JPY 208.6 billion was JPY 6.9 billion from what it was at the end of the previous fiscal year.
Although operating cash flow is expected to increase at the end of the fiscal year ending March 2025, the company expects to make expenditures, mainly M&A-related expenditure, expenses for Minebea Power Semiconductor Device and the like. This is a summary of the forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2025. We expect to reach new record highs in both sales and operating income. Net sales are expected to increase in each segment to JPY 1.5 trillion, due to improved inventory levels in the end market. Similarly, operating income is expected to increase due to the effect of increased sales and continued cost reduction activities in each segment, as well as an anticipated market recovery toward the second half of the year. The exchange rate is assumed to be ¥140 to a US dollar. This slide shows the forecast by business segment. This is all for my part of the presentation.
Next, Chairman Kainuma, please.
I would like to talk about a management policy and a business strategy. This is a busy slide, but I hope we'll just read this through. There's some bright news. From January, in various areas, the inventory consumption has been ended, and for the high-value-added products, has started to recover and started to push up the revenue. I really did not understand, or I just focused on where the numbers went down. For instance, data centers, it was bad. The PAM motors were not selling well. The ball bearings were going down. I think, basically, I was looking at those type of news, but if we look at the current situation, it's not the volume is going up. The high-added value products have started to recover.
In hindsight, the high-added value customers' products inventory reduction has been going forward. I think that is the only way I can understand this situation. And the average unit price has started to go up. So, the JPY 70 billion is our assumption. And the last fiscal year, we had to make a down revision twice. But as a result, we have been able to achieve 73.5%, which is a 5% up from JPY 70 billion.
The reason is that the product mix has improved more than we expected. So, in the domain of others, I think we have seen a recovery. And in others, it's a lot of varieties, small lots, and high-added value due to this situation. I think this is the most understandable way to explain this situation. And under the topics is the Hitachi Power Semiconductor Device. We have that topic. And Access Solutions, JPY 10 billion.
We have committed to that. It was JPY 10.6 billion, was it? We have been able to achieve that, and I think that's good news. So, for this fiscal year, as you can see here, so, JPY 100 billion of operating profit. So, we are talking about whether it be JPY 105 billion, JPY 103 billion. I was wondering which number we should be. But in terms of the message, we should be conservative at JPY 100 billion. I hope that you will understand this number this way. So, in terms of the exchange rate, JPY 140 is our assumption. And I have just said the product mix has started to change. This means that this is just the fresh news that I have received. April's operating profit is about JPY 7 billion. So, JPY 7.8 billion was our assumption.
I won't say that it's double our assumption, but it has been better than our expectations by a much larger margin. So, put in terms of JPY 4.4 billion, multiply that 3, so JPY 13.2 billion would it be. I think that the aircraft and those so the high-end ball bearings have started to recover. So, I think as they started the fiscal year, I think it has been a long time since I have been able to talk in front of you with a kind of a, you know, good projection. So, from this first quarter, I think basically I was just looking at JPY 6.9 billion. So, maybe I was a bit pessimistic. I was just wondering what we're going to do for the second half for the last year.
But for this fiscal year, the start is much better than I have expected. So, I'm a bit relieved. In terms of the headcount, in terms of 6,000, this is the automation project and other labor saving situation initiatives have been taken. So, compared to two years ago, end of March, and compared to the end of March this year, if we compare year-over-year, in terms of the temporary staff, including the temporary headcount and including the regular headcount, so the headcount has been reduced by 8,173. This year, we're trying to reduce another 5,000. I think this will be another driver for our revenue. So, looking at this slide, I think this wasn't received very positively, but I think this is very clear. So, it has these numbers, plus 11, 10.1, 6.4, etc.
So, what this means is that, so 70 when there was JPY 77 billion, if the situation has started to recover, this would be the level of, you know, profit that we'll be able to achieve. So, this is an image. And in parenthesis, what, so if we look at PT, JPY 13 billion-JPY 17 billion. So, that has been the range that we are assuming that the recovery would look like. So, this year, under this conservative plan, if we just break it down, so it will be this bold color number, so precision, JPY 11 billion, motor and lighting and sensing, JPY 10 billion plus.
So, there will be an improvement of JPY 26.5 billion. So, if you look at this on the left-hand side, on black, so it's a bit light color. But for instance, if you look at PT, it recovery is a range of the recovery JPY 13 billion-JPY 17 billion.
You're looking about JPY 11 billion, meaning that it's, it's not as the recovery is not as strong as you expected. That's true. In terms of volume, it has not recovered fully. I think I'll talk about it later. The data centers and all, all of other area, domains is going to, recover. We're going to have able to resolve the fixed costs, meaning that, the numbers within the parentheses will be able to achieve. So, this is not, you know, a full recovery. Maybe a moderate recovery.
Going to motors, this fiscal year, JPY 25 billion in the operating profit, it will be the target. So, the JPY 9 billion-JPY 11 billion recovery, this is included in that. So, meaning that, for motors, it has, basically recovered in full. So, SE, the range is JPY 7 billion-JPY 9 billion. In terms of the actual ball bearing recovery, it's JPY 2.6 billion.
In terms of the full-fledged recovery, you're still in the midst. So, at semiconductors, mainly in semiconductors, this is where we have to really focus on. So, for Access Solutions, between 9 to 11 billion was what we have to assume for the recovery. But 17 billion is the target. So, maybe you will say them, "Oh, oh, isn't it 20 billion?" But one is that, we are conservative. And the Chinese market seems to be mainly in EV is not strong right now. So, we decided that our outlook should be rather conservative. So, that's the reason why we are showing these numbers. So, not as high as 9 billion, as you I think this is the way you should interpret these numbers.
So, for 11 years in a row, in terms of the sales, we have been able to see a net level high. So, JPY 2.5 trillion on March 29, I think, basically, we are on track to achieve these numbers because this will be mentioned later in the midterm business plan. We have advised it in a conservative manner. So, if we look at this trend, about to, to achieve JPY 2 trillion, with business, basically, we'll be able to achieve that as business as usual. So, some, if we have a Mitsumi level M&A at some term, so, I think we'll be able to 2 point trillion. I think the issue is the JPY 250 billion operating profit. Well, we were going to make the semiconductor business as a second sphere. So, we by expanding, we are going to focus on expanding the high-margin products.
So, this is the revised, three-year and midterm business plan. In terms of PT, I think we have already mentioned this, so I will not repeat. In terms of old screws, I would like to refer to that later. For the aircraft business, the supply chain situation has started to be solved. And in terms of the possibility, it will improve going forward. So, in terms of the data centers, so, as appendix, in terms of liquid cooling solutions, what was the impact on the PAM motors? We have our view about that. But, for instance, for the data center, fans for data centers like we produce and the spindle motors for data centers, in terms of the increase of that, if you look at the trend, basically, it's in parallel. That's what it seems to be.
So, our interpretation is that going forward, we're going to see a recovery. But in terms of that, we think that, at least, we have seen a bottoming out of the situation. So, from Tsubaki Nakashima, we have acquired the ball screw business. We have decided to acquire this by December of this fiscal year. For that, we want to be prepared for the coming robotics era, motors, grippers, connectors, semiconductors, these and motors, these should be integrated. And one of the components is ball screws and ball weights. So, my challenge is that in the PT business, how am I going to grow this business? So, we have been focusing on the electronic component business or the e-equipment business. But the PT was left behind.
PMC, this is going to grow, which I will refer to later, and ball screws, these types of products will be an add-on to the profit of PT going forward. And that's my view. And I think taking this initiative will nurture and grow our PT business, which is a cash cow. So, for the Tsubaki Nakashima business, it's small in size. But for our ultra precision processing technology that we have, we can utilize that in this business. For the motor business, excluding some areas, overall, we have started to see a recovery. For the industrial machinery, oh, this is not related to our motors. And, for instance, at textiles, there's still some recovery that has to be happening. But overall, the motor business has recovered specifically for spindle motors. For the high-end spindle motors, has started to recover.
From our point of view, motors will be able to achieve JPY 25 billion when I would become president. So, for 20 years, it was a minus JPY 3 billion yen, loss-making business every year. This was the kind of business this was. But the JPY 25 billion operating profit will be the target for the motor business, and we would like to achieve this. So, why are we able to do this? This is shown in this diagram. So, 10 years ago, there were some motors that did not exist, but we have been able to enter these areas like HVAC actuators, that is about 60%, more than 60% of market share as we already have. We already have some orders already. I think, basically, this is a given. And actuator for valves, active grill shutters.
10 years ago, we did not have these type of products, but we have developed these products, and we have been able to get a certain level of share and get into the market. That has led to the results of the current motor business. Going to the semiconductors and electronics business, so the second plant of Cebu plant is going to start up in earnest. We want to secure a profit and grow the semiconductors. And this is going to be talked about on the next page and onwards. So Minebea Power Device, which used to be Hitachi Power Device. So what can be realized through a business integration? I might have touched upon this several times in the past, but the model processes and the post processes. But IGBT side gate, this has special design and SiC.
So, side gate IGBT performance is expected to be very close to that of SiC, if not exactly the same. The various customers are giving us inquiries, and we are in the process of developing. So, this is, in my view, the biggest difference. As such, as you can see on the right-hand side, automotive is one thing. But the middle power and the high power power source, we have a power supply business, which is the weak power. Using our chips and modules, we can work on them. And what that we have not been able to do for some time, high-voltage motor, which is used in the home appliances and the like, the former Hitachi motor driver people joined us this time around. And we can enjoy the benefits of integration, so I heard. So, we would like to capitalize on the integration.
The problem here is the sale, the operating income being too low. A full-year amount is about JPY 4 billion, which I'm sure has been already explained to you. Operating income has been around JPY 4 billion, and the revenue is around JPY 40 billion. You can easily calculate OP margin. The OP margin is very low, and we must increase that as soon as we can. This month, our management and their management will have an off-site meeting spending a few days. We must make sure that we make the first step right. Because if we make a wrong step, like, instead of north, we go the west, this is an analogy, but we must make sure that we put forward the first step in the right direction. Tsubaki Nakashima is also having an off-site in June.
So, we must step forward in the right direction in order to solve the problems. Eight Spears, analog, the integration is done, and it has surpassed a motor, and now it's number 2. And the motor people seem to be disappointed, but now they are ready to fight back. And JPY 2.5 trillion is now visible. But the JPY 250 billion is not yet visible. So, we must focus on earnings, high margin. Access Solutions has achieved JPY 10 billion. And therefore, this term, this term, we are taking a conservative view, and that is because the Chinese market requires special attention. We can never be complacent with regards to the Chinese market. And there must be lots of back orders.
But looking at the OEM situations, it may not be so big. The back orders may not be that big. So, we are taking a conservative view in our forecast.
Now, integration, the various integration products, how they are, this is for your reference to look at, later on. So, two pages explain that. And there are various challenges that have been taken up. And some of them cannot be written here. And the bed sensors, we are now making pretty good ones. So, three pillars, we say, organic, like, GDP, when GDP grows, then the high-quality parts will be selling and M&A. And the third one is solving social issues. So, with these products, we would like to solve social issues. This was reported in today's newspaper. We are constructing a second plant in Cambodia, 500,000 square meters. The current one is 200,000 square meters. So, the new one will take 2.5 times a bigger site that we have purchased the land.
What we plan to do there is to respond to the expansion of PMC products, PMS or PMA products. And PMC is taking lots of orders like tier one customers requirements, nozzles for fuel pumps and turbo shafts. Such inquiries and orders that we are receiving in Thailand, they cannot respond to such requests. And in Thailand, we are already having space issue. And overflow products from Thailand are now being manufactured in the plant number 3 in Cambodia. So we need second plant in Cambodia, Pursat in Cambodia. It has a very well-prepared carbon-free infrastructure. So we thought this would be the good choice. It's about 2.5 hours drive from Ho Chi Minh City. So the distance is similar to between Bangkok and Lopburi. And machined products that we can handle there and the redundancy.
When we received smartphone orders from Sony, we purchased a plant, a television set plant from Sony. There was an inquiry, and nobody was able to respond to that inquiry. But we were able to because we had already purchased a plant. So, the quick response is one of our strengths. We are always thinking about the redundancy. Why Cambodia? First of all, the government is investor-friendly. As I said, Cambodia is proactively working on carbon-neutral power sources in Pursat, and the biomass company, which is going to be a joint venture with a Japanese player, will be established. Also, there is a very limited forex risk against the US dollars. In order to fulfill the social responsibility, we are seriously working on the carbon neutrality.
Cambodia, as you are aware, we are spending JPY 6 billion to construct a large-scale power generation facility in Pursat and in Thailand, 150 megawatts. It's not triple size, but it's quite huge. Solar farm, solar panel farm we are to construct. Thailand consumes 45% of the total electricity our entire group consumes. And renewable energy will be able to cover 33% of energy consumed by Bang Pa-in and Lopburi and 12.5% of the entire energy consumed by group. And Cambodia and Thailand, combined, JPY 23 billion investment that we will be making. And at the AGM, we will be changing articles of incorporation and include a renewable energy business in the purpose of our business.
So this is about the dividend payout. Previously, I previously said that we are taking a conservative view, but if it reaches and exceeds JPY 100 billion, we will of course think about dividend hike.
I am not to explain about this, but don't I have appendix? Yes, yes. Fortunately, thanks to your guidance for 15 years, March 31 of this year, I have been able to fulfill the responsibility for this company. I would like to briefly explain about the history of past 15 years. I have put together such a history, and I would like you to read it during your leisure time. M&A, I looked back. The JPY 610 billion is the total revenue of those companies we bought at the time that we bought them. But now it's JPY 800 billion, and excluding this, it's organic. JPY 49 billion is the recent operating profit total and the share price. Looking at the 15 years, we can see good performance. Data center, the cooling method, I would like you to read later on.
So, this concludes my presentation. Thank you for listening. Let's go into the Q&A session.
We will receive the questions limited to international institutional investors and analysts. Before you ask your question, please state your name and your company name. Please raise your hand, and we will bring a microphone to you. So, on the very front row, please.
Thank you very much. Takaaki Funko, Goldman Sachs. I have two questions. So, in terms of this year's forecast, when you look at conservative the semiconductor and consumer electronics, it was a bit lower than our expectations. I would like to look into the contents. When you see such power, the sales and profit, how much this will be reflected. On the other hand, for the existing actuator or the semiconductor business or the mechanical structures, how this will be reflected on a year-over-year basis.
Can you refer to that?
In terms of the semiconductor business, so the, the existing Minebea semiconductor ABLIC, so the profit level year-over-year will be flat. That is our assumption. On top, based on this, power device on the 1st of May is being integrated. The 11-month worth will be reflected. And as Mr. Kainuma has said, for, 40-something sales and 10% of profit, is, will be reflected. So, that will be, first of all, in terms of semiconductor, that is how it will look like. In terms of the optical devices, last year's profit compared to two years ago, the profit has gone down considerably. And the major reason behind this is in the first quarter, the previous year's first quarter, the former model went down. And, there has been a lot of loss coming from that.
So, we think we'll be able to recover, to recover to the current market share. We have adjusted that for the full year of August, the year-over-year. It's JPY 2 billion positive coming from that initiative. That's for the optical devices. For the mechanical components, that basically the same as the previous year. And as a result, JPY 35.4 billion. The last was last year. This year plan is JPY 38 billion. That is how the numbers will look like. And that is our forecast. Excuse me. For the semiconductors or the mechanical components profit, flat year-over-year. The optical devices, increase. If you look if you reflect power, maybe some areas will be seeing a decline, or else it will not add up. In terms of the decrease in profit, maybe slightly. Switches, switches. There are no new models.
We are not assuming that this will not be, you know, sold. So, that will be one of the elements for a decline in profit. Switches. So, the optical devices, nothing new is coming up. And semiconductors, although moderately, it's going to bottom out. In terms of the sales, it's going to recover slightly. But the CapEx, we are conducting CapEx, and fixed cost level has gone up. So, in terms of the profitability, it's a bit tough. But in terms of absolute value, profit will be the same as last year. And the power device will be added on.
Understood. Thank you. And my second question is, Mr. Kainuma, you have talked about so high-added value, profitable products that was not visible but has started to be more apparent. So, as a product, can you be more specific? Is it HDD, automotive?
I think there's a lot, various high value-added products. But what will be the biggest contributor for this fiscal year? What do you expect to continue to contribute? So, the data centers, fans, which are in the adjustment phase, I think the assumption is that they will start to recover. But do you have any view in terms of what timing this will be? You talked about the second half. You do meet with a lot of people. Do you have more specific ideas of when this is going to recover? Or have you started to see signs of recovery?
Well, the second part of your question, I think, Mr. Yoshida will answer. But I would like to answer the first part of your question. So, as a category, others will be a major driver.
So, across the board, to the medical areas, they have been conducting an inventory adjustment. Some areas, they didn't have money in during COVID pandemic. But we have gone through COVID pandemic, and they were able to get the budget and started to buy. I think there's a lot of stories behind this. But there's no specific thing that jumps out. So, across the board, you know, gradually, these type of, you know, sales are increasing. For the automotive business, we are doing strong, although slightly. It is continuing to grow. So, this across the board, evenly, the product mix improvement has been seen. Of course, I'm not saying that there's no impact coming from the foreign exchange rate. But that is one element as well.
In terms of the data centers, currently, the data center-related demand, so AI servers and the kind of general-purpose servers, I don't know how to categorize these. But in terms of the AI servers, the type of, you know, products that we sell, whether it be fans or ball bearings, then we have started to see recovery at a certain acceleration. But whether it be servers or the data centers overall, whether this is driving the whole demand in this market, it's not always the case. When this starts to recover in earnest, well, I think in terms of the overall overarching trend, the data center market overall in the future, because so maybe the language model will become a kind of a video model. So maybe the general-purpose servers may be recovered.
But in this fiscal year, it is not the case that we are reflecting those large numbers. But for the type of general servers, in terms of the recovery, it won't be that large. But the so-called data centers investment has been very harsh. And the inventory correction has ended. In terms of the recovery in demand, I think basically the demand has gone back to the level where the to the real demand out in the market. In the second half of this year, we have reflected that type of anticipation.
So, in terms of the outlook for the ball bearings, this will be more not in this fiscal year or going into next fiscal year. We are hoping that we're going to see a full-fledged recovery for ball bearings in this area for next fiscal year. So, if you look at, can you show page 54? So, this is under appendix. So, on the lower right, AI servers, how much is this going to push up the overall market? So, this I'm showing you the image. According to our analysis, our surveys, going forward, if the user activity utilizing AI will become more active. And the data center servers of, well, and for the data centers where AI is going to recover. So, if you don't have AI, CAGR will be only 5%. If we have AI, it will be 16.5%.
That's what we are talking about. So, in this sense, if the dotted line shows that it's kind of a linear growth. But I think basically, it will look like it will be flattish for the time being. But ultimately, we're going to see a growth of 16.5%. I think that's the growth rate that we will be looking at. That's our view.
Thank you very much. Any questions? So, the person near the aisle.
Sato from Morgan Stanley, thank you for your presentation. Let me confirm the numbers, please. Ball bearings, January to March, external and internal sales as well as production, and April to June plan, if you can share with us the figures. So, January to March, production, and the unit would be million units, 262, 245, then 266. External sales, 214, 203, 212. Internal sales, 39, 38, 44.
January to March. Next. The quarter one onwards from April, production, 245, 268, 263. Sales, external sales, April, 217, May, 217, June, 224. Internal, 46, 46, 45. Q1, external sales average, 218. Q2, 233. Q3, 257. Q4, 259. Internal, Q1, 46. Q2, 47. Q3, 48. Q4, 50. Accordingly, production, Q1 average, 259. Q2, 282. Q3, 298. Q4, 316. Thank you. My second question is SE, optical devices. Page 34. This, second plant in Cebu, the super wide-angle. So, you will not take up periscope, but only work on the existing products. Am I right in understanding it that way?
Yes, that is correct.
Thank you. Another question about SE, the mechanical products, the sales. When do you think sales will recover in a full-fledged manner and start increasing?
Well, it has to do with our customers. It's rather difficult for us to share such information with you. But in terms of our guidance, our production plan from Q3, the revenue is likely to increase gradually.
Thank you. Also, my last question is as follows. The cooling method for data center you have explained. But fan and motors, so liquid cooling for liquid cooling, it's going to increase. But the liquid immersion type, are you going to work on that? Or what is your view on the liquid immersion type?
At this point in time, we have no such plans. We do not plan to enter into that area. It's like automotive automotive radiator using water. The automobile is cooled. And the radiator is used to cool the water. So even when liquid cooling is used, the liquid that needs to be cooled, and therefore, fan motors are necessary.
As a bearing, motor manufacturer, we believe that there will be additional value because it's going to be larger. Size would be different. We will focus our efforts on that. As you are aware, there are so many integration products. We are focusing our efforts in those products in order to grow farther. That is our strategy.
Thank you.
Any further questions from the audience? The person on the very front, please.
Thank you very much for your presentation. I'm from Mizuho Securities. My name is Koto. I have three questions, actually. The first question is about the motor business, this fiscal year's plan. What is your thinking behind this? Against an increase of sales, the segment profit growth seems to be larger against the net sales growth. You so talked about the improvement of the product mix.
So, maybe this is going to continue into this fiscal year. But in terms of the year-over-year growth in the sales and profit, relatively, the profit seems to be growing stronger. So, what would you explain about that?
So, this is what I've been seeing. One is about the spindle motors. The high-end spindle motors have started to recover. And, it's not a very dramatic recovery. But every month, gradually, even more than the indicated orders, it's the recovery is stronger. So, this has been continuing for the past couple of months. So, I showed you the graph. So, the dotted line, the dotted line that I have shown you. So, for the data center spindle motors, of course, it's going to recover. So, that is a major change in the product mix.
The second reason is that there have been motors that did not exist 10 years ago is going to be sold. Or the motors that we did not produce, we have started to produce and sell. And that will generate added value. So, the mix of these things, the fan motors, fans for service, we are focusing very much on that. Our biggest challenge is the JPY 2,050 billion to achieve this level. Then in terms of sales, it is growing steadily for 12 years in a row, including this year. It's going to improve. That's okay. But how are we going to improve our profitability? The sales is going to grow. How are we going to increase our profit? That will be the next challenge that we are facing. So, taking 15 years, our business portfolio, we have been able to improve that to a certain extent.
I think we are now going into a phase that we have to show results. That's where we want to be in the market and get profit as much as possible.
Understood. My second question is about the access solutions and the profitability. What is your idea behind profitability? Last fiscal year, the second half, the improvement has proceeded. And you have said that it's going this improvement is going to continue into this fiscal year. If you, as you have the China risk. And I think the planning itself is a bit conservative. So within you have PMC. And as a potential, how far do you think you'll be able to grow this business?
So internally the initial forecast was much higher. But ultimately we will adjust that. And I thought that we should reflect some stress.
The reason of the stress is, as I've explained, last fiscal year, we have conducted a downward revision two times. I think we disappointed you. We wanted to be conservative. The Chinese market, day by day, I get the feeling that it is worsening. We should reflect some stress into our outlook. Those are the major reasons. I don't think that there are other special factors that I should be communicating to you. If we exclude those factors, what will be the potential level that you can target? What have you what change of these, you know, these structure that you have seen? I think I have a slide, that's page 26 showing you the image. JPY 9 billion-JPY 11 billion. JPY 10 billion was the base. It means that this between JPY 19 billion-JPY 21 billion.
So, if things continue as is, this will be the level of margin that we will be able to get.
Understood. My third question is about PMC. According to what you have said, compared to what you have thinking before, the top-line growth, it seems to be higher. It used to be the case that the pivot assembly has gone down. And how are you going to supplement for that? But you are proactively trying to grow this business. What is the reason why you have changed your outlook?
Well, maybe the pivot business has been will go away. We have been looking at that from the past. So, we are producing 55 million per month. But it has been considerably going down from that level. So, what are we going to do about this BU?
So, they are good at very precise process of cutting or shaving or those type of very precise process. We have tried to conduct the M&A, a very high margin or small businesses, about JPY 30 billion level company. We tried to conduct the M&A for a couple of companies with that level. I went over to them. I negotiated. But we are not able to buy even one company in this area. But our lesson learned was that this is a high-margin business. So, we put apart all the automotive. And we studied what type of components it goes inside a automobile. I think it was before COVID. I just forgot the precise date. But by going through this process, we actually checked all the components that go into the automobile.
We—this is maybe the kind of a cutting technology or the looking at each of the processes. We decided on the targets. We decided what will replace pivots. We started to discuss with the customers. We invited our customers to our factories. We looked at the technologies. We were able to prove that we'd be able to produce these products. The orders increased. It's not a thing that we started just yesterday. We have been engaged in this maybe 6-7 years. So, I think the essence of management is risk management. I always have been saying that. So, these backlights, even if the market goes away, we have the profit anyway. We know that it's going to go away. The pivot business, well, we won't go away. But we knew that the volume would go down.
We have been responding to that situation.
Thank you. Understood.
Any other questions? The second row are from the window.
Thank you for your presentation. I'm Hirata from UBS Securities. I have a few questions. The first question is about the Q4 of the previous fiscal year. Mr. Yoshida explained about the semiconductor devices. And optical devices had an upside. High-end smartphone demand has been a concern in North America. And the people were concerned about the downside. There's an upside. Why there was an upside? And, is it a time lag? Is it going to be a time lag? And, is it going to go down in the future?
Upside. Our forecast vis-à-vis the vis-à-vis our guidance, there was an upside, January to March numbers. It's not that January to March numbers were strong, Q on Q.
The market as a whole was stronger than our assumptions. Actual sales, the industry standard, it's not that there were major changes compared with the industry standard.
I see. Thank you. My second question is, this may be somewhat related to someone else's question. Is the semiconductor profit plan for this fiscal year, Minebea Power Semiconductor Device, will be consolidated? And the impact of that will be around JPY 4 billion and optical devices increase the profit. And unless there are major declines in other businesses, I don't think it will turn out as you expect. But am I right in understanding that you are taking a very conservative view?
Optical devices will have increased profit. But it's not reflected that much. And overall, there are no major positives either. So, this is as much as I can share with you at this point.
Thank you. My third question is, so you have earlier on talked about the liquid cooling and capitalizing on your ultra-precision technology like PMC. I'm wondering whether you can apply this for other areas like entering into this market with parts and components. Parts and components, are you thinking about the modules type? Because many parts and components will be used in modules.
For example, on this page, fan themselves, this is so-called the rear-a-door method. So the number of bearings used to power rock will be much higher. And the same applies to fans. And we would like to capture such opportunities. And needs for cooling is going to be greater, like a fan motor, some bearings, the high spinning and the high efficiency will be required by customers.
Such specifications will be required by some customers, if that is the case, the bearings, the high-quality bearings that we can supply. So, we should be able to capture much bigger business opportunities. Fan motors, fan motors and bearings, we would like to capture business opportunities with them. It may not be reflected on the numbers. But, the batteries, the battery modules, we are thinking about the many things, so storage of batteries. But at this point in time, there are no specific numbers I can share with you.
I see. Thank you.