Good afternoon. I am Arai, in charge of Corporate Management Planning Headquarters. I would like to explain the consolidated financial results for the third quarter, fiscal year 2024. Please turn to page four for the financial results in the nine-month period ended December 31, 2024, and year-on-year comparison. Turns to overview, net sales, operating profit, ordinary profit, and profit attributable to owners of parent all recorded historical highs for the company. Net sales increased by JPY 31.4 billion year-on-year to JPY 791.1 billion. Excluding the FX impact coming from yen depreciation, it was up JPY 17.9 billion. Operating profit increased JPY 10.8 billion to JPY 68.4 billion, and operating profit ratio was up 1.1% year-on-year to 8.7%. In absolute value, it was up approximately 19% year-on-year.
As for non-operating profit, it increased by JPY 1 billion, mainly due to net interest expense, as we made investment in a factory in Malaysia in FY 2024 using loans denominated in U.S. dollars. This resulted in net interest expense of JPY -1.3 billion, foreign exchange loss of JPY 400 million, and others mainly comprising of cost of converting the business of our affiliated company in Malaysia, which was quite substantial in FY 2023, resulting in non-operating profit of JPY 2.7 billion, up in total JPY 1 billion year-on-year. Ordinary profit increased by JPY 11.7 billion year-on-year to JPY 68.4 billion. Extraordinary profit was up JPY 10.2 billion year-on-year to JPY 16.2 billion, mainly from gain on sales of investment securities. Last fiscal year, the gain came to JPY 6 billion, but this year we saw it increase significantly to JPY 16.6 billion.
With this as the main factor, extraordinary profit increased JPY 10.2 billion. Profit attributable to owners of parent up JPY 18.2 billion or 49% year-on-year to JPY 55.4 billion. Please turn to page five. This is a waterfall chart showing the breakdown of year-on-year changes in operating profit compared to the previous fiscal year. Operating profit was up JPY 10.8 billion year-on-year. Sales and production volume showed opposite trends for components and plant systems. Components, including factory automation business, semiconductors, automotive business, and ED&C components business, were negative, while plant systems, including substation system business, store distribution business, IT, and process automation businesses, offset the loss, resulting in increasing sales and production volumes of JPY 3 billion. As for fixed costs, labor costs, R&D costs, mainly related to investment into the semiconductor business, and depreciation increased, resulting in JPY - 7.8 billion.
Exchange rate effect increased by JPY 2 billion due to depreciation of the yen. Others increased substantially by JPY 13.6 billion. Effects of higher product selling prices came to JPY +3.8 billion. Impacts of rising raw material costs came to JPY -4.2 billion, half of which is for ED&C components business and rest for semiconductor segment and vending machines business. We were short of offsetting the rise in raw material cost with increased selling prices. Next, differences in model mix, profitability between projects, and cost reduction. Profitability between projects, mainly with plant systems, power supply and facility systems business, and equipment construction business, came to a total of JPY 9.7 billion increase year-on-year. Cost reductions of JPY 4.4 billion were realized in semiconductor segment with improved non-defect rate, vending machines business, and ED&C components business. With all these factors, others were up JPY 13.6 billion.
Page six onward, please find information on each segment. Page six shows net sales and operating profit by segment for the third quarter, fiscal year 2024, with year-on-year comparison. Semiconductor segment shows sluggish net sales, operating profit year-on-year. Energy segment, industry segment, and food and beverage distribution segment had recorded strong net sales and operating profit. Page seven shows business results by segment for the third quarter, fiscal year 2024, with year-on-year comparison. In energy segment, net sales increased by JPY 7.6 billion year-on-year to JPY 237 billion, and operating profit up JPY 5.5 billion year-on-year to JPY 20 billion. There are four businesses under energy segment. First, power generation. It had higher net sales and operating results as it recorded large-scale hydropower energy projects. Secondly, energy management business had higher net sales and operating profit due to large-scale orders for substation equipment.
Thirdly, power supply and facility systems business saw decrease in large-scale projects from overseas semiconductor manufacturers, but as demand from data center operators was strong, net sales was unchanged from the previous fiscal year, but we saw improvement in operating results. With differences in profitability between projects and cost reduction, operating results were positive. ED&C components business struggled because of lower demand. With lower net sales compounded with higher material prices, operating results were negative. Page eight is a business result for the industry segment. Net sales increased JPY 13.1 billion year-on-year to JPY 292.2 billion , and operating profit was up JPY 6 billion year-on-year to JPY 17.5 billion .
Automation systems business saw increases in both net sales and operating profit, as the benefits of increased demand for drive control systems resulting in higher net sales and operating results for process automation application counteracted the ongoing inventory adjustment due to sluggish market for low-voltage inverters for factory automation applications, which saw lower net sales and operating results. Both sales and operating profit increased for social solutions business due to increases in large-scale orders for nuclear power-related equipment. Digital transformation business has been integrated with IT solution subsidiaries since last year, in which large-scale projects increased, resulting in higher net sales and operating results. Equipment construction business saw lower net sales due to absence of large-scale air conditioning equipment construction projects recorded in the previous year, but operating results improved because of differences in profitability between projects and cost reduction initiatives.
Page nine is a business result for the semiconductor segment. Net sales increased by JPY 0.1 billion year-on-year to JPY 166.7 billion, and operating profit decreased by JPY 4.9 billion year-on-year to JPY 21.5 billion. Comparison of the industrial and automotive semiconductors as shown on the right-hand side of the page. Industrial was up JPY 7.3 billion, while automotive was down JPY 7.1 billion. In semiconductor industrial, renewable energy sector in China performed relatively well, while semiconductor automotive was negative due to decrease in sales to overseas customers, mainly xEVs. Semiconductors automotive saw depreciation increase in line with increased production, and sharp rise in raw material costs, resulting unfortunately in a profit decline. In food and beverage distribution segment, net sales were up JPY 6 billion yen year-on-year to JPY 85.5 billion, with operating profit of JPY 12.3 billion up JPY 5.4 billion year-on-year.
Both vending machines and store distribution businesses saw substantially higher net sales as well as operating profit. Vending machines saw benefits of cost reduction activities and increased demand from domestic customers. Store distribution business saw a special demand stemming from the issuance of newly designed paper currency in Japan, resulting in a few billion yen increase in net sales and operating results. Page 10 shows net sales for Japan and overseas area for the third quarter, fiscal year 2024, and year-on-year changes. Net sales were up JPY 31.4 billion in total, of which JPY 32.2 billion was in Japan, and overseas saw a decline of JPY 800 million, and if FX factors excluded, it was negative by around JPY 10 billion. Looking at overseas in Asia, due mainly to decline in power supply and facility systems business and semiconductor automotive business, net sales were down JPY 11.3 billion.
Europe was down JPY 2.5 billion, mainly due to decline in semiconductor segment. On the other hand, China saw increased sales both for semiconductor industry and automotives compared to the same period of the previous year, resulting in a net sales increase of JPY 12.3 billion. Net sales for Americas was slightly higher. Page 11 shows the amount of orders received in the nine-month period ended December 31, 2024. Orders received were up JPY 37.8 billion year-on-year to JPY 859.7 billion. Orders increased JPY 19.2 billion year-on-year in plant systems, strong performance mainly in energy management and power supply and facility systems businesses, showing JPY 33.6 billion increase in total. Major components were up JPY 18.7 billion year-on-year, but as yen depreciated further at the end of December, it was practically up about JPY 10 billion. Semiconductors, industrial, and ED&C components businesses had increased orders.
On the right of the page, the quarterly trend of the amounts of orders of major components as shown. Third quarter was up by JPY 10 billion from the second quarter, but as mentioned, favorable impacts of exchange rate of about JPY 10 billion is included. Therefore, excluding this impact, in real terms, it was flat quarter on quarter. ED&C components business was up by a few percent, but others were flat from the second quarter. Page 13 is a balance sheet comparison between March 31, 2024, that is the end of the previous fiscal year, and the end of the third quarter, December 31, 2024. Notes and accounts receivables, trade, and contract assets saw progress in collection, decreasing by JPY 46.1 billion. Investments of fixed assets and other assets decreased JPY 10 billion, with sale of investment securities. Inventories increased JPY 28.9 billion.
Property, plant, and equipment increased JPY 32.4 billion, mainly related to semiconductor segment. Total assets increased by JPY 24.1 billion to JPY 1, 295.3 billion. As for liabilities, interest-bearing debts were down JPY 33.9 billion, with advance payments received as a fund. Net interest-bearing debt was down JPY 29.8 billion to JPY 67.5 billion. Net D ratio was 0.1x , and with equity ratio increased to 49.3%, mainly due to increased retained earnings. Page 14 is a cash flow statement. In FY 2024, internal reserves increased JPY 98 billion, with cash flows from operating activities up to JPY 96.2 billion. Cash flows from investing activities increased JPY 19 billion due to sales of shares owned, but capital investment came to JPY 56 billion, resulting in JPY -41.8 billion in total. As for free cash flow, adding the numbers together comes to JPY 54.4 billion.
Cash flows from operating activities was up JPY 57.3 billion year-on-year due to increased internal reserves and decreased inventories and contract assets. Free cash flow was up JPY 56.9 billion year-on-year. Page 16 is a consolidated financial forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. No revision is made to the consolidated forecast for the full year. Net sales and operating result from last October. With the start of the Trump administration in the U.S., there are heightened uncertainty in the geopolitical and economic outlook. This is the reason why the forecast remained unchanged. However, revision is made to sales forecast of segments. Energy segment saw upward revision due to strong performance of facilities and power supply systems business. Industry segment was revised down because of delays in the recovery in demand for factory automation components, namely the low-voltage inverters.
Semiconductor segment was revised down due to weak overseas semiconductors automotives. Food and beverage distribution segment saw upward revision with expectations of strong demand in store distribution business. As you can see on page 17, the forecast is for net sales increase of JPY 10.8 billion , operating profit to increase by JPY 5.4 billion , with operating profit ratio of 10%. Profit attributable to owners of parent projected to increase JPY 10.6 billion , with ratio of profit attributable to owners of parent to net sales of 7.7%. By segment, energy will see higher net sales and operating profit. Industry segment will see lower net sales due to factory automation business, but slightly higher operating profit.
Semiconductor segment will see net sales increase but lower operating profit, and food and beverage distribution segment will see growth in both net sales and operating profit for vending machines business and store distribution business.
Page 19 shows amounts of orders received for ED&C components, low-voltage inverters, semiconductors, and vending machines businesses. As mentioned earlier, yen is trending lower in the third quarter, resulting in flat trend from the second quarter to the third, except for ED&C components. The figures for the third quarter against the previous year and the previous quarter are impacted greatly by FX rate, giving numbers that do not reflect the real picture, so please view them only as reference. Personally speaking, I believe we are on the conservative side when it comes to the fourth quarter numbers. We will promote an operating profit-loss ratio of double digits or more as the minimum target, and we are confident of achieving this target.
As I always say, there are uncertainties that make us look at the foreign exchange rates in a conservative manner, so if the current level is maintained, we can expect an upside of around JPY 5 billion in net sales and JPY 0.5 billion in operating profit. As for costs, we would like to see reduction of about JPY 1 billion, so that we will continue to advance our businesses forward, building further on the record high profits we are envisioning for ourselves. Thank you very much for your attention.