Hello everyone, I am Miyoshi, and I'll be taking charge of the Corporate Management Planning. In April of this year, we abolished the existing President's Office and incorporated the Public Relations and Investor Relations Department, which had been handled by the President's Office, into Corporate Management Planning Headquarters. We will continue to be in charge of communication with investors. Thank you very much for your cooperation, and I would like to begin with a report on our full-year financial results. We achieved record highs in net sales, operating profit, ordinary profit, and profit attributable to owners of parent, and we also achieved our key target of an operating profit ratio of over 10%. Next, a year-on-year comparison of the consolidated financial results for FY 2024.
Net sales increased by JPY 20.2 billion to JPY 1 trillion 123.4 billion in real demand basis, without the gain on translation of earnings of overseas subsidiaries. Operating profit increased JPY 11.6 billion to JPY 117.6 billion. Details of the increase and decreases are shown on the next page. Ordinary profit amounted to JPY 118.8 billion. The total amount of non-operating profits was minus JPY 0.6 billion. This was due to an increase in net interest expenses, an increase in borrowings by overseas subsidiaries, and a foreign exchange loss of minus JPY 3.5 billion, while a one-time expense incurred by a Malaysian subsidiary in the previous fiscal year and income from subsidies added a positive effect of JPY 4 billion. Extraordinary profit increased by JPY 8.7 billion to JPY 14.9 billion, partly due to a gain on sales of investment securities.
As a result, profit attributable to owners of parent increased JPY 16.9 billion to JPY 92.2 billion, and the ratio of profit attributable to owners of parent to net sales rose to 8.2%. I will explain the increase and decrease in operating profits and loss. As for the decrease in sales and production volumes, the impact of production adjustments in FA components and semiconductors based on market conditions showed up, and although there was an increase in production in Food and Beverage Distribution segment and plant systems in the Energy segment, the overall decrease came to JPY 1.8 billion.
In fixed costs, labor, R&D, and capital expenses increased as part of investments for growth, but other expenses, such as the impact of provisions recorded in the previous year, for example, provision for losses in the Food and Beverage Distribution segment, resulted in a turnaround of JPY 4.9 billion for a total increase of fixed costs of JPY 8.5 billion. In added value and others, there was a JPY 3.8 billion effect from higher product selling prices, mainly in Vending Machines business for Food and Beverage Distribution segment and ED&C Components business. On the other hand, the impact of soaring prices of silver, copper, and other raw materials resulted in a total negative impact of JPY 5.8 billion, mainly in Semiconductor segment, ED&C Components business, and others.
The difference in the model mix and profitability between projects was driven by plant system projects, such as Power Supply and Facility Systems business in the Energy segment and Equipment Construction business in the Industry segment. Cost reduction effects in Semiconductor segment, vending machine business in Food and Beverage Distribution segment, and ED&C Components business in Energy segment had a total positive effect of JPY 22.3 billion. In total, added value and others increased by JPY 20.3 billion, and foreign exchange factors also contributed JPY 1.6 billion to the positive turnaround, resulting in operating profit of JPY 117.6 billion. Next is net sales and operating profit by segment. In energy, semiconductors, and Food and Beverage Distribution segments, these posted increases in both net sales and operating profit. Industry segments saw net sales decrease due to the difficult conditions in FA component business, but operating profit was up.
Food and Beverage Distribution segment saw operating profit increase by JPY 5.1 billion due to special demand for vending machines of new paper currency, and this operating profit ratio rose to 12.5%, contributing to the increase in profit in particular. In the Energy segment, net sales increased JPY 8.1 billion, operating profit up JPY 2 billion, and the operating profit ratio improved by 0.4% to 9.2%. Energy Management and Power Supply and Facility Systems business contributed particularly to the results. On the other hand, Power Generation business saw higher net sales due to large-scale renewable energy projects, but a decrease in operating profit due to increased expenses associated with thermal power and geothermal power generation projects.
In ED&C Components business, net sales was lower due to a delayed recovery in demand, mainly from Finnish machinery manufacturers, and the impact of material price hikes of JPY 2 billion, resulting in a decrease in profit. In the Industry segment, net sales declined JPY 7.5 billion year on year to JPY 412.4 billion, while operating profit increased JPY 3.9 billion to JPY 38.2 billion, and the operating profit ratio improved 1.1% to 9.3%. Unfortunately, the mainstay Automation Systems business saw a decline in both net sales and operating profits, but other businesses increased their profits, resulting in an overall increase in operating profit as a segment.
Within automation system business, plant operations projects and process automation applications saw increases in both net sales and operating profits, but FA applications saw a decline in both sales and profits, resulting in declines in both net sales and operating profits for the subsegment as a whole. Social Solutions business posted higher net sales and operating profit, mainly due to increased demand in the transportation systems. Digital Transformation Solutions business posted higher net sales and operating profit, mainly due to an increase in large-scale projects, especially IT solution projects. In Equipment Construction business, net sales decreased due to an absence of large-scale projects for air conditioning equipment construction with low gross profit margin recorded in the previous fiscal year, but differences in profitability between projects and promotion of cost reduction activities had positive impacts, resulting in improved operating profit.
In Semiconductor segment, net sales increased JPY 8.8 billion to JPY 236.8 billion. Operating profit was up JPY 0.9 billion to JPY 37.1 billion. Operating profit ratio was down 0.2% to 15.7%. Foreign exchange had a significant impact, and excluding that impact, operating results unfortunately declined by JPY 0.3 billion. Net sales, on the other hand, increased by JPY 9.9 billion, excluding the impact of foreign exchange. The market trends of net sales for industrial and automotive are different, with weak demand for power semiconductors for xEVs overseas, while demand for automotive semiconductors in Japan is increasing. For industrial, demand was down in Japan, while overseas demand was strong, especially for semiconductors for renewable energy.
Operating results exceeded the previous year's level due to increased net sales and selling price revisions, despite the JPY 3.7 billion rise in expenses related to bolstering production capacity and the impact of material price hikes. The revision of selling prices offset the profit loss side of the business, as the price revision supplemented the volume impact of the product that fell short of the promised volume. In Food and Beverage Distribution segment, net sales increased JPY 4.2 billion to JPY 111.5 billion. Operating profit increased JPY 5.1 billion to JPY 13.9 billion. The operating profit ratio improved significantly, rising 4.3% to 12.5%. Although Vending Machines business net sales increased slightly, the operating profit improved significantly due to a provision recorded in the previous fiscal year.
Store Distribution business posted higher net sales and operating profit, mainly due to special demand for automatic change dispensers to accommodate issuance of newly designed paper currency in Japan. Next is net sales by Japan and overseas area. Sales in India have been added as overseas area. Previously, it was included in Asia and others, but the scale of the Indian business has been expanding, and we have made it a separate disclosure item starting this time. While sales in Asia and others decreased due to the absence of large-scale projects recorded in the previous fiscal year, net sales in India increased by about 20% to JPY 28.5 billion, mainly in small capacity power supplies for Automation Systems business. Next, orders. Orders received in FY 2024 were JPY 107.5 billion, higher than the previous year's JPY 1 trillion 109.8 billion. They totaled JPY 1 trillion 217.3 billion.
Plant systems in Energy segment jumped by JPY 82.6 billion over the previous year. The main drivers were power generation plants, power receiving and transforming systems for energy management, and power supply and facility systems. These figures are real-time changes from Q3 of major components without the impact of exchange rates. Automotive semiconductors showed a significant growth because the figure includes the settlement of the impact of all the differences between the volume we promised to our customers and the actual volume in Q4. The full year results are compared against our forecast released on January 30th. Net sales increased by JPY 9.4 billion, but if you include the impact of foreign exchange rates, net sales actually decreased. Meanwhile, operating profit increased by JPY 6.1 billion, even when JPY 2.3 billion of foreign exchange impact is included.
By segment, Energy segment reported lower profit due to higher power generation plant costs. Semiconductor segment's operating profit improved by JPY 4.6 billion. Factors contributing to improvement include JPY 1.9 billion from favorable foreign exchange rates, cost reduction, and recording of one-time expenses that had been expected in automotive semiconductors as an extraordinary loss. Capital investment totaled JPY 85.2 billion, up JPY 16.9 billion from the previous year. With the exception of semiconductors, capital investment progressed largely in line with the plan at the beginning of the fiscal year. In Energy segment, we installed a large-capacity short-circuit test equipment. In industry, we introduced smart meter assembly lines. Capital investment in Semiconductor segment increased by JPY 16.3 billion, but the scale was reduced by more than JPY 10 billion from the initial plan because of weak market conditions.
Investments were made to augment production capacity of the front-end process, such as for silicon carbide semiconductors and 8-inch silicon wafers and the back-end process. R&D increased by JPY 1.7 billion from the previous year to JPY 37.8 billion, and although there were slight ups and downs by segment, R&D budget was implemented largely in line with the plan at the beginning of the fiscal year. It was based on the midterm plan with an eye beyond the period of the plan. Next, balance sheet. Total assets decreased due to investment for growth, mainly in Semiconductor segment, and a JPY 35.6 billion increase in fixed assets. In current assets, inventories increased by JPY 12.5 billion. Trade receivables decreased by JPY 12.3 billion due to progress in collection, mainly those for plant projects. Interest-bearing debt decreased by JPY 58 billion as retained earnings increased.
Net interest-bearing debt came down to JPY 42.2 billion. The net debt-to-equity ratio was 0.06 times. ROE was 14.3%, ROIC 12.9%, and equity ratio was 52.7%. They all indicate improved financial position of the company. Next, cash flow. Cash flow from operating activities increased significantly due to an increase in net profit as well as an increase in collection of trade receivables. Cash flow from investing activities remained flat because proceeds from the sale of shares offset increased capital investment. Free cash flow stood at JPY 81.5 billion, a sharp rise from the previous year. The year-end dividend was determined to be JPY 85 per share, resulting in an annual dividend of JPY 160 per share and a payout ratio of 25.2%. This concludes my briefing on the financial results.