Good afternoon. I'm Miyoshi of the Corporate Management Planning Headquarters. Thank you for attending the third quarter results briefing for Fuji Electric. The general overview of third quarter results is that the energy and industry segments continue to drive financial results, as we discussed during the interim results briefing in October. This is a summary of consolidated financial results for the first through third quarters on a year-on-year basis. Net sales, operating profit, and ordinary profit all reached record highs. Net sales were up JPY 60 billion year-on-year to JPY 851.1 billion. The increase includes JPY 4.8 billion of gains on translation of overseas subsidiary earnings. The increase due to the underlying growth in demand was JPY 55.2 billion. Operating profit was up JPY 5.6 billion year-on-year to JPY 74.0 billion.
We will look at factors behind movement in operating profit on the next page. Ordinary profit was up JPY 5.8 billion year-on-year to JPY 74.2 billion, owing to Forex gains booked to non-operating gains and losses. Extraordinary gains and losses were down JPY 16.7 billion year-on-year, mainly due to a JPY 16.6 billion decline in gains on the sale of investment securities recorded in the previous year. Net profit was down JPY 6.9 billion year-on-year to JPY 48.5 billion, owing to the movement in extraordinary gains and losses. We will now look at factors behind the movement in operating profit. On the negative side was a JPY 9.3 billion increase in costs related to future growth investment, including labor costs.
There was also a JPY 4 billion drag from rising raw material costs shown under added value and others. The higher raw material costs had a particularly pronounced effect on ED&C components in the industry segment and the semiconductors segment. However, higher sales and production volumes offset the increased costs and deterioration in the external environment, while differences in model mix and between projects lifted profit alongside cost reductions. As a result, operating profit reached JPY 74 billion. Of the JPY 12.9 billion increase in sales and production volume, over JPY 8 billion related to the energy segment and over JPY 4 billion to industry, with both segments making a significant contribution. This is an overview across segments. The energy and industry segments drove both net sales and operating profit in the third quarter.
The energy segment, in particular, generated an operating profit ratio of 12.7% for the three quarters, a 4-point improvement over the prior year. In the energy segment, net sales were up JPY 27.1 billion year-on-year, and operating profit was up JPY 12.8 billion. Sales and profit were up across all sub-segments. In power generation, sales and profit were up on large hydropower generation facility projects. In energy management, sales and profit were up sharply for both storage battery systems and substation equipment, driving the energy segment overall. In power supply and facility systems, demand for use in data centers remained brisk, driving sales and profit growth. In equipment construction, both sales and profit remained in an uptrend. In the industry segment, net sales were up JPY 32.4 billion year-on-year, and operating profit was up JPY 2.6 billion year-on-year.
In IT solutions, sales and profit were both up, driven by large education projects linked to the government-run GIGA School Program. In social solutions, sales and profit were up on higher demand for railway rolling stock. In factory automation components, demand rose for measuring instruments, but low voltage inverters remained weak. As a result, sales were up slightly, while operating profit was flat year-on-year. In automation systems, sales were up on solid demand for plant system projects, mainly in the steel industry, but operating profit was below the prior year owing to rising costs on large projects, as noted at interim results. For ED&C components, sales rose on a moderate recovery in demand from finished machinery manufacturers, but operating profit was flat year-on-year as higher sales could not offset surging raw materials costs.
In the semiconductors segment, sales were up JPY 6 billion year-on-year, but operating profit was down JPY 6.6 billion year-on-year. In the automotive business, sales declined on falling demand for use in EVs. Profit also fell on a combination of higher depreciation costs caused by production capacity investment and surging raw material prices. In the industrial business, sales were up year-on-year, thanks to higher demand in China and favorable Forex impact. In the food and beverage distribution segment, net sales were down JPY 5.9 billion year-on-year, and operating profit was down JPY 3 billion year-on-year. This owed to the dropout of special demand related to the new banknotes issued in the previous year. However, excluding this special demand, both sales and profit continued to rise in underlying terms. In vending machines, a decline in domestic vending machine demand caused both sales and operating profit to fall year-on-year.
In store distribution, demand was firm for store fixtures for use in convenience stores, but this was unable to offset the decline in the vending machines division and the dropout of prior year special demand. As a result, sales were down for the segment overall. We will now look at net sales for the first three quarters for Japan and each overseas region. In Japan, sales rose on firm demand in the energy and industry segments. Japan sales were up JPY 45.6 billion year-on-year.... Overseas sales were up JPY 14.4 billion year-on-year, including JPY 4.8 billion from Forex. The underlying demand-driven increase in sales was around JPY 10 billion year-on-year. In overseas markets, sales growth was driven by FA components within the industry segment and industrial business within the semiconductors segment.
By overseas region, sales were down JPY 1.2 billion year-on-year in the Americas, partly owing to policy developments. Performance differed between segments for other regions, but in general, growth was led by FA components and the industrial business in the semiconductors segment. This slide shows orders received for the three quarters. Demand remains strong for plant systems in energy and industry. Orders overall were up JPY 149 billion year-on-year to JPY 1,008.7 billion. Plant system orders were up JPY 132.8 billion year-on-year. Energy segment orders were up JPY 68.5 billion year-on-year, mainly on growth for power generation, energy management, and power supply and facility systems. Industry segment orders remained strong, up JPY 65 billion year-on-year, mainly driven by education applications within IT solutions. We will next look at orders for major components.
Orders for components for factory automation, ED&C components, and semiconductors in the third quarter were JPY 112.6 billion. This is the highest for a single quarter since the first quarter in fiscal 2024. Orders are in a gradual recovery, albeit without a sharp improvement. Momentum varied slightly between segments. Demand was down year-on-year in automotive semiconductors, mainly in overseas markets. Demand was up quarter-on-quarter, both overseas and in Japan. In industrial semiconductors, year-on-year demand momentum was firm, mainly for renewable energy applications in China. In factory automation, demand was up both year-on-year and versus the second quarter, mainly in Europe. For ED&C components, demand was up year-on-year, mainly in Japan. In quarter-on-quarter terms, demand was up both in Japan and overseas. We will now look at the balance sheet and cash flows.
Total assets were up JPY 67 billion versus the end of fiscal 2024 to JPY 1,379.2 billion. Despite the decline in trade accounts receivable, inventories and contract assets were up, driven by brisk growth in plant system projects and an increase in the market value of investment securities. Liabilities, however, stayed in line with the end of fiscal 2024, as a decline in accounts payable was offset by a JPY 22.1 billion increase in interest-bearing debt following the issue of commercial paper. Net interest-bearing debt was up JPY 15.4 billion to JPY 57.6 billion, and the net debt to equity ratio remains at a healthy 0.1 times. Actual value, 0.08 times. The equity ratio is up 1.8% to 54.6%.
We now turn to cash flows. Cash flows from operating activities were positive JPY 79.9 billion, the result of an increase in inventories and a decline in advances collected. Cash flows from investing activities declined to outflows of JPY 67.8 billion, owing to a decline in proceeds from the sales of investment securities versus the prior year. As a result, free cash flows were JPY 12.1 billion, in line with internal targets. This slide shows our consolidated results forecast. While we kept our company-wide full-year forecasts in place, we revised our operating profit forecasts by segment, reflecting progress through the third quarter and the current external environment. Net sales, operating profit, ordinary profit, and net profit remain as in the October announcement. We also reiterate our Forex assumptions of 140 yen per dollar and 164 yen per euro.
Within this context, we raised our operating profit forecast for the energy segment by JPY 2 billion to reflect brisk demand. Our operating profit ratio forecast is 14.0%. In the industry segment, we lowered our operating profit forecast by JPY 1.5 billion, reflecting higher raw materials prices in ED&C components. Our overall operating profit ratio target is 10.8%. We have used the figure disclosed in October as our forecast minimum and aim to raise the ratio further in the remaining two months. This slide compares our full-year consolidated forecasts with the prior year. If Forex remains at current levels, net sales would overshoot by just over JPY 10 billion and operating profit by just over JPY 1 billion. That is the end of the presentation. Thank you for listening.