Now we elect to start a presentation on Nidec Corporation's Fiscal 2023 Financial Results. First, please turn off your mobile phones or put them on silent mode. Nidec Corporation's representatives who are presenting the financial results are as follows: Mr. Shigenobu Nagamori, Founder and Executive Chairman. Mr. Mitsuya Kishida, President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Akinobu Samura, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. And Mr. Teruaki Urago, General Manager of the Investor Relations Department. That is all. In today's presentation, these executives will present you with an overview of the company's financial results for Fiscal 2023 that will be presented by Mr. Samura, and a strategic portion will be explained by Mr. Kishida. Then the floor will be opened for a question-and-answer session. Please kindly wait to ask questions until then. The meeting is planned to end at 11:30 A.M. Now, Mr. Samura, please start your presentation.
I would like to make some statements first, please. Thank you. If I missed it here, at the beginning of this conference, I would like to give you some explanation here. From April 1 this fiscal year, we have a new President on board, and he is also serving as CEO. He's yet to become a Board of Directors member. That will be. That won't be until the General Shareholders' Meeting in June. We have had so-called a successor issue at our company. We have had this Nomination Committee has gone through the selection process. We have had the 5 members of the Nomination Committee, 3 of them from the outside members, and they unanimously agreed on Mr. Kishida to serve as the President of this company.
This Nomination Committee is a very well-balanced committee, and they made a very good selection in a very balanced manner, in a very proper process. It was a very good person that we have selected in the Nomination Committee. Mr. Kishida is a former Sony executive. He has spent a long time overseas. And also, he has worked in several different business projects. We have the President, the CEO, over here, and he will be spending most of our time giving you an explanation. I didn't have to come here, actually, today, but I am here. But according to strong requests by IR Department, I'm here rather reluctantly. We made a financial announcement yesterday, and the details were already checked and written about by analysts.
They seem to be interested in various new areas, and these analysts seem to be lacking proper knowledge about these industries, and that many reports are not really accurate. Our businesses are in very different areas from these people's interest, and the explanations in these areas are not really accurate enough. I have instructed Mr. Kishida not to use so many technical terms, but explain to everybody in a very easy and understandable way. If you have any questions, please let us know, and try to gain your knowledge as much as possible so that you can have a proper understanding about our businesses. As far as I can see from the analysts' reports, these reports are rather biased. That way, investors may make the wrong decision. Please keep that in mind.
This is something that I'm saying like the preaching to the converted, but as we begin, first, Mr. Samura, the CFO, will give you a presentation first, followed by Mr. Kishida. Thank you.
Thank you very much. This is Samura speaking. I'd like to give you an update on the financial report for Fiscal 2023. Please go to slides number three and four. First of all, net sales were up 4.7% to JPY 2.348202 trillion. It was the record high last year, and now we have more than JPY 100 billion+ to that. Operating profit was up 63.1% to JPY 163.106 billion. Operating profit ratio was 6.1%. This is due to the fact that, yeah, we have made a strategic change in the EV traction motor business to be more profit-focused.
According to that move, JPY 59.8 billion was recorded as a part of our structural reform expenses. This is not included in our presentation material, but if you include this, too, it's 9.5% in total. Therefore, in actuality, the profitability has increased tremendously from the pre-prior fiscal year. Profit attributable to owners of the parent, as you can see, increased as well. In addition to our sales, profit before income taxes also stand at the record high. Please go to slide number 5. This is about an overview by product group. First of all, top left corner, small precision motors. When it comes to the immediate issues, there are some seasonal issues. We have had some decline in operating profit and sales, but we have eliminated significant portion of fixed cost, and among other actions, they have increased and enhanced their profitability.
When it comes to how that could drive has bottomed out already. We have had new businesses such as water cooling modules. These are emerging as new businesses. We have these new spreads coming out. That's what the last fiscal year was about. Next, top right portion, Automotive production. We have EV traction motor business, and we have recorded the structural reform for the EV traction motor business. All in all, the business was in deficit, but the existing businesses were going very smoothly, and we were voraciously obtaining opportunities for a future business expansion. When it comes to existing traction motor business, we are aiming for a profitability going into a positive territory to as early as possible as we try to improve the business's profitability. Bottom left section, Appliance, Commercial and Industrial business.
When it comes to this segment, both sales and operating profit account for about 4.40% of the entire group's sales and operating profit. This is the largest portion of our business, and this has improved their profitability significantly from the pre-prior fiscal year. We are aiming for a further improvement in the profitability of this business. Lastly, Machinery business. The equipment investment is rather in a very harsh situation, but we have this Takisawa who joined our group very recently. They are now fully consolidated in our group. When it comes to Machine Tool business, we have had OKK and a former portion of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd. They're all part of our Nidec Group now.
We are making a structural reform happening in these newly joined members, and we have been selling land, and, and all in all, we have a significant increase in profitability and sales. Please go to slide number 6. This is year-on-year changes. When it comes to exchange with the exception of excluding the, currency exchange rate, etc., if you take a look at this, vertically, small precision motor, less sales, more operating profit, automotive, more sales and operating profit, and appliance commercial and industrial products, you can see a significant increase in operating profit, despite the slight sales decline. And you can see the sales were, all in all, very flat, but you can see the profitability has increased significantly. Please go to slide number 8. You can see the situation on the free cash flow status.
If you go to the left section of the slide, you can see quarter two and three; we were rather low in momentum. In quarter four, you can see if you take a we focused on inventory improvement especially. That was the situation in Q4: free cash flow, JPY 209.25 billion. Our record was back in 2020, JPY 118.6 billion. Interest-bearing debt was down. On a net basis, we have been able to decrease our debt, which means a significant very positive factor for our future growth when it comes to cash. Please go to slide 9. For Fiscal 2023, we have focused on improving efficiency here. In 2024, which is this fiscal year, we're going to continue to improve our efficiency. On the other hand, we are going to be making aggressive investment in growth for midterm and long-term growth.
Please go to slide number 10. This is our forecast for this fiscal year of 2024. Sales is projected to be JPY 2.4 trillion, operating profit JPY 230 billion, profit ratio to reach 9.6%. Exchange rates: USD 145, EUR 155 yen per euro, and all the other information is already, you can see on the slide. That is all for the overview of our financial performance.
This is Kishida speaking. I would like to give you important points about our individual businesses, and I would like to give you my thoughts on this company's future. If you go to slide number 11, you can see the product different groups. You can see small precision motors, automotives, among others. First, I'd like to give an update on Automotive business.
Over the past two years, we have gone through various structural reform in Europe and elsewhere, and we have had this friction about our business-related issues facing us. We need to have this large-scale, aggressive structural reform. That's what we needed over the past two years. We are now at the very great turning point in our business. We need to exercise our strengths so that we can help this Automotive business continue to be our major pillar or column. That's what we regard this business as over the past two years. If we look back at the situation, especially in China, is very unique, and no suppliers players in the market was able to make a profit. That was a very unique situation there in China.
We made a structural change, a business shift change, a business shift that took place, and that's our part of our structural reform last year, last fiscal year. When it comes to this EV business, the industry structure itself is turned, making some changes, and I believe this confusion is going to continue. That's my expectations about this industry. We have made a significant change in our strategy very quickly, so we can, I believe, minimize the impact of the industry on our business. We can make electronics-related developments, and we are expected to have state-of-the-art technology to be included in our products. In that regard, we will continue to run the front line of the entire race in the competition. As far as ourselves are concerned, we have made significant personnel changes.
In 2024 fiscal year, we are going to have this restart as a new Automotive business. Secondly, when it comes to traction motor business, among others, we need to decide who we sell our products to and what type of products we are going to develop. We have various different options. Now we are going to selectively choose when it comes to who we are going to sell our products to. We have this a joint venture, GAC, and GAC has another joint venture with Japanese companies, so various different companies. It is to these companies we're going to sell our products to. We are going to be efficiency-oriented as we try to develop our motors in these joint ventures. That's the situation, and we'd like to update you with.
When it comes to 2024, when it comes to our traction motor business, of course, this is a business, therefore, we will move up, move down some projects in our business. These are not going to make any huge negative impact anymore. That's what I believe in.
So let me explain about NPE. We will be consolidating this company from this fiscal year. So I want to introduce some elements of this JV company. Earlier, I said that, you know, we unlike the Nidec's traction business, where do we sell it to? What sort of technology do we develop? We have to work together, with Stellantis, our customer, and we are 100% aligned with them, so there's no concern about it. I myself, last week, met Mr. Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, and we took the entire day to confirm our commitments as parent companies.
In fiscal 2024, the numbers that we have published as guidance is unchanged from Q3. Now, the orders is much more than the number we have disclosed. But with regards to who we are producing it for, there's no contemplation. So the production yield and the, you know, ability to produce and improve our technology, this is where we will be focusing on. So that's how we will operate this business in 2024. In terms of production volume, there may be some fluctuations on a daily basis. However, the company does not believe that there will be any major changes that would impact the company. We have already decided on the models. So, the, the stator, this is the rotating component. This is probably where the greatest hurdle is in terms of technology, and the parts supply from us will start from 2024 for NPE.
So we, as a group, will bring our wisdom together from the parents so that we can lead to the success of NPE, and we have confirmed this with Stellantis, and this is how we would like to promote our business in 2024. So going forward, there are two slides on Automotive business, non-traction business. So when we say traction business, at the peak time, this was less than 5% of Nidec's business as a whole. So, you know, the Automotive business in the company is more than 20%. So I want to talk about non-traction business in Automotive, which we have started from 2022. And we are not just going along with the wave of electrification, but we're also looking at the advancement of the telecommunication technology within the Automotive. There's a system called bus, which transmits the signals.
That system is advancing more and more, and this is not just for EV, but the wave of electrification is really affecting everything on the Automotive. Here you see drive-by-wire technology. This is using mechanical axis, where we were using mechanical axis to transmit signals. We will now be using electric axis. So this is how we are seeing advancements. So if this is the case, up until now, we had power steering. As you can see at the bottom left, you have electric power steering, and on the right-hand side, you see, excuse me, up above, feedback actuator. These two are linked and work together in conjunction. So when the signals will be transmitted by electricity, then you have the one that is sending the signal and the receiver of the signal.
Actually, you need two motors, and we use motor and actuator in terms of names. But by using signals, the requirements on the motors is accelerating more and more. Also, even in the brake, there are some advancements that we see. So brake up until now was used using hydraulic using pump, but hydraulic itself will be electrified, and the pump itself will be electrified as well. So we are now seeing technological innovation in this area, electronics, and we will work together with customers so that we can go along with this wave of electrification. And I have one more on Automotive business. So you have telecommunication, entertainment, and powertrain systems.
If you break it down like that, and also, if you look at the front end, the center, and rear zone, or if we are now seeing advancement in zoning of the car itself, and ECU is what it supports. Now, when we say ECU, this is engine control unit. So that's actually maybe an old word. So now we will replace this with the word electronics, perhaps, but control units, signal, circuit design, and also software designs. This is a motor control, system business, and we see advancement there as well. Here at the bottom, you see a seat strategy as an example. There are more than 20 motors that's installed on the seat itself.
For example, in addition to the function to just adjust the seat, there's assist function for users so that they can drive a long time, or a warning motors so that the user, the driver, will not fall asleep. So there are many components that are equipped here. Now, the car manufacturers have to deal with alternative driving, and they are inputting all the engineering resources there. So for us, the manufacturers, we will be receiving orders as a system, as zones. So here, the car seat is considered as a system, as one single ECU. But aside from that, there's door zone, so which we receive as an order, or you have the hood in the front as a one system, or a cockpit navigation signals where it is displayed on the glass.
This is the projector motor business, and we have more than 90% market share here in that business. So what sort of signal should be sent to the user, the passenger? That sort of business is really increasing quite significantly. So we will take on these needs so that we can offer solutions. So Automotive business will expand even going forward. So next is on the Machinery and Machine Tools. So this is looking at Machinery and others. What we're introducing here is a SCARA robot and cobots. We have already announced this, but this is a strain wave reducer called FLEXWAVE, which is equipped with sensors. And we also have a very powerful reducer, which supports the bottom. It's called KINEX. It's a cycloidal reducers. So motors in robots and reducers. There are actually a couple of companies that have been monopolized by a few players.
However, we are now entering this space as well. So, for example, we have, you know, low-price technology, which we have always been strong in, and we will use this as a trigger, and we are now selling this as a system. The investment in China in our production facility is actually decelerating slightly, but from second half of 2024, we're planning to expand this business quite significantly. So I want to talk about the press machine. But above to the left, you have the press machine for car manufacturing. We have a very large market share globally, and the motor which corresponds to this. You're using press machine in order to build layers for the core, and we're also using producing motor cores for that as well, and electronics, semiconductors, plates, electronic components. This is the motor high-speed precision press for motor core. We also have a Giga Press.
This is a very large motor, and giga means 10 tons. So there is a machine that actually makes this a very large body for this 10-ton press. We have a production facility in Mexico, which would allow us to supply around the globe. For the press machine, we have Asia, you know, Europe, and North America. We do have the production facilities there, and as a result of that, we're able to meet the customers' needs, many automotive manufacturers and business operators. Our characteristic is that we have global structure in place, and we're able to meet different models from small to large size. We have a very full lineup of press machines. Let's move on to the machinery tools. As you can see from this table, the TAM is JPY 10 trillion in this market.
So, you have this processes called drilling the hole in the middle. This is a machining center. We have a very large market share here. In addition to that, the orange, this is lathe. In the with by TOB, we have acquired Takisawa. They have this very strong technology in lathe, and we believe that this will contribute to the global market as well. Although this area is very small in terms of market, we have a gear cutting machine. We see the use for electric vehicles and hybrids. This is a high-precision gear cutting machine. And there are customers who say that they're not able to live without us, and that's how about high level of technology we have in the gear cutting machines. So the fact that we have this Machine Tool itself is the ability that links to the product capability.
When it comes to this industry, we were a late entrant this industry, but we like to regard ourselves as a new innovator for the development of this industry. Going forward, I like to explain this water cooling module systems. It was April the 15th that we made this announcement to the public. It's called the CDU Coolant Distribution Unit. That's what it stands for. This is AI-based, very promising components for the server system for which demand will be significant. And for the details of the monthly production will be significantly increasing from 200 to significantly more going forward, and 3,000 units will be the production per month going forward. That's what we like to reach as a company. We, HDD, this drive is our very initial business that we started our company with.
We were very happy and very close to the revolution of IT and HDD. With the development of computers, we have developed our technologies as the revolution takes place for the semiconductors. That's what this Nidec is about. As of today, when it comes to CDU and a cooling motor business, we have a coolant distribution manifold, and we have CPU units and GPU units. They have to be cooled. We have an LCM to cool these units. A coolant module is that's what it's called. Electronic processing machining is what we the one of the areas we have a huge, very sophisticated technology. We have a chuck, a very small space here, quick cutting technologies and other technologies that we have. This is a cooling technology, water cooling technology. We need to use water flowing inside the circuit. It's a very highly sophisticated.
These computer systems must not be wet, but this water has to flow right next to these water-sensitive computer units, components. We have to, you know, combine these units based on our customers' requirements. We have to be able to do it as freely as possible based on our customers' demands and requirements. And this is like above conjoining above. We need to have a very super accurate machining technique. That's what we need to have as a company. And we have a metal-to-metal contact in which we could possibly have a contamination inside the water because of the small pieces of metal. That has to be avoided at all costs. We need to utilize our quick coupling technology, for which we have been receiving a lot of inquiries. I have been getting excited about my own talk. That is all about the water cooling business.
And this is a continuation of this aforementioned business. This is going to become a hugely promising business. ODM, OEM manufacturers, and other manufacturers, other companies we will probably be contacting directly. This industry itself is going through a huge change. We're going to be extremely close to those changes so that we can achieve our technological success ahead of others. When it comes to this server business, we have been involved in computer PC businesses, and we have a supercomputer business coming along. And as they develop, we have a GPU, CPU to take care of. Automotive driving is coming up to become a reality. In order to make that happen, we have superfast communications networks. We have 5G in place now. We have millimeter wave now starting in China.
We have a network slicing taking place as well, which is to make the personalized components operations, and that has will advance become advanced as well. For that, data explosion will take place as well. In such a communications business, we are having various businesses taking place as Nidec. AI service revolution and other industrial revolutions are what we are becoming continue to be very close to. This is my final segment, appliance commercial in the industrial segment. We have subsegments, as you can see on this slide. When it comes to air conditioners and home appliance components, we have a commercial and industrial components. For industrial components, we are in various types of businesses, and we like to pick up more and more in an energy business unit. We have two examples of their business. Please go to the next slide.
First of all, if you take a look at the left-hand side of the slide, this is about the AI servers. We have a data center business. We have emergency generators for auxiliary power supply units for data centers. This business is growing significantly, surprisingly fast. 12% CAGR, as you can see on this slide. This is a sizeable business as far as we can see. When it comes to data centers, the power has to be on all the time, and the water has to be running all the time to cool these components down all the time. And we need to have a second and a third backup system. For that, the power generators like this one are needed. We have been required to produce and supply a very highly sophisticated.
We have more than 50% of the shares in the business, and we continue to steadily grow our shares in the market. Solar, photovoltaic, and wind businesses, power generation business is growing. These energies, naturally supplied resources, are very unstable. First of all, we need to make sure to secure a very stable supply by stabilizing the voltage. We have the best battery energy storage system. That's what we have to stabilize. And this is gaining a lot of attention. And this is a standalone unit. You can, you can install this anywhere in the world. And CAGR is 28%. This is another very high market share for CAGR. I myself will be involved in this business, in promoting this business. And that is all for my explanation. But when it comes to areas for fossil fuel energy, decarbonization is coming or taking place as well.
This slide is about the infrastructure-related business. We have solutions that we are offering to our customers. If you take a look at the left-hand side, this is about Trieste, Italy. It's Slovenia. There are borders for Slovenia and other European countries there. It's about and if you go over the Alps and this is about the transportation of oil, a Transalpine business to Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic. We have this pump drive motors for which we have received orders. In addition to the order intake, we need to have a good variety maintenance for these recurring businesses. Another area we have received our orders. Right-hand side, this is about the liquid natural gas system installed in Qatar. This is a liquid compressors for liquefy the natural gas. And this is a huge compressor, as you can see on the slide.
Liquid natural gas has to be transported. It is a fuel, fossil fuel, but it has to be liquefied for transport. We are producing maintenance components, services, what we are providing to our customers. As you can see, Nidec has been providing, producing Nidec's, of course, but we are not just about the motor manufacturer. We are making products that spin and move. We are in a power generation business. We are making an air compression business as well. The basics about the business technology is about the same, but in various many industries, we have these industries growing up despite regardless of economic situations. We are making contributions in these areas. As you can see, we are in the motor business, of course, but so many other businesses as well. What we do as a company is to prevent global warming, and we are promoting decarbonization.
We are proud of that type of promotion that we are doing. We and I, together with so many others in our team, we are in the second generation of the management of this company or the Nidec Group as a whole. We need people, technology, and so many other elements for us to move forward. We need to beat the competition to be able to provide our customers with various solutions. That's what we are going to do. We will continue to do. As you can see on this Nidec logo, All for Dreams. That's what we stand for. We have huge dreams in our service for the world. In order for us to make these dreams even bigger than they announce, we need to be able to be as a company that will last for the next 100 or even 200 years.
That's the type of all-out effort we are going to make. On a short term, we may disappoint you about our financial performance, but I myself see the long-term situation. I'm on a long-term perspective so that this company will become a truly globally essential business in the world. That's what I like to have in mind as we go forward together with our team members. We're going to make a healthy and wonderful growth as a company. We know we don't have any time to go back. I received a button to move forward. All for dreams. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Nagamori, Mr. Kishida, Mr. Samura. Thank you very much for your explanations. Now we would like to open the floor for a question and answer session. If you have any questions, please raise your hand for a microphone.
Now, does anyone have any questions? First, please, the person who raised his hand ahead of others. Thank you. Please.
Thank you very much. This is Takayama of Goldman Sachs. I have three questions. I'd like to give you these questions one by one. First of all, when it comes to this JPY 230 billion operating profit, can you elaborate on that?
I believe this could be higher under other circumstances, but this number, according to my calculations, looks very or too conservative. Is this could this be a minimum number for you to try to achieve, or as you've said, does this number contain some basis for your future growth? And you are seeing this year as a year of making not so much profit. Are you contemplating about taking time before you will be able to achieve your ideal stage from your perspective, Mr. Kishida?
Or could this number just a number, just a conservative number? Can you elaborate on this number over here? This number looks a little different from the number that I usually see in this type of presentation.
I'd like to give you my explanation here. This is Mr. Nagamori speaking. When it comes to this new management, prior to the establishment of the new management, we have this decision-making process, new one, new business-making decision-making process in place. We have a CEO decided, nominated in the Nomination Committee. I have never been involved in the establishment of these numbers here, but these new management numbers are based on very detailed plans, and they have been part of all the detailed process when it comes to these numbers. Establishment.
Over the past three fiscal years, we have been in a tumultuous situation where these people, new people, have had to organize the situation to put everything back into normal. They have been able to capture all the issues in a short term and solve them. What we need to do is as follows. We like to make the upward revision instead of the downward revisions we have had to do. Forget about the past. We would like to come up with very solid figures and achieve those results as promised. Prior to the three-year period that I've mentioned, we have already been almost made a very pretty much overachievement. Over the past three years, though, the situation has changed for the negative.
Underachievement was not really in our dictionary, but underachievement did happen over the past three years. So we had to say farewell to this wrong past new management and wrong past management. And we now have a new management in place. When it comes to Q4, these numbers seem to me to be rather conservative, but these other numbers they came up with, the new management, as has been explained by Mr. Kishida, the CEO, he has won over people in the company. To be honest, these numbers look to me to be very conservative, but these are the numbers they would like to stick to. Despite the temporary decline in the share price, this will be a small incident compared with the history to take place 20-30 years from now. I sometimes feel I'm not going to feel disgusted about your report, Mr. Takayama.
I'm not really making any complaint at all about your reports, Mr. Takayama.
So succession is going very smoothly from me to Mr. Kishida. It's not just one person when it comes to candidates. And this information is shared by multiple people. And we have ACIM more and other overseas business groups. These executives, the leaders of these business units are now first as senior vice presidents. And they are involved in the decision-making process of these numbers.
So even though there may be slight changes, I don't think you will probably see what we have experienced in the previous years. So how should I say this? I believe that there's a completely new management structure in place. So I will quietly step back and disappear. And I want to make sure that when there's an administrative changes, there won't be any confusion.
So I believe that my role is to make sure that it's done smoothly. No matter what kind of question we get, we want to be able to explain well. Our business is wide range. I think it's important that the CEO is able to have a full understanding of all businesses. Sometimes only the business unit heads are able to explain, but we don't want that to be the case. We want the CEO to be able to get a full understanding and explain for all business units. Of course, risk, it doesn't mean that we don't want to have any risk. In fact, we need to continue to minimize risk. Even in traction motors in Automotive business, China business, maybe there was a little bit of a strategic error there, but we had a lot of lessons learned.
Thanks to that, the domestic customers are placing many orders to us. So I think we have new, very good products now and healthy profit and in terms of number of customers and type of customers, excuse me. We have the world's top blue-chip customers. Nidec has always won with technology, not pricing. We're not a company that pursues just sales with just pricing, but we want to be focused on profit at 15%. So I think he has that leadership style, and I think he will probably carry on that legacy tradition. So all the members around the world, if there's an issue, will share that immediately. The new members are fluent in English, so they can call the customers with just a mobile phone. Even in our businesses overseas, they can just call up and they can just discuss right on the phone.
So I think we have a really good structure in place. There's a big renewal, new generations. IR, we have a new staff. Even in PR, I think that the way they do it has really changed. The way they think is very different. It's very much up to date, most recent. And so you need to also change your mindset. The image you have of us, Kobe and Nagamori, we're old guys. It's too old. But you have a long history. We've been around for a long time, but I think it's a new management.
So Kishida-san, it seems as though this just means conservative, or do you think it's something to do with not being able to achieve it?
Well, I think number one priority is to make sure that we store confidence and trust.
We want to make sure that we are for sure able to meet the target that we publish. That is how Nidec should be. That is why we are prioritizing this. That's the reason why we have this number. But of course, internally, we have a bigger target.
The second question, I think you will be in the process of developing the midterm plan going forward. I know that you will not be able to disclose any details today, but the impression I have today is that the technology you have on hand today, if you look at the current situation, it seems as though there's much more opportunity and you want to maximize that, the opportunity is. It seems as though your strategy will be an extension of that.
So, maybe it might be difficult to share the target, but what sort of company you want to be?
I forgot to mention this, but when we announce our Q1 results, we will be able to give you guidance for our midterm, midterm plan for 2028, 2030. And we're actually in the middle of a discussion right now. So we have the organic growth, which we will focus on in 2024. But in addition to that, I'm sure there will be large M&As. And perhaps we may be incorporating larger technologies as well. So in Q1, the management team will discuss this. And we will also check the production basis there so that we can have a solid plan in place.
And last question about the cooling system, the module. So I understand that you have a lot of competitors here, so on the thermal module.
What is your winning strategy? Maybe you need to have the supply network first. What is it that you need to win? Not just on capacity, but also sales, share, anything that you have in visibility today.
Before I share the number, in the new management system, there's one thing we are very, very cautious about, and I want to share about that. That is that this is an industry that is expected to grow quite significantly, but we don't want to repeat the kind of mistake we did in traction business. What that is, is that when we talk about capacity, it's not just about production capacity, but there's technology capacity, manning plan, software development capacity as well. We don't want to overcommit to that. I don't think that's a good starting point.
Of course, we are promoting business because we know that we can enter the business. But when we do something new, we don't want to have quality or supply issues. And so that is why in the starting dawning age, we want to make sure that we have stable production and technology capacity so that we can meet the customer's demand. So the amount that we're projecting this year, as of today, it's still a very conservative plan. So I hope you will look forward to the progress that we will make.
Okay. I understand. Thank you very much.
Any other questions? So the third, fourth row from the front, over to you. The fourth row from the front. Can you raise your hand once again, please?
Jichika Okawa, Nikkei Crosstech. I have a question for EV traction motor. Previously, you had the production plan.
I think you had a bar graph on that, which you used to announce. I think it was like 2030, you were planning 10 million units. That plan is no longer valid because of the strategy change.
Well, we don't want to just go after the number, the volume target in China. We did change our strategy, but we want to be number one in every one of the categories. That is our mission. So when the timing will be, that will be made clear in the midterm plan. So in your company, you have the winning strategy, the formula, which you have built in the precision motor business. But in EV traction motor, so it's not about winning the cost competition and gaining the profitability and winning. It will be different from your conventional strategy. Well, the winning formula will remain unchanged.
We will take orders, win with technology, and we will see the differentiator. We will continue to win with that gap. So we don't want to expand our battlefield without having that confidence that we will win with technology. I think we had that mistake in the past. So that's why we want to make sure that we're firm and solid on technology so that we can always win. No one will outbeat us. That is why I was trying not to talk too much today, but I need to answer that question. Up until now, in each product, we wanted to be number one. That's what we have aimed for. And in hard disk drive business, at the starting point, we were making losses, but that's how we grew that business. And at that time, customers were, of course, losing money and suppliers were losing money.
That was only a short period of time. At that time, it was like 3%, 5%. But now we're making losses at 30%, 45%, not just us, but the suppliers, the competitors, and the customers themselves as well. So it's not that kind of a competition. When we talk about competition, so it's about, okay, we're making losses, but competitor is making profit, then that's our problem. But it's not just about 3%-5%, but we're looking about so when we initially sent this quote and then we see we discount over and over and we are now losing money after money, that would disqualify the management. So if the customers are profitable and competitors are profitable and we are the only ones that are unprofitable, then I think that's a disqualification. That's probably the right kind of a competition.
But in a market where no one is winning, then of course, this is about, are you losing money, JPY 1 billion, JPY 10 billion, JPY 100 billion? I mean, that's different. But we're not doing business in order to make the company go bankrupt. So I think in that sense, he made a bold decision. I think it was good. If we were continuing with this business, the amount of losses would have been too big. So what is it that we lost here? We analyzed this and it's not technology. Our technology, our motor is ferrite. And everyone admits to that. But what about pricing? How is that pricing determined?
Well, when you manufacture there's cost and there's SG&A, right? But the competitor, when we look at all the orders went to them and now they're increasing their losses. So it's not just exit. I think it's just resting.
Even in hard disk drive business, we had that experience. What we did was we paused for a little bit. We took a break. And so you take a break and you think about it and look at the market to see whether it will be competing in pricing or whether it's performance. So in Automotive industry, we engaged in price competition. And the biggest issue was that the battery prices are high. That's what's been said. And we always only talk about battery. But if you want to increase the battery life, then you can actually reduce the quality of motors. So if you want to reduce your cost by overall, by entire car, then if you use high-quality motor, you can realize that.
I think the European companies and the Japanese OEMs surely understand that they need to really increase quality in order to reduce the overall cost. But I think the Chinese do not understand that. That is why we decided to exit from that. But there are some companies that do understand. So that is why we will continue to have business with them. So then that would if our quality of their motors continue to increase, then we will also be more competitive. So I think once that competition is right in place, then we will be able to win the right kind of play the right kind of battle. So why did we lose? Well, no, we didn't lose.
If you went to the Red Ocean and if they said 100 and we say 100 and they say 90, then we say 70, that's how we continue to reduce the prices. That is why we lost.
When it comes to the current situation, EV is now losing its momentum now. There are quite a few auto manufacturers that are developing EV models. And the competition is very aggressive. You may have more. It looks to me you are developing more components for small EVs. That way, I believe the prices will drop. That way, it will become difficult for you to make profit. That's what I like to know the most. For example, when it comes to in the case of mobile phone, it used to be very big. You have to carry it over your shoulder in the past.
Each unit, the telephone, mobile phone, you cost JPY 500,000-JPY 1 million. A battery became smaller and smaller for the mobile phones. The mobile phones themselves became smaller and cost became lower and lower. The use of the mobile phones spread more and more. The profitability came to the suppliers as well as seller of the mobile phones. The European businesses and the Japanese businesses became very competitive against each other. Some left the market and some became very much winners. That's a very healthy type of competition. But when it comes to China, BYD, for example, has been receiving so much subsidy from the Chinese government. It's not really fair. When it comes to Tesla, their profitability is declining more and more significantly.
If the new company emerged and those companies that are working regardless of the profitability are now going bust. Now if the current number of the companies in the market is down from 100 or 200 to 30, I believe that healthy competition will start taking place. You have to challenge with your endurance. Not so many people will be able to survive in such an environment. You have to have a very healthy type of services, products, etc., to survive in the market. If you win in the market, that's the ideal type of competition. If you try to sell your products too inexpensively in order to justify the competition, that's not really healthy as a competition in the market. In a healthy type of competition, only the healthy profit-making company will survive.
Now, the number of companies in the market in China is down to 70. These companies are reducing their product prices. Suppliers are being affected by that. All the profitable companies so far and now, and with the exception of BYD, who has been receiving a lot of subsidy from the Chinese government, Tesla is now losing its profitability. If the number reduces when it comes to the number of these companies in the market, I believe the healthy competition will start taking place. We are not going to leave the market. That's not really an option. One thing that I may add over here is as follows. When it comes to this shifting toward the components for compact motors, this is just a normal product lineup. We're trying to be. It's not really. We are not. It's not. We are dependent upon those compact products.
We are part of the product lineup for compact parts. That's what this chart is about. We are not reducing our profitability in the HDD market. In the conclusion, we will become the number one. We will be. We can record this statement. We can be the leading competitor.
Next person, please. The female person over there sitting very close to the entrance.
Thank you very much. This is Nagayabu, TV Tokyo. I'd like to ask you two questions here. First of all, Mr. Kishida, when it comes to the explanation that you gave us, that are very positive. That's the impression that I have about you. But when it comes to global market, the uncertainty is growing larger and larger. What will be your risks? What will be your areas of attention going forward?
When it comes to risks in 2024, these risks are incorporated in our fiscal 2024 numbers here. We have regional risks. We have war-related risks. There are quite a few risks that you will be talking about. But those risks are included in this fiscal 2024 strategic plan that we have in place.
Thank you. And my second question, this is about you to you, Mr. Nagamori. When it comes to quarterly basis sales, China-related numbers seem to have bottomed out when it comes to traction motor business. But structural reforms have already completed or taken place too. What is your perspective in the Chinese market? It's a question for you, Mr. Nagamori.
You don't have to. I don't want you to call on me. But when it comes to China, the situation has been very fierce.
Competition has been very fierce, not just in the auto market, but so many other different markets. Japanese companies are struggling in these highly fierce competitions. Those competition themselves, in my opinion, are creating risks in the Chinese market in China. When it comes to the auto market, China lost in a competition for gasoline vehicles. They couldn't be able to, weren't able to become number one. Therefore, they shifted their focus on EVs. The Chinese government is spending money for these Chinese companies to become the world's number one. That is impacting various many different markets. That is accelerating the current recession in the Chinese economy, in my opinion. Many people are realizing the fact. Currently, they are in the stage of restoring themselves. The situation won't be as bad as last year.
It's a depression-like situation where prices continue to drop. And I believe that situation has been rectified already. And the Chinese economy will make a comeback, in my opinion. But one issue is that foreign companies are leaving the Chinese market in growing numbers. That's one concern for the Chinese company, Chinese economy, excuse me. There are some economic and political issues between China and the United States. We are not really involved in those issues. But if you have a declining number of investors in your country, that will mean that that will be a negative factor in a short-term basis. But when it comes to market, the market is large in China. We have no intention of leaving the Chinese market for now. We are continuing our investment in China. We have a large volume of transactions, of course, according to some reports.
If you have been in a business for a long time, you have certain countries as the area of frequent investment. As a global company, you have to go through a foreign currency exchange issues. Sometimes dollars become very strong, sometimes weak. Such fluctuations do occur. Some people pointed out that we may possibly have been overly dependent upon China. That's not the way we think. If you think that way, you wouldn't be able to stably run your company. Of course, our next target is India for us to enter as a market. And I believe that's a very good choice, right choice for us. The Indian market will expand or grow very significantly. We go to enter a certain country because there is a promising market there. We're not really worried about the cost or a foreign exchange rate.
Depending on those elements, the company's attitude will change. We don't have any intention of leaving the Chinese market. We are going to have a face-to-face competition. But we'll not be in the market where we will be subject to significant loss. We like to be in a healthy type of competition. As you can see, the world company is a place where you generate the promise. We need to make a healthy profit to grow. And some people say that the Chinese market is going to shrink more and more. That's not the type of thinking that I have. I believe China will have another phase of growth. And there will be a market for us to be able to enter. And as a global company, it's a principle for us to be able to be in a business in any country.
Thank you very much for your very good insight.
Next question, please. You have been raising your hand, the person, the female person from the federal.
Thank you very much for your explanation today. I'd like to give you some questions. I'd like to give you one of the questions that I have. If you go to slide 9, you have seen this capital expenditure, JPY 230 billion. You are going to make a very aggressive investment. And can you elaborate on that? Thank you.
As has been explained, JPY 130 billion for fiscal 2024. That's our forecast. We're going to utilize our existing equipment as fully as possible when it comes to developing factories in India, Traction NPE, which is joint venture with our Stellantis. We have a water cooling module project as well. We're going to have aggressive investment in these areas.
When it comes to water cooling modules, we have this: the technology is nurtured in our HDD business. We have been able to utilize those existing technologies. It's not going to be a huge investment. But we would like to enter or have this investment in these new areas. That's part of the increase for our capital expenditure for this fiscal year, 2024. When it comes to our capital expenditure, if you take a look at this situation, please keep in mind the following information. We are going to purchase new businesses or companies. And if those things do not go well, we are going to make investment ourselves. If the M&A is successful, organic investment, organic growth won't be necessary. Otherwise, we are going to have a double investment, which will be redundant. For example, last year, we purchased Takisawa Machine Tool Co., Ltd.
We were planning to make an investment in a large company, but we were able to purchase Takisawa. So we did not have to make a new investment. But we needed to have some money for purchasing Takisawa. So please make a very good distinction between the two. In that regard, do you have any plan, specific plan to build something as part of your so it all depends on M&A, I believe, when it comes to project or building new buildings. In that way, we will be spending money. So it's a M&A. We may not be able to purchase the company that we wanted to purchase. Otherwise, we need to be able to be entering into new business. Of course, the purchasing company will be more inexpensive.
Do you have any specific areas of investment when it comes to strategy?
I cannot disclose any information that will cause a problem. As has been explained by Kishida-san, we need to understand the technology that we are yet to have. We need to purchase people to work as engineers as well. We were able to purchase the laser manufacturer. We have multi-functional machines available for us. It will be very difficult for us to be able to start such a business from scratch. We were able to make these machines based on the technologies of a few companies we have purchased. We are dependent upon organic growth and M&A. These are the two factors for our growth. So the ratio between the two will be 50% and 50% going forward, 50% for organic growth and another 50% for M&A. JPY 10 trillion may seem easy for you.
But we now are able to purchase companies that are worth JPY 500 billion or even JPY 1 trillion. We can expect synergies with the existing companies, with these new companies as well. Many people may be worried about us not being able to achieve the JPY 10 trillion sales target. Some of the companies we have purchased are now making sales of JPY 200 billion or so.
So let us take other questions. So this individual here.
Akizuki from Nomura Securities. I have three questions. So first of all, Mr. Kishida, you're probably the right person to answer this. But you have developed this, formulated this plan, and putting aside the profit, but your sales projection, even if you multiply Q1 times four times, and if you ask Stellantis, you should actually exceed this full-year projection. The impression is you're quite conservative here.
The question is a very straightforward one. Why is it so conservative? And also, I think the message here is that you want to improve profitability on a company-wide basis. So on the cost side and optimization, what are your plans? Or what is it for this year? And also a midterm plan.
Thank you for the question. So the sales plan, I have taken into account the current risk. I put all the risks on the table. And that's reflected here. But we think that we can actually exceed the sales despite the risks. We're confident about that. However, what is it that we want to accomplish on a minimum basis? We have to commit to the market. So that was our starting point. And we have decided we need to really mitigate some of the risks. And that is why we have come up with this plan.
Of course, NPE is added. It's included in here. And the Traction business itself, we intentionally reduced the sales projection here. So that's reflected here. So what we plan to do going forward is that we're a manufacturer. So the basics will remain unchanged. So materials underpinned by technology, we have to look at efficiency, improvement in yield, percentage of material used. In addition to that, we need to review our global competitiveness. We have global human resources strategy committee. So we're looking at fixed cost and headcount. Where are the professionals located? And we want to make sure that we're coordinated globally. So we want to visualize fixed cost and have common understanding. It doesn't sound new when I say it like this. But we are very serious about this. We want to be serious about improving this global side.
So you're looking at consolidation of the factories.
So for example, Mitsubishi Machinery, OKK, you have collaboration there. I think that would be effective in improving the overall profitability. Would that be included?
Yes. That was part of the consideration and discussion. So I talked about ACIM, new ACIM, Techno Motor MOEN. And you saw that chart earlier.
So how do we ourselves realize synergies from these businesses? We have discussed this with the management overseas. At this point in time today, we don't have a specific plan on where we will integrate. But we want to be efficient in our operations all over the world, by region, by country. Even if we go to India, it's not going to be more on an individual basis. But it will be on an overall basis.
What do we want to do in India? So we would want to have that kind of perspective.
Thank you. The second question, Mr.
Nagamori, you're responsible for M&A. So I want to ask this question to you. If you look back the last 10 years, I think the driver was your midsize motor. Maybe from the latter half of the year 2000s, you have done large M&As in middle-sized motor. And that was the reason why you have grown. And that was your strategy. When you look at the next 10 years, natural flow will be shift to larger motors, from small to medium to large-sized motors. That seems very natural. But if you look at it from a bigger picture, what is your 10-year plan, additional business that you want to add on through M&A?
So we had maybe 73 companies or so that we have acquired over the years.
I know that there were some companies in there where you wondered why we purchased that company, not much synergy, not much add-ons. But if you look back on this, you can see all the synergies that were generated from all of these companies that were even questioned. So in principle, Nidec, we're number one motor company, putting aside if the market is saturated. But as long as it's not saturated and the market is growing, there's no point in us going into different business but motor. But motors come in different sizes, from small to large. And motors are used in different applications. And EV motors are electrified more and more in the world. So there are many motors that are really selling, like the press machines. We have an overwhelming share here. And we're selling all of these around the globe.
We're still capturing a very large market share. These are all interrelated.
What is it that we're missing in the area where the market is growing? Maybe it's cheaper to do it organically. Or is it cheaper to do by M&A? That would be our decision point. Which company do we want to purchase? That's how we would determine our M&A strategy. We have this plan about which area we want to go and where are the needs, what's missing. We have that picture. Now, in the past, hostile takeover was not easy. We wanted to overcome that. We have done a perfect acquisition. I think this would be a textbook, a hostile takeover in Japan. We have been very successful. I know that from that, we can buy any company we wish to buy.
In that sense, our scope would expand as well. So I think we can buy almost any company. So based on that, we will look at which company we want to go in order. We have to look at the sequence. So maybe this is the nose. This is the ear. This is the eye. That's how we would look at it. So half of our 2030 sales will be by M&A. So it will be consistently. We have reinforced the personnel in M&A. And we may do very large M&A. But if it's a competitive bid, we don't have to be, we are not willing to buy at a high price. If there's 10, then we will only look at one. So we'll be cautious as well. And fortunately, we have made no mistake. So we don't want to go because we really desire.
But we think if it's a good supplement for our business, and if we think we can aim for 15% with this company, then we'll buy it. We will not buy a company that is loss-making. Up until now, we have bought companies that were loss-making. And we restructured it and rebuilt it. But it takes time. So we will buy something that is already profitable so that it will contribute to our business immediately. People say that it's easy to rebuild a small company. But actually, larger companies, because they have personnel, especially in overseas business, Japanese people can't just go in and take over. I think you have to look to utilize the local people. If the Japanese went, I know that they will fail.
So as a global company, I guess recently, if we say, "We want to buy your company," and they say, "Oh, Japanese company," they always send Japanese people. And we don't know what they're saying. But I say that all the companies we buy, we're global. We are Americans. We have Italians. And they say that, "We see your company. You don't send any Japanese people." So that's why they're willing to be bought. So that is why if it's a very large company, large target, they're willing to accept it. But the Japanese companies are very they interfere. So that's why they don't want to be bought by a Japanese company. But the reason why we have been successful M&A is because we have been known to be a company that doesn't send Japanese people.
So that's why they're willing to talk with us, sit on the table with us. And we've done this over the decade. And they see that the companies we have bought, like ACIM and MOEN, they have improved. They were our competitors before. So they were generating 5%. Then now it's 10%. So we're able to buy good companies. It's not easy. But that's the case.
Thank you. And the third question, very briefly, in terms of thermal module, in order to improve efficiency, I think the kilowatt units will increase. But do you think the unit price will also increase with an increase in kilowatt? So maybe is it a higher price between 100 kW and 250 kW?
Yes. I think with increasing kilowatt, I think the prices will also increase. Unit price will increase. You should look at the inside of the machine.
Have you ever seen the inside of the machine?
Oh, no.
You should. How can you write a report without looking at the content of that machine? If you can see what kind of components that we're using, you will be amazed with the precision of our components. And that's the processing and the hard disk drive. You all think that it's just a box. But if you look at the inside, you know that it's not easy to produce something like that. We have many patents we've already filed. And it's high margin as well. Thank you very much. I have a lot of expectations. So thank you.
So our time is up. So we'll take one last question. OK, then gentlemen over there.
Thank you very much. This is [audio distortion] of Citigroup company. I'd like to talk to you, ask you about this fiscal year's report. If you go down to slide 20, the sales forecast for Motors, and from last to this fiscal year, the pace seems to be slowing down. And then when it comes to Automotive, the organic portion seems to be decreasing. And you are saying that these numbers are conservative. And I believe this conservativeness is incorporated, reflected here as well. When it comes to Motors, for next year and onward, the growth rate seems to be increasing after that. Can you elaborate on that?
When it comes to Motors, we have when it comes to Motors and ACIM businesses, in this first half of this fiscal year, we have some consolidation of businesses taking place. Beyond that, they are making or planning to make profit.
We have some collaboration, integration of our businesses. After the process is over, they are planning to make progress. That's part of our plan already. One more thing that I'd like to say is that the charging business, when it comes to these, is huge equipment, the port facilities, equipment for the ports, marine ports. Our service contracts are as long as 20-30 years. We have contracted the numbers with the figures, amount of money charged on a monthly basis. That type of businesses is growing in numbers 50 years. So sometimes contract periods are 20 or even 30 years. They purchase our systems that are like JPY several billion. The margin will be 40%-50%. We can expect the money to be paid from these customers on a monthly basis.
That's one of the areas of focus over the past few years. When it comes to this large equipment business, we're going to intensify our efforts in this money charging business. MOEN's rapid increase is based on this charging business, which is now expanding. We have not thought much about this type of business up until now. We have purchased two service providers in succession. It's not so easy to operate these companies. Both businesses have a long history. We need to have a global network of our businesses. When it comes to MOEN and others, they will be able to enjoy operating profit ratio of 30%. That is my perspective about these businesses. When it comes to infrastructure-related businesses, their volume is on increase as well. Sometimes it takes three years before we can start shipping after receiving orders.
After that, we can expect money to be paid to us for maintenance services on a monthly basis. It will be a long-term business. They can constitute a very good base for sales and profit. For us to become a JPY 3 trillion or JPY 5 trillion company in the future, we need to be able to face and overcome recessions by utilizing the profit from these businesses and others. These companies are leaving one after another, hardware companies, 50 years from now, for example. Infrastructure is in a phase of replacement. In New York, London, and elsewhere, underwater sewage facilities are now in a phase of replacement. Motors are generating quite a few needs for replacement. That's the type of business we need to shift our focus to as the major source of our income. MOEN, for example, 13 + 30%.
I believe within this fiscal year, MOEN will be able to achieve 15% in operating profit ratio. That's how promising that business is. When it comes to traction motor, we have suffered damage. But still, we have a base of our business alive. And with this base, thanks to this base, we can make another try.
Thank you very much. When it comes to Automotive business, can you have your explanation on that? Do you have any when it comes to organic growth of Automotive business, you're expecting sales to decline? Do you have any concerns or issues about the business?
We are increasing. This is the minimum target we can confidently say we will be able to achieve. This is the number we can achieve with confidence. We must not be suffering from any underachievement, of course. I'm not involved in this process anymore.
But I am in charge of M&A. I am in charge of purchasing new, very good companies. And Mr. Kishida is in charge of those operations. He must not overachieve any figure anymore. I believe these statements are very self-explanatory. That may be taken as a constructive statement or figures. But that is all for Nidec Corporation's explanation on fiscal financial performance for fiscal 2023. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much. Thank you.