This is the contents page for today's briefing. First, I will provide a summary of results through the second quarter. Then, I will discuss the impact of the system failure caused by the ransomware attack, followed by progress with structural reform and our response to business issues. Finally, I will describe our full-year forecasts for the current fiscal year. First, I will provide a summary of results for the first half and second quarter. This page provides the highlights for first-half results. Both sales and profit rose year-on-year. Net sales were JPY 136.9 billion, up 2.5% year-on-year. OP was JPY 10.3 billion, up 26.5% year-on-year. The main takeaway is that net sales rose on a local currency basis in all regions except China, where the timepiece business struggled. Scientific calculators in the EdTech business were firm, especially in Europe. Meanwhile, the sound business continued to face a tough environment.
Structural reforms moved forward in line with plan. This table shows results for the first half. Net sales and operating profit were just as I noted. The OP margin was 7.6%. Net profit was JPY 3.6 billion, owing to the booking of extraordinary losses in the second quarter accompanying structural reform. The earnings per share was JPY 15.58. ROE was 3.2%. This slide shows first-half results by segment. Both the timepieces and consumer segments recorded sales and profit growth. The OP margins were respectively 14.3% and 6%. The system equipment segment recorded an operating loss of JPY 0.3 billion. The adjustment line was broadly unchanged from the prior year. Next, we look at results for the second quarter. Net sales were JPY 71.7 billion, up 1.2% year-on-year. Operating profit was JPY 5.8 billion, up 51% year-on-year.
The OP margin was 8.1%, and the net loss for the quarter was JPY 2.6 billion, owing to the extraordinary losses related to structural reform noted earlier. We next look at second-quarter results by segment. Timepieces and the consumer segments recorded sales and profit growth, with the OP margins at respectively 14.2% and 6.6%. The system equipment segment recorded declines in sales and profit, with operating profit at JPY 0.1 billion. Adjustments in the second quarter were again broadly in line with the prior year. From here on, we will look at second-quarter results by product type, focusing on key takeaways. Looking first at the timepieces segment, sales grew in all regions except China, with the results outpacing the initial plan. Appropriate control over advertising expenses helped improve profitability. The pie chart on the right-hand side shows sales by region.
The weighting for India and ASEAN, a priority region, was 15%. This shows results by product in the timepieces business. First, the weighting for G-SHOCK was around 50% in the second quarter. Although sales volume fell year-on-year, quarterly trends show that the decline has stopped and entered a recovery. The situation for each product is presented on this slide. In particular, the G-SHOCK resin models on the top right are currently selling well in the other regions, following the August launch of a new entry-level priced model, as discussed in our last briefing. Global sales of the Casio Watch Series remain extremely brisk. We next look at a summary of results by area. Second-quarter results on a local currency basis were down 28% in China, but up in all other regions. Overall, local currency sales were up 1% year-on-year.
Year-on-year sales growth in all regions excluding China was up by more than 5%. This slide shows trends for each region. In Japan, the September price revisions for G-SHOCK of between 5%-10% contributed to sales. Sales volume following the price revisions did not change by much, suggesting that the price revisions were effective. Inbound demand is also firm, and the proportion of sales to inbound tourists is around 11%. Sales in North America were buoyed by measures to enhance e-commerce operations. The overall fashion retail market is sluggish, but sales of high-end products were strong through jewelry chains, department stores, and other retail channels. Sales in Europe remained firm as in the prior period. Within the other regions, Hong Kong and Taiwan were weak under the impact of China. However, sales growth in India, which is our focus region, was extremely strong, both offline and online.
This owed partly to the successful sales campaign during Diwali, the main Hindu religious festival in India. We next look at the EdTech business. Scientific calculators were heavily affected by a weakening currency in certain countries within the Others region. This was offset by Europe and other areas, so results kept in line with initial targets. The sound business is still facing an unfavorable consumption environment in the instrument market. Last, we look at the system equipment business. As we noted in our previous briefing, the handheld terminal and electronic register businesses were relocated to the Others segment as discontinued operations. In the HR solutions business, CHS, and the support business for small and medium businesses, SMB, we are working to get replacement demand from existing customers while also shifting to a recurring business model. That was a summary of second-quarter results by business.
Next, I will discuss the impact of the system failure caused by the ransomware attack. I would like again to apologize sincerely for the great disruption and concern caused to our shareholders, our trading partners, our customers, and all people related to our company by the ransomware attack discovered on October 5. Since the attack, we have worked to fully grasp the extent of harm caused and to bring effective systems back online. We are still working with specialists, but I will now provide a summary of what we know at this stage. The series of events following the attack has been described in the box on the top left. We isolated servers that had been affected by unauthorized access from the internet and internal networks, resulting in a temporary suspension of internal operational systems and systems related to the supply chain.
At present, we are working to establish an order of priority for recovery work that will allow us to minimize the impact on our customers. Call systems are already back online. In terms of the impact on results, the system suspension coincided with the holiday shopping season in the third quarter, so it was likely to have resulted in lost sales opportunities. Our estimate is that the issue affected sales by around JPY 13 billion and operating profit by around JPY 4 billion. The impact on each business is shown in the box on the right-hand side. We anticipate an effect on results in the third quarter only, with no residual impact in the fourth quarter.
Given the possibility of further cyberattacks, we have enlisted the support of security specialists to help strengthen our global network and system monitoring functions and establish multiple lines of defense in parallel with the recovery process. We are also educating staff to recognize phishing emails and other forms of attack and taking all precautions to ensure such a breach never happens again. I will now report on progress with structural reform and our response to business issues. The number of people who either took early retirement in response to the plan or retired for other reasons through the first half of the year was around 650, with 560 in Japan and 90 overseas. The measures resulted in the booking of JPY 7.5 billion of extraordinary losses through first half. Further fixed cost reductions will be carried out in the second half to address loss-making businesses.
We worked on optimizing our personnel structures and strengthened our organizational structures in the marketing headquarters. We aim to continue optimizing our HR while enhancing operational structures. Next, we look at our initiatives to deal with loss-making businesses. We will scale down our production and sales functions in the electronic dictionary business, accompanying the rapid market contraction. More specific details will be presented on the direction of these changes during our third-quarter results announcement. For the sound business, the operating environment remains unfavorable, but we are pushing forward with measures to address losses quickly. Specific measures include a halving of our current product lineup to focus on high-margin lines. This will allow us to curb the use of development resources and improve productivity. We will also withdraw from unprofitable areas and optimize HR structures in keeping with operational scale. Additional measures for loss-making businesses will involve further personnel optimization.
I will now discuss our full-year forecasts for the current year. We revised our full-year forecasts, as shown here, in light of the system failure discussed earlier. First-half results came in above initial forecasts, but we lowered our sales and operating profit forecasts by respectively JPY 13 billion and JPY 2 billion to factor in the impact of the system failure on the third quarter. Operating profit in the first half was just over JPY 2 billion above target, and we forecast a decrease of JPY 4 billion in the third quarter due to system failure. We therefore lower our full-year operating profit forecast by JPY 2 billion. This slide shows revised forecast by segment. Here, we reflect the impact of the system failure discussed earlier in third-quarter forecasts for each segment.
Next, I will discuss the takeaways related to our current-year strategy for the timepieces business, which is our main earnings driver. In the first half of the year, we drew up three strategies, one for each price band in the G-SHOCK range. In the low price band, called our entry-level price range, a decline in emerging market currencies in ASEAN and elsewhere caused existing product groups to appear more expensive, weighing on sales. In response, we launched a new product for the low price point. In the medium price range, we launched a series of metal watches with improved aesthetic quality in place of the existing product line, which mainly featured resin. In the high price range, we launched a premium model that can tell a full brand story, combining the G-SHOCK design identity and toughness technology. All new lines are performing either in line with or above expectation.
For second half, we were forced to lower our sales and profit forecasts for the timepieces business owing to the ransomware attack and consequent system failure. However, the success of the new G-SHOCK lines and the popularity of the Casio Watch shown below means the timepieces business has started turning up, having been in a downtrend since the pandemic. I will now provide some examples of regional strategies. In Japan, in November, we opened a new G-SHOCK branding hub in the Shibu Hachi Box, near the Hachiko statue at Shibuya Station. By opening a store in Shibuya, which is popular with young consumers and tourists, we are using Shibuya as a launchpad to spread G-SHOCK brand recognition across Japan and the world. Next is India. Last year, we enlisted two major brand ambassadors: cricketer Shubman Gill and Bollywood star Vicky Kaushal, who are having a major brand impact.
In Europe, we have enlisted the rapper Central Cee as a pan-European brand ambassador. We also have famous rappers as local ambassadors in Italy, Spain, and Germany, who we expect will complement each other in increasing appeal with young consumers. These strategies leverage the marketing expertise built up by G-SHOCK to good effect in Europe. This slide starts the appendix section, which I will not go over in this presentation. We have not changed our basic capital allocation policy. Thank you for listening.