Hello, everyone. Now it's set time, so let us start the business results briefing meeting of SCREEN Holdings Company Limited. for the term of March 2025, the first quarter. Thank you very much for coming to this meeting, taking time out of your busy schedule. Now, I would like to introduce our presenters. SCREEN Holdings Company Limited , Representative Director, President, and CEO, Toshio Hiroe. Hello, everyone. I am Toshio Hiroe. Thank you for your time. Representative Director, CFO, Yoichi Kondo. I am Kondo. Thank you for your time. And associated, the two directors are also with us today. Senior Corporate Strategy Officer, Masato Goto. I am Goto. Thank you very much for your time. And the Senior Financial Strategy Officer, Akihiko Miyagawa. I am Miyagawa.
Now, from now on, I would like to ask, Mr. Kondo, Representative Director, to give us a presentation about the overview of the consolidated financial results.
So I'd like to give you the summary of the FY 2025 first quarter. First of all, compared to the same time of the previous year, we had the increase of sales and profits, sales and OP, OP margin, ordinary income, and net income. As for the first quarter, we hit the record highs. And in the first half of this fiscal year, and the full year earnings and dividend forecast were upward, I mean, dividend were revised upward. And as for SPE, compared to the same time of the previous year, we achieved the sales and profit increase. And as for the first quarter, sales and OP, we hit the record high. And as for the quarter, the OP margin achieved a record high. And as for the balance sheet, the equity rate, ratio reached 60.5%.
This is the result of the first quarter. The net sales was JPY 134.2 billion , with OP income of JPY 27.7 billion , OP margin 20.7%, and ordinary income JPY 27.8 billion , net income is JPY 18.2 billion . Net sales increased by JPY 34.5 billion , and OP income increased by JPY 14.3 billion . Ordinary income also increased JPY 14.2 billion . Net income increased by JPY 8.7 billion . This is a composition of group sales by destination. Japan, 14%, followed by Taiwan, 17%, China, 46%, Korea, 5%, and North America, 11%, Europe, 4%, and other Asia, 3%. This is the composition of group sales by segment.
SPE accounts for 83.6%, GA 9%, FT 4%, PE 3%. This is the situation we have by the segment. This is the earnings by segment. SPE net sales JPY 112.1 billion, and OP income JPY 29 billion, and the OP margin was 25.9%. GA sales was JPY 12.3 billion, OP income JPY 0.8 billion, and OP margin was 66.6%. FT sales was JPY 5.2 billion, OP income JPY - 0.2 billion, and this minus was reduced, and OP margin is -5.0%. PE net sales was JPY 3.9 billion and OP income JPY 0.5 billion. This is a consolidated earnings by segment analysis, year-on-year and Q-on-Q.
First, with the Q on Q, SPE decreased in the profit and sales, but operating profit margin improved. Logic sales rose slightly, while foundry sales remained steady, and sales to North America declined, but sales to Taiwan increased. And GA, both sales and profit increased because of the current business remained solid. And FT, both sales and profit decreased, and from now, we can expect a recovery with OLED. And PE, sales decreased, while OP margin maintained a double-digit % range, and so the OP margin was flat. And as for the year-on-year results, SPE, sales and profit increased, sales to the DRAM and foundries increased, and sales to North America decreased, and sales to China increased. And GA, sales increased, profits decreased, and the current business, especially ink sales, increased. And FT, sales increased, and operating loss reduced.
PE, both sales and profit increased, and sales of the Direct Patterning System increased. Next is about the balance sheet status. First of all, about the total assets, that is JPY 632 billion, and the net assets and liabilities. As for the notes and accounts payable and other debt increased, and that includes the contract liabilities, and this increased. So on the other side, the assets, the cash and deposits decreased, and the liabilities increased. On the other hand, the inventory and current assets increased. As for the fixed assets or non-current assets, increased. As a result, the total assets decreased, and the equity ratio improved to 60.5%. That is because of the introduction of the shorter payment terms. This is the cash flows.
In first quarter, the operating cash flow was JPY - 32.1 billion, and investing cash flow JPY - 7.9 billion, but free cash flow JPY - 12.4 billion, and financing cash flow JPY - 13.6 billion. And because of the decrease in notes and accounts payable with a shift in payment schedule due to the holidays at the end of the first quarter, and operating cash flow for the first quarter landed at JPY - 32.1 billion. And there's also decrease in accounts of liabilities. This is the situation we have with the cash flow. But with the downsizing that balance sheet measures, so the it the figure we now have is a minus.
But in for full year, we'd like to have the profit level of the cash flow, so we are not worried about the situation. And this is the analysis of operating income growth. So in the first quarter of the previous year, same time, was the JPY 13.4 billion, and we have the increase of the sales with the JPY 14 billion impacted, and profitability increased, improved by the JPY 5.5 billion. But there was a increase of the fixed cost by the JPY 5.5 billion, and there was an impact of exchange rate of the JPY 0.5 billion, and so the total is JPY 27.7 billion.
As you can see at the bottom, the sales increase and capacity utilization is mainly due to SPE, and the profitability increase is also mainly with the SPE. The increase in fixed cost is mainly due to the growth investment in SPE, labor cost, depreciation, R&D expenses. The impact of exchange rate was biggest in GA and also in PE. That's all for me. So thank you very much, Mr. Kondo. I'd like to invite President Hiroe to talk about the business environment and outlook. Mr. Hiroe, microphone is yours. So I'd like to talk about the business environment and outlook. As for the business environment, you can see the environment for each business. So starting from SPE, in calendar year 2024, as for the semiconductor market, AI-related demand is expected to drive.
And as for the consumables, PC, smartphone, and server applications, on a monetary basis, we can expect the growth. And GA business environment, the largest industry exhibition, Drupa, was held in Germany and successfully completed. And we expect, too, that co-contribution from this exhibition to earn sales growth from now. And display market, the panel price has been rising, so demand has turned up as we expect. That is the current situation. And for this fiscal year, the order is expected to come mainly from OLED application during this fiscal year. And for PE, toward the miniaturization of the circuit board, investment for the packaging expected to take off, but it takes some time now. So in the second half of this fiscal year, we can expect the order place for this.
As for the business outlook, it's announced today for this fiscal year, that is a full year forecast, and first half and full year forecast have been revised upward, so sales and the profits increase year-on-year. The interim dividend forecast has been revised upward for this fiscal year. The total annual dividend is projected to be a record high at JPY 233 per share. This is the business overview of SPE. So DRAM FE, so the calendar year 2024, a mid-single-digit growth was projected, and we have the changes view. So for the calendar year 2025, further growth is expected. Greater growth can be expected in calendar year 2025 than in calendar year 2024.
As for foundry and logic, investment in leading-edge nodes is accelerating at this moment, as expected. And as for memory, the DRAM FE growth this year will be led by the memory. So the DRAM may start to perform strongly now, and gradually, we expect investment will be made into NAND, too. And investment trends by application to foundry, the investment into the leading edge is steadily growing. This is the current situation. And as for the logic, installation in new factories is in progress. And memory, the investment is focused on the DRAM for the AI application, that means HBM, and the demand from hyperscaler is expected to grow, so NAND investment will resume gradually. That's how we see the situation. And image devices, the additional capital investment is cautiously taken care of, so there's a slight decrease.
Power device and others, investment expected to remain low-key during the calendar year 2024 due to the supply-demand balance. As for China market, still robust investment is continuing, both for the emerging and existing chip manufacturers. For the mature node, robust investment is made, is being made by the emerging and existing chip manufacturers. For SPE, this is the composition of sales by application and post-sales. For this first quarter, by application or Q-on-Q situation, is that foundry increased and logic slightly increased, and flash, CIS, and others slightly decreased. That is the situation. Year-on-year, it was the first quarter comparison as DRAM increased greatly, and also the foundry increased greatly. You can tell that from the slide. As for the post-sales Q-on-Q, the actual amount decreased a little bit, and proportion maintained.
Next is the composition of sales by destination. In the first quarter, data is available here, so you can make the Q-on-Q comparison. The proportion of Taiwan greatly increased, and China also increased its presence. A year-on-year comparison, China, compared to the first quarter of the previous year, increased by more than 2 times. Next is the by application and post-sales forecast. So from now, the second half forecast is also added, so please refer to it. Actual of the first quarter and the forecast into the second quarter, the logic and others are expected to increase, and the foundry will decrease. The first half forecast and second half forecast, when we compare them, flash and other post-sales are expected to grow, but foundry will slightly decrease from 47 to 39.
For the full year, so from the previous year full year result and the full year forecast for this year, logic and DRAM will increase. So there's a change in the mix. And the first and second half proportion, when we compare these, the foundry will decrease, but logic, DRAM, and DRAM and others will increase. And at present, this is the forecast we have about the application. And next, this is a sales destination forecast. And so the first quarter results and the second quarter comparison is made, you can find that the China will decrease from 51% to 44%. And North America will increase. That's how we expect the situation. And the first half forecast and second half forecast, when we compare them, China will decrease greatly.
On the previous occasion, when we talked about the forecast, I talked about that we expect Chinese proportion will decrease from now. As expected, in the second half, we expect a smaller sales from China, while we see the increase in South Korea and other Asia. When we see the full year forecast, we can see that Taiwan expected to rise. When we compare the first half and the second half, Japan will increase, but Taiwan and China will decline, and South Korea and Europe will increase. That's how we see the situation.
Next is the sales trend and forecast for GA. So both for the first half and second half, recurring business has been progressing stably. So full year, we're going to invest in the development so that we can accomplish the OPM, same as last year.
Orders coming via Drupa.
I think it is going to impact our revenue in the second quarter and third quarter, so we're going to focus on that. As to FT, like I said before, the pace of demand is now showing the sign of recovery. The OLED-related investment, the 8.5 or so large investment is expected. And therefore, going forward, basically, OLED is expected to drive the revenue growth. In the first half, we have compressed the amount of the deficit, so for the full year, we would like to accomplish the surplus for the first time after three years. Now, PE, like I said at the beginning, we are struggling a little bit. The package board investment for the miniaturization is anticipated in the second half, so basically, expecting the growth.
We have launched a new product called Ledia Qs. So, this is a system that matches the demand. Post-sales is progressing quite steadfastly, so we would like to generate revenue from post-sales. In the second half, main body growth is expected. Now, given the situation, this is the forecast of our performance. So we have revised them upward compared with the May announcement. In July, we have made a revision. You can compare them side by side. In the first half, you can see that there is the revision upward. In the second half, the details are not hammered out, therefore, we haven't revised them. In the first half, given the situation of the first quarter, the total first half forecast was revised.
The revenue, JPY 280.5 billion, and OP, JPY 53 billion, so this is by 18.9%, and ordinary profit, JPY 53 billion, and the second half's forecast are not changed. So basically, the full year, the revenue is JPY 564.5 billion, and OP is going to be JPY 105 billion, OP margin 18.6%, and ordinary profit, JPY 105 billion, and net profit is going to be JPY 75 billion. So this is our upward revision for SPE. The first half numbers is JPY 333 billion for revenue or sales, so this is the upward revision by JPY 3 billion. As for operating profit, JPY 57.5 billion, again, upward revision. OP margin, 24.7% is anticipated.
As for GA JPY 24 billion for sales, OP JPY 1.5 billion, OP margin 6.3% is the target. And these, these are not really revised up. As for FT, the deficit volume is going to be JPY - 500 million against the revenue of JPY 14.5 billion. So this is upward revision. As for PE, revenue is a bit of a struggling, but in the second half, we are going to focus more on. So in the first half, the JPY 7.5 billion of revenue and operating profits forecast is JPY 500 million. There's going to be heavier profit in the second half. So as such, we have made the upward revision of the forecast. Now, R&D, CapEx and depreciation amortization.
In the first quarter, R&D, JPY 7.1 billion, CapEx, JPY 5.8 billion, depreciation amortization, JPY 3 billion was spent. As for R&D, SPE is a mainstay for the strategic investment. And also, earlier, we have been leaving up the investment for the new business areas such as ADP package and hydrogen associated and LS. As for the CapEx, we are mainly investing for the SPE and Hikone and new plants and so forth. As for the full year, we haven't revised the numbers. So for R&D, JPY 33 billion, CapEx, JPY 33 billion, and the depreciation amortization, JPY 13 billion. Now, this is the waterfall analysis of the operating income. And so the starting point is the JPY 94.1 billion at the end of last year, and our forecast for March 2025 is JPY 105 billion.
So the increase of the revenue and improvement of the utilization would give us JPY +33 billion. So the majority of the increase of the profit is because of this element, the increase of revenue and the utilization. Profitability contribution is zero, and the factor of fixed cost, JPY - 21 billion, and the Forex negative impact is JPY 1 billion. The final forecast is JPY 105 billion. These numbers are rather small. The profitability improvement, basically, we anticipated it to be a JPY +1 billion, but it has been reduced down to zero, and therefore, we have reduced the fixed cost to offset that. As for the revenue increase and utilization, mainly this is driven by SPE. SPE and FT is also going to contribute.
As for the increase of fixed cost, mainly SPE is the reason, and holdings, the growth investments are the main reason. So these are the purpose for the investment, or the expense. Now, next is about the dividend outlook. The interim dividend forecast was revised upward, so full year dividend is going to be JPY 233, and this is going to be the record high. On the right-hand side, you will find a table. The main announcement was in the interim dividend, JPY 100, but we have raised it up to JPY 109. As for the second half, we didn't revise the numbers, so in total, we would like to aim to accomplish JPY 233. On the right-hand side, you can see the actual numbers from the previous year, March 2024.
So the dividend is going to be increased from the previous year. Now, about the ESG and group news and new product, the topics are also included in the material, but due to the time constraints, I would like to ask you to refer to them later when you have time. Thank you very much, President Hiroe. Now, we would like to open Q&A session. Now, I would like to ask the first person—Yoshida-san. From CLSA Securities, please ask your question. As for the outlook, obviously, in the second half, you didn't revise the numbers for the second half. On the other hand, by applications and by regions, the breakdown information was provided. So, towards the calendar year 2025, actually, the numbers are growing, I guess. So I think there is some upside.
So with what kind of applications and region, and where do you think there is going to be an upside? Okay. I, Hiroe, I'm going to answer your question. Well, at the moment, we haven't yet worked out the details of the second half, and therefore, we just showed the forecast for the full year as just a forecast. But basically, the customers have given us inquiries, and based on that information, we made this forecast. So there is some upside, but there's also going to be some downside as well. But in particular, the most advanced foundry-related investment, this could come in, and that could serve as an upside driver. And memory-associated business, well, we think that the investment for NAND would increase, but the degree of the increase is going to be the source of upside. I see.
By regions, for example, China. In region, from region perspective, are there going to be any upsides or downsides?
About destination, the ratio of sales to China in second half will depend on how far we accept orders, with an eye on the production capacity going forward.
Now, my second question. So SPE's margin forecast toward the second quarter is my question. So in terms of Q on Q, the revenue is going to go up, but the profit will go down. So is it because of the customer mix and the region mix? Is that the reason? And in the previous meeting, you talked about the low margin. Is it going to be posted in the first quarter or second quarter? The low margin business, when will that be posted? So comparing the first quarter and the second quarter, there is a bit of the decline. And basically, region mix and customer mix, both of them are playing some role. Another point, like you said, in the first quarter, there was this evaluation equipment we wanted to deliver to the customers.
However, because of the customer situation, we had to shift that to the second quarter. That's another reason why the first quarter was higher than we expected. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Ms. Yoshida. Next, I'd like to invite Wadaki from Morgan Stanley.
So thank you very much for the explanation. And under the leadership of Hiroe-san, we do not have any surprising releases, so we are happy about that. But there's a risk with China, and in your case that you have a very careful attitude toward that, so we're not worried about that situation. But what impact this China situation will have? So do you see the any political impacts too, or do you see any increase of the CapEx in China? So what is your forecast after next year about China?
Hiroe will answer your question. So about China, at present, we have the inquiry, which is not so weak compared to the past. There are some fluctuation in inquiry, but for us, still it accounts for more than 30%. So I think we're gonna maintain this level of business with China, and 40% is a very high percentage, so 40 or 50, the now China accounts a very large portion of our sales. And we, as we have been saying that, we expect this figure will decrease from now. So that is the trend we expect, but China is still the, the, will continue to be the main customer for us. So what is your expectation toward next fiscal year? Do you expect more slowing down of China business, or do you don't mind it?
So for this fiscal year, as I mentioned now, we don't expect it will decrease so much. But toward next year, more than 30%, order has been placed with us from China, and we think that the situation will continue into next fiscal year. Thank you very much.
And next question is about by application, by flash or flash memory or NAND. The memory manufacturers are now shifting to the HBM, and I think the investment toward NAND is placed backward. So when do you expect the investment into NAND will recover? And do you have any visibility into that?
So thank you very much for your question about investment into NAND. The hyperscalers' investment into server should accelerate. Without that, we cannot expect recovery. So still now, there is not much movement taking place, and the NAND itself will recover, will maybe in the second half, or in the latter half of the fiscal year. And, your expectation is based on actual inquiry from the customers, or is this, the forecast from the market?
Yes, we already have some inquiries received, but, they are not finalized, or the finalizing the inquiry taking much, a little bit more time than usual. So that's how we see the situation.
Thank you very much for the very clear explanation. Thank you.
Thank you, Wadaki-san. Next is from Goldman Sachs. Nakamura-san?
Thank you for having me today. I have two questions. First, it is about balance sheet. Compared with the end of March into June, the amount of the contract debt has come down by JPY 3 billion. Is it because of the reduction of the new orders, or this is due to the balance between the new orders and shipment? How come it has come down by JPY 3 billion?
Kondo is going to handle that question. This is Kondo. Right, the China's project for with the prepaid project was sold, and the revenue to China is posted according to the schedule.
So the... Do you mean that the order is smaller than the revenue?
No, the prepaid amount was reduced because that was converted to the sales. And so it is not having to do with the amount of the order. President is going to answer the question about orders. We expect more orders coming from China going forward. So toward the end of this year, we're not worried about the cash flow. At the moment, the cash flow is declining, but we're not worried. He said that in the presentation. So basically, the prepayment will continue to come from China. That's our anticipation.
My second question is about the regulations. I don't know what kind of regulations are going to come in, but let's say that the FDPR regulations are utilized by the U.S., then your equipments, can you ship your equipment without using any components or technologies protected by the U.S. IP? Is it possible?
We're not in a place to make a comment about that. So, because of the background of our equipments, we do with regards to the point whether we use any components and technologies from the U.S., well, if we have the amount of the chips, then that means that we do have the technology from the U.S. So because of the way we manufacture equipments, we cannot make our products without using American technology. So, so far, we have been sticking to 30%, but we have to continue to monitor how things will play out going forward.
Thank you. Understood.
Thank you very much. Now I would like to invite Yoshioka, Mr. Yoshioka from Nomura Securities.
So thank you for this opportunity. I have two questions. First of all, about China. So you already explained this, but let me ask this question again. So the sales of the semiconductor is the point of my concern. So in the fourth quarter of 2022, there was more than JPY 60 billion of sales, but for the second half, this will increase to JPY 78.2 billion. So on a quarterly basis, sales will drop to about JPY 39 billion. And on this point, do you see any change in the demand? I think you mentioned that there's no big change in demand. So basically, it is because of the capacity, so maybe you are trying to use production capacity for some other future demand.
So the drop in the second half, would you explain how do you come up with this expected drop in sales to China in the second half? So we'll make the comparison of the previous fiscal year. China inquiry is now a little bit lower than the previous year. That is actually the situation we have. But we count the order only when we finalize it with the customers, so we are not trying to find out the exact delivery of the delivery time of the order to the customers. So there are some orders relating to this were transferred. And second question is about the WFE market. So how do you see this WFE market?
So in 2024, there was no change, but on the other hand, the investment into foundry is expected to increase or accelerate. So there are some ups and downs, but would you give this more a detailed explanation? And the further growth is expected with SPE, but when we see the figures in the mid-term business plan, we expect the 8% growth with the WFE market. And from this 8% growth, do you have any kind of upper division of the growth expected WFE for the F 2024 and 2025? So how do you see the growth of the WFE market? So for the F 2024, the mid single digit growth, a little bit less than 5%, was the image I explained to you, and that view itself hasn't changed.
For 2025, at present, we expect the growth because of the inquiry we now receive. So the image of 8%, I think that's the one you have now, but at present, we can have stronger than 8% growth. And as of the foundry logic, the investment into the leading edge is expected to accelerate. That's how we see, how you see on the screen. But currently, in 2023 and 2024, the investment into foundry will be in the same level. So the 140, so investment into the leading edge will account for the large portion of the investment. Thank you very much. So 2025, so you said that you see the stronger situation is getting stronger, but application is getting stronger.
That, can I understand the situation that way? So memory will... is expected to get stronger with the significant countries, so that's about calendar year 2025. So in 2025, we will catch the demand from that sector. I understand. So that's all for me.
Thank you very much for answering my question.
Thank you, Yoshioka-san. Next, Shimamoto-san from Okasan Securities.
My first question: So going forward, the China business' representation is expected to decline. How would that impact the profitability of your business?
That's my question. So basically, that's not going to give too much impact, or I get the impression that the newly emerging manufacturers actually give you a very high prices, so it's going to affect your profitability. As to Chinese manufacturers, it is true that our profitability with them is high, so by having the smaller representation of the Chinese business, then-
It is possible to assume that the profitability could also decline. However, as to the new equipments we are going to sell, we're going to appeal our added value. That's our strategy. Therefore, through that approach, we would like to recover our profitability. So we would like to develop such products that can improve our profitability. So along with the reduction of the China's representation in our business, but still, we would like to manage our business so that the profitability will not be compromised. Thank you.
As for the memory investment, you are anticipating the recovery from NAND. So at the moment, memory, the largest manufacturers, they are not really, you know, big. Your market share in them is large. However, what's the current status of your adoption rate in them? We cannot really discuss or explain about our situation with a specific customer.
If I give you some general explanation, as for the DRAM, as our cleaning equipment, we are not really increasing our exposure. However, with FLA, we are now developing new applications, so this is where we would like to create more business opportunities.
Understood. Thank you. That's all from me.
Thank you very much, Mr. Shimamoto. I would like to invite Mr. Shibano from Citigroup. I'd like to ask about the margin. In the first quarter, the sales dropped by Q on Q, but margin improved. That's the explanation you've given us. And the sustainability of the margin, so how do we understand sustainability of this margin? So we have been hearing about the drop in China presence, but in the second half of the fiscal year, so I think they expected a 2% drop. And do you think that this is a practical expectation, or do you take any measures to prevent the drop of the margin? So how do you think of the margin? That is the first question.
So into the second quarter, given the situation or results of the first quarter, we are now making the analysis of it. As for the figure for the second quarter, of course, we are going to achieve the better ones, so that we can achieve the better result than this forecast. But I think this expectation is very practical. That's how we see the situation now. As for the second half, we don't have the orders finalized yet, so we haven't made the detailed analysis yet. This is—we are committed to this figure, but whether or not we can achieve it the better than this figure, well, this, it's based on the analysis we're going to make from now. Please understand the figures in that way. Thank you very much.
My second question is about how we see the next fiscal year.
So WFE have the memory as the, kind of driver for the further growth, and I think, that corresponds to the kind of general way to see the market. And your SPE sales and WFE and FI, when you see, compare the growth, your sales growth may perform the, total industry growth. For example, if China continue to support your growth now, so the, WFE growth may be mainly with the memory. I think you can have the scenario to outperform the market growth. So how do you see the growth into the next fiscal year?
So let me answer your question. So on the previous IR day, we explained to you that we, along with the miniaturization, I think, we can expect a further, a greater exposure, and we are going to challenge the new PORs, and result of which, will contribute from now but gradually. So for this fiscal year, our market share, according to our own calculation, is expected to grow. So if there's any big drop in WFE, to grow the market share, it would be difficult. But as long as we comprehend the situation, we can expect our market share will continue to rise. Especially, now investment in China is into the legacy node. The customers of legacy node concerned, especially a front-end cleaning proportion, is greater, and this will result in the greater contribution, this will make a greater contribution to our market share.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next is, Nakanomyo-san from Jefferies Securities.
I have 2 questions. This might sound like a repetition of the previous questions, but in terms of the capacity, I have yet another clarification questions. So at the moment, there is still a constraint of the supply. It's not resolved completely. That's what you said previously. So looking at the numbers in the first half and second half, SPE sales is almost flat. But this year, S-C ube 5, which has started its operation, so basically, it has a potential to sell JPY 500 billion. So if that's the case, in the second half, maybe the revenue of JPY 250 billion is possible. Is this correct? So according to your current plan, it is JPY 230 billion. Do you think there's going to be an upside to this number?
You're right. So S-C ube 5 equipment is now being installed. So, we would like to reinforce that. And as to the current situation of the order, incoming order, it is quite strong. The order is robust. So against this target of JPY 230 billion, gradually, we would like to increase the number of orders so that we can pursue upside.
If that's the case, in that situation, at the moment, China is not fully incorporated, but would you say that the, China's representation is going to increase?
And so looking at the first half and second half, as of now, the China is expected to decline quite substantially. But, as, as long as the capacity is now ready, the situation is going to change.
Is that what you're saying?
Well, compared with the first half, it's going to decline. However, the degree of the drop is going to be milder.
Thank you. My second question is about China next year. So you explained that China's representation is going to shrink, but when you look at the absolute amount of the revenue, the China's investment and your revenue, when you separate them out, compared with this year, do you think it is going to go up when you look at the absolute amount of the money?
I think it is going to decline still. This year... I'm sorry, this year, compared with the previous year, some of the business was sort of shifted to this year from previous year. So that is the same portion that was added. In that sense, next year, the situation will come back to normalcy. That's our outlook.
I think you're talking about your revenue, but if you take a look at the total investment and market in China, what is your outlook?
They are quite robust and vibrant. That's true for sure. So there's a bit of a gap.
Would you say that there's going to be a bit of an increase in China?
Well, legacy area or batch cleaning area, in this segment, our market share has been eroded, and that is true. So in those areas, gradually, the localize will progress. That's our anticipation.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Nakanomyo. Now I would like to invite Mr. Hirakawa from BofA Securities.
Thank you very much for this opportunity. I am Hirakawa from BofA Securities. I have two questions. First about the profitability. So, mainly in the first half, you revised the focus on SPE, and sales expected by JPY 3 billion, and operating profit is expected to increase by JPY 4.5 billion. And so the greater growth expected was the operating profit. So I want to know why you expect the greater growth with the operating profit than the sales? So as it is not only by the SPE alone, and also in the other businesses, in the first quarter, we had a very stable recovery in the profitability. And this situation was analyzed for the second half quarter, and we can expect the contribution from the other businesses into the sales in the second quarter.
So rather than SPE, when we have the three other businesses and others, we can expect surely the improvement of the profitability. That's why we made this upward revision, and of course, SPE are part of it. And as for FP- S- SPE, the production mix was better than expectation. As for the testing machine, about which equation was made, it is now delayed into the second quarter and after. And SPE, in the first half, the operating profit is expected to increase by JPY 4.5 billion? Yes. Thank you very much. And next question is about page 11, about the profitability to increase by JPY 4.5 billion. And I want to know more about this profitability in improvement. And the total increase of profitability for the full year is zero, as we see on the page 24.
So the one on the first quarter is lost in the, full year. I think, figures should be accumulated. So I want to know the relationship between the, first quarter profitability and full year profitability. So for the full year forecast, so our original plan, for the improvement of the profitability was based on the product mix and also the customer mix. But now we see that, situation does not allow us to have that improvement. So, we have to cut or reduce the fixed cost to cover that. That's how we are operating the business right now. So that means in the first quarter, you have some improvement of the profitability, but that will be lost because of the situation, different situation in the customer mix and the product mix?
Yes. So that is the expectation for the full year. But, that is without any detailed analysis. So we made a data analysis up to the second quarter, but as for the second half of the fiscal year, we haven't made the exact or detailed analysis.
... I understand. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Hirakawa-san. So next person is going to be the last person from UBS Securities, Yasui-san, please ask your question, and this is the last question we are going to take. I am Yasi from UBS Securities. Thank you very much for taking my question. I have two questions. First one, I'm sorry, I'm still sticking to China, but I have a question about China. As to the revenue breakdown in China, the advanced node investment is a bit hard to understand. So I understand that it is difficult to clearly answer this question, but how much of the revenue is from the advanced area? Would you say 3 or 4 top manufacturers make up the 30%-40% of the total revenue, or even more, like 15 companies? And the image device.
Second question is about image device. So for the full year, there is the substantial decline forecast compared with the initial forecast. Actually, initially, your outlook was not so negative, but in the past couple of months, whether the investment dropped substantially, could you give me a little bit more details about that? Could you elaborate why the outlook has declined so much? As for the breakdown of the revenue in China, well, major players, the big players, are making investment. As of now, we don't have much connection with the CHIPS Act, so legacy-level investment is taking place. So along with the METI's guideline, we are developing our business in China. So when there is a timing when the big customers make an investment, then our business also increase accordingly. As for the CMOS sensor?
Like I said previously, it is going to be a slight decline. Listening to the customers' investment plan, it seems like the shrinkage of the investment is stronger than we have expected, and this has become clearer in the past couple of months. As to the follow-up of the first question, the China's top three companies, how much of the Chinese revenue do they make up? Top three manufacturers are not always top three customers in our business, so they actually change when the emerging customer come up and existing customer become bigger. So in each quarter, about three top companies make an investment. That's what's happening on the ground.
So in 2023, 2024, if you look at the, total revenue, and if you look at the top 3 companies in China, how much do they represent, the top 3 companies, in the total revenue you make in China? Do we disclose that information? We're going to look into the numbers, and then Watanabe-san is going to check whether we can answer that question, and if yes, we are going to come back to you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. I understand that there are still more people who want to ask questions, but due to time constraint, we would like to close this Q&A session now. SCREEN Holdings Company Limited ., this was the financial results briefing session for institutional investors for the first quarter in the term of March 2025. Thank you again for coming to the meeting despite your busy schedule. Thank you, and I'll ask for your continued support. Thank you