Earnings Call: Q2 2023

Nov 8, 2022

Of Itauchi Corporation. Thank you for your participation today. This morning, we have disclosed 3 pieces of releases. First, we are revising upward the fiscal year end 23 forecast from JPY 700,000,000,000 to JPY 800,000,000,000. With regards to dividends, we are going to raise the dividend per share from JPY 130 to JPY 140 by JPY 10, which is up by JPY 30 compared to last year. At the same time. We have announced share buyback of JPY 35,000,000,000. So we have disclosed these 3 pieces, and I would like to explain the backdrop for such three announcements. First, while we have a full year forecast of JPY 700,000,000,000 in Q1, our Progress rate was 33%, driven by robust progress of our non resource business. With this backdrop, as we are as we have closed the book for Q2 at the end of September. And while the details This will be announced in November at the Q2 analyst meeting. Given the momentum has maintained its strength from Q1, we have decided to make an upward revision to JPY 800,000,000,000, which includes a buffer of JPY 20,000,000,000. So this is an increase of JPY 100,000,000,000 which equates to 15% of an upward revision. And we felt that we would like to disclose this upward revision as soon as possible as we are kicking off the second half. Well, so there has been impacts of commodity inflation, which has helped our performance last year as well as this year across the sector. In the meantime, Itochu is perceived as less susceptible to commodity inflation. Because of this perceived image, despite the first half progress, It seems that share price has not fully reflected our fair value. And given this concern, we still remain steadfast in our communication with the market. And compared to previous years, We have been more meticulous in our management discussions. In usual years, we have management meetings in April and October to decide our direction and also to fine tune. But this year, we had intensive discussions in August September this year. In such management meetings, we have discussed about our medium term management strategy as well as to review our progress in this first half as well as to discuss the outlook for the second half. In addition, we've had occasions to discuss with stakeholders, including shareholders. And given all these discussions, we felt that it is better to transmit and disclose as soon as possible to the financial markets. At the end of August, we published our annual report, in which during the CEO message, We have written a phrase, a decision aligning our aims with the market. So by this, We would like to be effective in making announcements to the market. And in a similar fashion, We adjusted our direction in October 2018. In a similar fashion, And as we are kicking off the second half of this year, we made we decided to disclose this press release. And we feel that we were able to disclose the best package, including containing 3 pieces of the upward revision, dividends hike and buyback. And 50% of the upward revision will be located to shareholder return, DPS consisting JPY 15,000,000,000 and buyback of JPY 35,000,000,000 over a 4 month period. Therefore, JPY 550,000,000,000 will be returned to shareholders. In other words, 50% of our profits will be shared with our shareholders. Sometimes, our shareholders and investors have questioned our stance for our shareholder return policy. In relation to this, we wanted to be unwavering in our stance by balancing 3 factors, which is our growth investment, shareholder return as well as debt control. So in exploring this Balance, given our earning capability currently, we feel that 50% of sharing 50% of profits will still enable us to maintain our financial discipline, while also enabling us with the capability to make growth investments. And we think that this is should be satisfied not only to shareholders, but So to other stakeholders, including our credit rating agencies, because there is a credit rating agency, which have put us on a positive watch. So we didn't we wanted to avoid negative impact for that. While we have payout target of 30% for FY24 as committed. When we announced our 700,000,000,000 target for this year, The targeted payout is 27.3%, which is a bridge toward FY 2024. And now that we have announced our buyback, thanks to this addition, We'll be able to reach 30% target ahead of our original plan. Of course, Currently, as we have reviewed the first half, we have come up with the payout target. But now that we will be entering into Q3 and Q4, given The condition around the surplus cash flow as well as investments, we will try to think of the optimal policy, but given our current best estimate, we have come out with the target. We are not necessarily Domestic about our management condition, while we have seen strong momentum continue into Q2, And the earnings strength of non resource business has been confirmed. However, For the second half, given our yen depreciation trend as well as energy price inflation, these would not necessarily be positive from Consumption standpoint, in addition for the North American business that has been robust so far, there are some signs that require caution. In addition, while there are some commodities that seem to be to remain elevated, despite the fact that iron ore price has corrected a little bit. But when it comes to fuel commodities, we are seeing thermal coal price rise. And also, for pulp prices, that has remained elevated more for the overseas, and we need to monitor Carefully, under such circumstances, our operating companies I need to not only focus on to earning profits, but also to remain disciplined in cost reductions. Based on all these, we have come to a decision to make an upward revision. But now that There are warning signs about the second half and given the inflation, the key is that whether the economy can absorb the Price hikes or cost pass through that is taking place. So power prices have been raised, consumer prices have been raised. And so for the domestic market, we need to be careful in assessing each business 1 by 1, whether all these can be absorbed. And with this, I would like to respond to your questions. Thank you.