Top Interview

Demand slowed further due to growing concerns about economic recession, planned unachieved

I-PEX will celebrate its 60th anniversary on July 10, 2023. We would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support. Following the record profit we achieved in the previous fiscal year, the 60th fiscal year results were very unfavorable in comparison.

First, Due to the concerns about global economic recessions, Electrical and Electronic Components Business declined because of decrease in demands for information terminals. Connectors for high-performance laptop PCs continued to remain solid, but that for connectors used for laptop PCs panel connections, etc. declined due to the influence of sales decrease in PC manufacturers. Regarding HDD-related components, related parts for high-capacity HDDs for the data centers continued to remain solid, but it declined because of the temporary investment reduction in the data centers after the fourth quarter.

In Automotive Components Business, although there were signs of a gradual recovery in the recent automobile market, demands for the parts such as sensors and connectors declined because of the stagnating production of automobile manufacturers for a shortage of semiconductors and disruptions in supply chains.

In Equipment Business the automatic molding machines and molds continued to remain solid through the year in growing demands for semiconductors, and the sales increase was faster than what was initially planned.

The Group as a whole, consolidated net sales decreased due to the decrease in sales in Electrical and Electronic Components Business and Automotive Components Business, despite higher sales in Equipment Business compared to the previous period. In terms of profit, significantly lower than in the previous period due to losses of factory operating rates because of the due to the decrease in sales, and increases in depreciation expense and fixed labor costs.

As a result of the above, in the 60th fiscal year, our sales were 59,6 billion yen, operating profit was 0.9 billion yen, ordinary profit was 2,1 billion yen, and this fiscal year's net income attributable to shareholders was 0.1 billion yen.

Due to the unfortunate outcomes, we have set the year-end dividend to 20 yen per share, a decrease of 10 yen from the planned dividend, and the annual dividend to 40 yen, including the interim dividend.

We will focus on entering the enterprise market and expanding sales, including data centers and telecommunications base stations, to diversify our earnings structure. Signals transmitted within data center equipment are expected to be faster to accommodate for larger data; thus, we will actively promote entry into new markets by utilizing the high-frequency and high-speed transmission technologies we have developed in the consumer market going forward. In HDD-related parts, demand for high-capacity HDDs for data centers, which had temporarily declined, is expected to recover. With this, we are preparing to produce parts that are highly complex and in line with technology trends that come with increased capacity.

As supply constraints imposed on automakers due to semiconductor shortages and supply chain disruptions are expected to gradually ease, demand for automotive parts will pick up. It is also expected that the launch of our new products, including airbags, regenerative brakes, and electronic control components, will contribute to the recovery in sales. In keeping with the progress of electric cars and automotive digitization, we will focus on developing and receiving orders for more profitable products. This will enable further growth in our automotive components business.

Regarding semiconductor manufacturing equipment, demand for sealing equipment for power semiconductors and automotive semiconductors is expected to remain firm against the backdrop of decarbonization and advances in electric cars and automotive digitization. In light of this, we will expand orders by promoting customized proposals from differentiated technologies. The thermoset sealing technology we developed for semiconductor manufacturing equipment will be expanded to other manufacturing equipment, such as electronic components, in order to increase our revenue base.