Overview of the latest financial information

During the third quarter consolidated cumulative period, the global economy remained firm due to the recovery in consumer spending in some developed countries, including Europe and the United States. On the other hand, the outlook remains uncertain due to monetary tightening, sluggish domestic demand in the Chinese economy, and geopolitical risks in the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East.

In Japan, although there were signs of a recovery in personal consumption, the outlook remained uncertain due to a slowdown in external demand, unstable exchange rates, and the risk of fluctuations in financial markets.

In this economic environment, our group's Electrical and Electronic Components Business continued to make steady progress, while Automotive Components Business and Equipment Business were sluggish.

In the Electrical and Electronic Components Business, sales increased year on year due to strong sales of mainstay products such as connectors and HDD-related components. Demand for connectors remained steady in line with the underlying strength of the laptop PC market. In the HDD-related components, demand for components related to high-capacity HDDs, including those used in data centers, continued to be strong. Profits remained steady due to the high level of factory utilization rate in line with the above-mentioned demand.

In the Automotive Components Business, the recovery in demand for components was limited due to continued inventory adjustments by auto parts manufacturers, although production stoppages due to the sluggish EV market and quality misconduct by automakers were being eliminated. As a result, although sales increased year on year due to the strong performance in the first half of the fiscal year, orders continued to weaken recently. On the profit side, fixed costs remained high due to a decline in factory utilization rates in line with the decrease in demand for automotive sensors and molded and assembled parts/components, which pushed down the profit level.

In the Equipment Business, demand for resin encapsulating equipment for automotive semiconductors, including power semiconductors, in which the company excels, remained sluggish, due to excessive inventories of automotive semiconductors at semiconductor manufacturers and postponement of investments in EVs by automakers. Sales of consumer products also decreased year on year due to the postponement of investment due to the impact of excessive production facilities caused by the sharp growth in the semiconductor market in the past. Profit decreased year on year due to a decrease in demand for equipment and molds due to the slowing market conditions.

As a result, sales of the third quarter of the current consolidated fiscal year increased 9.8 % to 47,361 million yen, compared with the prior year, also our operating income 2,139 million yen (We had operating loss of 609 million yen prior year), ordinary income 2,058 million yen (We had ordinary income of 65 million yen prior year), and net income attributable to owners of parent was 1,030 million yen (We had net loss attributable to owners of parent 427 million yen prior year.).