Q&A

Back to Financial Results (FY3/2021)

Investor Conference Call for 3Q FY 3/2021 held on February 5, 2021

Question and Answer

You said ball bearing sales will just about match your production capacity of 325 million units in March. Does that mean supply will fall short next fiscal year, and can you give us an overview of your inventory status?
You also mentioned that you would implement improvements when production is low so the profit margin will increase when production bounces back to a higher level. Will it be possible to realize a profit margin of 25% in the machined components business segment even if sales to the aircraft industry don't recover?

I expect supply to be tight, but some low-priced bearings that meet customers' requirements are available from other manufacturers, and demand for bearings used in pivot assemblies will decline slightly, so we should be able to cover demand with our current production capacity for the coming year although our inventory is not so plentiful.
We are talking internally about aiming for10 billion yen in profit on a quarterly basis next fiscal year even if we don't see a recovery in aircraft-related sales. We should be able to achieve it although we won't really know until we try. Once we reach this target and aircraft-related sales recover, operating income of 50 billion yen for machined components will be in sight.

What are analog semiconductors' estimated sales and operating income for this fiscal year and the potential for next fiscal year?

Sales for this fiscal year will be almost 60 billion yen, and this figure should climb even further next fiscal year. We expect to hit our 10-billion-yen operating income target this fiscal year, ahead of schedule. Operating income should be higher than that next fiscal year, and we are looking into it closely now.

How will optical device sales be this fiscal year and next? Looking at the market trend, can we expect next fiscal year's figure to be one-and-a-half to two times as high as it was this fiscal year?

We were initially aiming for 100 billion yen this fiscal year. Although our business with Chinese customers was affected by U.S.-China trade frictions, sales should be almost 80% of the initial target since sales were so strong in the North American market. We can expect sales to increase in the range you noted next fiscal year due to some positive factors, such as an increasing adoption rate.

What are the third and fourth quarter sales figures for Mitsumi's game-related parts that are supplied for a fee, as well as your estimate for next fiscal year?

Sales of parts supplied for a fee came to 33 billion yen in the third quarter and will reach 15 billion yen in the fourth quarter. We understand that there is still a shortage in the market at this point, but we are currently examining the situation for next fiscal year since it all depends on how the pandemic plays out.

Can you give us the actual as well as estimated external and internal ball bearing sales and production volumes?

The October through March figures, in millions of units, include external sales figures of 211, 220, 234, 240, 218, and 250, internal sales figures of 57, 54, 56, 58, 63, and 64, and production volume figures of 247, 266, 252, 282, 273, and 315.

Your presentation gave me the impression that things are really looking up. What's the driving force behind it all?
Is it because of how things are going with ball bearings, or is it more from confidence that the work you've put into motors and other businesses will pay off?

I'd say it's both.
As I always say, I see bearings as our economic indicator. As we watched bearing sales start to bounce back, we saw sales of other products start to rise as well, as they usually do. We've received a large number of tentative orders for next fiscal year. The winds of global economic improvement are at our back, the sails are set, and the ship is ready to speed ahead.
On top of that, the semiconductor business is expected to achieve its 10-billion-yen profit target ahead of schedule, and appears to be in very strong shape for the next year and beyond. I believe this is due to the high demand for our analog semiconductors for various products such as electric vehicles, which is a reflection of the times.
Optical devices are now in the new phase and should keep growing for the next four or five years.
We are also now able to generate decent revenues from various motor products to which we have devoted a lot of effort over the years. We are seeing many developments in the motor industry. For example, sales of motors used in electric fans have almost doubled. I'm very glad to see that our motor business has grown to the point that it can respond to such a trend, thanks to all the hard work we put into it.
Another factor is that other products, besides these four, have been making steady strides. We also saw low-end LED backlight models sell this year, in addition to high-end models, to help fuel our customers' recurring revenue engines.
It's really just business as usual for us since we've been using the same strategy all along, but these are the driving forces that come into focus when I look at our current sales status.

You said the external sales volume of ball bearings for March would be 250 million units. This figure seems much higher than the figure you previously noted. Which applications are experiencing growing sales and how much have they grown?

Sales are strong for automobile applications and have been increasing although I cannot give you any details. Sales for home appliance applications have also been growing. When you compare the third and fourth quarters, you can see that sales have grown for various products, but none in particular stands out. These include products whose sales seem to be increasing due to growing demand from people staying home, such as those used in fishing gear.

I believe there are some points to consider about continuity when it comes to automotive bearings, such as the possibility of getting into a cycle of restocking inventory in response to a sudden recovery of production. Do you have any concerns about the continuity of the current demand level?

As I've always said, when the global economy grows, sales of high-end products increase, which means better sales of high-end parts. However, I believe it's natural to think that the current situation is more of a rebound from depressed sales due to COVID-19.

You made an upward revision of about 13 billion yen to your previous sales forecast for the electronic devices and components business segment. Can you give us a breakdown? Should we assume that the operating income projection would be revised upward for a marginal profit gain in proportion to a sales increase?

The upward revision to the sales forecast includes an increase of 5 billion yen for motors and an increase of 7.7 billion yen for electronic devices. I'm afraid that I can't give you any details on operating income.

Since the Chinese government is currently urging people to refrain from traveling during the Chinese New Year holidays, there are shortages of supplies everywhere. In response to this situation, some companies are going to continue production during the Chinese New Year. Are your customers going to continue operating, and what are your plans?

Our customers all have different policies and plans, but we plan to operate all our factories.

Are you going to operate at all your locations because you are busier than usual or because of the government's recommendation?

Both. If our employees were to go home for the holidays, something could happen to them, and we'd have to conduct screenings, etc. to make sure they weren't infected. Safety is our paramount concern, and our employees understand that. That's why we plan to keep operations up and running at all of our locations.

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