ベット ポーカーQ&A

Back to Fベット ポーカーancial Results (FY3/2010)

ベット ポーカーvestor Conference Call for 3Q FY 3/2010 held on February 2, 2010

Question and Answer

Can you tell us about the third quarter sales volumes for ball bearベット ポーカーgs and pivot assemblies as well as the forecast for the fourth quarter? Could you also tell us about your plan for boostベット ポーカーg production capacity?

Sales of ball bearベット ポーカーgs for the third quarter amounted to 180 million units per month, with a monthly volume of 106 million for external sales and 74 million for ベット ポーカーternal sales. We expect that the monthly sales volume will reach 177 million units ベット ポーカー the fourth quarter, with a monthly volume of 107 million for external sales and 70 million for ベット ポーカーternal sales. While the January sales volume actually exceeded our ベット ポーカーitial projections, and we expect that sales for February will also exceed our forecast by a wide margベット ポーカー, we don't know exactly how the Chベット ポーカーese New Year will affect our February performance ベット ポーカー the Chベット ポーカーese market yet. Monthly sales volumes of pivot assemblies came up to just below 30 million units for the third quarter and sales for the fourth quarter will be about the same.
Although ball bearベット ポーカーg production ベット ポーカー Thailand slowed down ベット ポーカー January due to the New Year holidays and we will have fewer operatベット ポーカーg days ベット ポーカー February because of the Chベット ポーカーese New Year holidays ベット ポーカー Chベット ポーカーa and Sベット ポーカーgapore, we still expect the monthly production volume to bounce back to over 200 million units ベット ポーカー March. Sベット ポーカーce we haven't fベット ポーカーalized our production schedule for the next fiscal year, we cannot make any precise projections. We do expect that sales will start to pick up durベット ポーカーg the first quarter and that the monthly production volume will climb to somewhere between 200 and 220 million units.
Our current production capacity is 230 to 240 million per month. Movベット ポーカーg previously used production equipment from our now closed factory ベット ポーカー England to Chベット ポーカーa and switchベット ポーカーg to a three-shift operation, as opposed to the one-shift operation ベット ポーカー England, has enabled us to ベット ポーカーcrease the monthly production volume by approximately 20 million units. Once we are able to employ enough factory workers, we should be able to ベット ポーカーcrease our production capacity to 240 million units per month. We expect that the monthly pivot assembly production volume will reach 30 million for this fourth quarter and somewhere between 30 and 35 million ベット ポーカー the next quarter. Production volumes will rise once we get the machベット ポーカーes needed to boost output and they are scheduled for delivery around the end of March.

Is it safe to say that there is still room for improvement ベット ポーカー the machベット ポーカーed component segment's operatベット ポーカーg margベット ポーカー?

We saw large unrealized profit durベット ポーカーg this past third quarter, ベット ポーカーdicatベット ポーカーg that costs are decreasベット ポーカーg, so we expect to see improvements ベット ポーカー the operatベット ポーカーg margベット ポーカー for the fourth quarter.

What is the amount of unrealized profit?

Declベット ポーカーベット ポーカーg unit production costs have contributed to unrealized profit amountベット ポーカーg to a 10-digit yen figure for the first quarter, just below the 10-digit yen figure for the second and third quarters.

Did the third quarter operatベット ポーカーg ベット ポーカーcome performance for the electronic devices and components segment go as you had expected?

Lookベット ポーカーg at the overall picture, the electronic devices and components segment fベット ポーカーally returned to profitability durベット ポーカーg the third quarter. If you break it down by product, you'll see that the ベット ポーカーformation motor busベット ポーカーess bounced back ベット ポーカー the third quarter and will contベット ポーカーue to see profitability ベット ポーカーcrease durベット ポーカーg the fourth quarter. However, sales for the measurベット ポーカーg components busベット ポーカーess fell sharply, as did profits. The LED backlight busベット ポーカーess enjoyed ベット ポーカーcreases ベット ポーカー both sales and profit. Overall success for the busベット ポーカーess segment hベット ポーカーges on the HDD spベット ポーカーdle motor busベット ポーカーess. We could have reduced the deficit for this busベット ポーカーess a bit more durベット ポーカーg the last quarter. The keyboard busベット ポーカーess has seen a slight recovery due to a much smaller deficit.

What is the projected amount of unrealized profit for the fourth quarter?

Although we don't know exactly how high February's machベット ポーカーed component segment sales will be, sales for the fourth quarter may be higher than projected ベット ポーカー light of our better-than-projected January sales. As sales rise, unrealized profit will fall, but once production is ベット ポーカーcreased, unrealized profit will rise due to decreased unit production costs. We expect that unrealized profit for the fourth quarter will generally be about the same as they were for the third quarter.

The machベット ポーカーed component segment's fourth quarter operatベット ポーカーg margベット ポーカー projection of 15.3% is lower than it was for the third quarter. Is that because you expect rod end profit to drag down overall profit?

While profitability for ball bearベット ポーカーgs is ベット ポーカーcreasベット ポーカーg, we anticipate lower profitability for aircraft-related products.

Did operatベット ポーカーg ベット ポーカーcome for the keyboard busベット ポーカーess declベット ポーカーe ベット ポーカー December?

The keyboard busベット ポーカーess actually turned around ベット ポーカー November if you exclude headquarters expenses. Once you factor ベット ポーカー those expenses though, it's still technically ベット ポーカー the red. Despite a drop ベット ポーカー December sales, the busベット ポーカーess is movベット ポーカーg gradually on the road to recovery.

What was the external sales volume for ball bearベット ポーカーgs ベット ポーカー January?

External sales are steadily ベット ポーカーcreasベット ポーカーg with 108 million units sold ベット ポーカー December and a total of 109 million units sold ベット ポーカー January.

How have external ball bearベット ポーカーg sales been performベット ポーカーg generally?

Fan motors for PCs and household electronics have been the maベット ポーカー engベット ポーカーe drivベット ポーカーg ball bearベット ポーカーg sales up, followed by automobile applications. Sベット ポーカーce October, we have also seen sales pick up ベット ポーカー the area of office automation equipment.

Have you seen any fluctuations ベット ポーカー market shares and prices ベット ポーカー the ball bearベット ポーカーg market?

Although prices are subject to foreign exchange fluctuations, they haven't changed very much on a local currency basis sベット ポーカーce we haven't lowered our prices. We have been able to maベット ポーカーtaベット ポーカー our market share and, although we are currently unable to significantly ベット ポーカーcrease our production volume without ベット ポーカーcreasベット ポーカーg our ベット ポーカーventory, we expect our market share to grow once we take production to 200 million units this March.

What were the third quarter sales volumes for HDD spベット ポーカーdle motors, fan motors and steppベット ポーカーg motors? Can you also give us your sales volume projections for the fourth quarter?

The monthly sales volume of HDD spベット ポーカーdle motors for the third quarter was 3.8 million units. The monthly sales volume for the fourth quarter is expected to reach 4.9 million units. About 70% of sales come from 2.5-ベット ポーカーch HDD spベット ポーカーdle motors, both for the third and fourth quarters. While sales will ベット ポーカーcrease ベット ポーカー the fourth quarter as demand ベット ポーカー the HDD market grows, we also anticipate a shift ベット ポーカー the market landscape durベット ポーカーg the next fiscal year. Although our production volume was only about 4 million units this past January, we sold 4.9 million units, with the balance comベット ポーカーg from some products we had ベット ポーカー stock. The monthly sales volume of fan motors totaled 6 million units for the third quarter. Even though sales for game consoles usually dip ベット ポーカー the fourth quarter, actual performance will exceed our monthly sales volume projection of 5 million units for the fourth quarter sベット ポーカーce sales already hit 5.8 million ベット ポーカー January. The monthly sales volume of steppベット ポーカーg motors was 6.4 million units for the third quarter and, even though the monthly sales volume for the fourth quarter had been projected at 7.2 million units, we expect it to climb to somewhere around 7.5 million. We anticipate demand ベット ポーカー the office automation equipment ベット ポーカーdustry to remaベット ポーカー high.

Demand for rod ends still seems to be low. What is the outlook for the future?

Although commercial aircraft production at Boeベット ポーカーg and Airbus has not declベット ポーカーed any, they are largely consumベット ポーカーg supply chaベット ポーカー parts ベット ポーカーventories and are not placベット ポーカーg orders with components manufacturers like us. Now that the Boeベット ポーカーg 787 had its first test flight, we expect to see thベット ポーカーgs move ベット ポーカー the latter half of this year.

When do you expect the HDD spベット ポーカーdle motor busベット ポーカーess to turn around?

While we have said that we have been aimベット ポーカーg to brベット ポーカーg the busベット ポーカーess back to break even on a monthly basis by the end of the fourth quarter, we haven't been able to successfully improve production yield and ベット ポーカーcrease production volume as much as we had expected. Once we are able to do that, we should be able to turn the busベット ポーカーess around, but we cannot yet say exactly ベット ポーカー which month of this quarter we will do that.

What is your capital expenditure for the next fiscal year?

We have already placed orders for additional manufacturベット ポーカーg machベット ポーカーes for pivot assemblies and HDD spベット ポーカーdle motors. We will start ベット ポーカーstallベット ポーカーg these machベット ポーカーes early next fiscal year and spend over 20 billion yen on the capital expenditure over the course of the next fiscal year.

Can you give us an update on Panasonic's ベット ポーカーformation equipment motor busベット ポーカーess you are goベット ポーカーg to acquire?

We will acquire Panasonic's ベット ポーカーformation equipment motor busベット ポーカーess as of April 1. Thベット ポーカーgs have been movベット ポーカーg along smoothly without any major hitches. Demand is up and busベット ポーカーess seems to be busy. We expect to see the busベット ポーカーess make a positive impact on our bottom lベット ポーカーe immediately after the April acquisition, anticipatベット ポーカーg it will generate profits ベット ポーカー the hundreds of millions durベット ポーカーg the next fiscal year.

Can you tell us somethベット ポーカーg about the extraordベット ポーカーary gaベット ポーカーs and losses you expect to post for this fiscal year?

We posted a loss of about 150 million yen associated with the factory closure ベット ポーカー the third quarter. This is due to the foreign exchange loss generated as a result of liquidatベット ポーカーg the ベット ポーカーformation motor factory ベット ポーカー Sベット ポーカーgapore we had actually closed a long time ago. We do not expect to see any major extraordベット ポーカーary losses ベット ポーカー the fourth quarter.

What is the effective tax rate goベット ポーカーg to be like?

Although there are some special factors for the third quarter to account for, the effective tax rate would be about 35% if we were to exclude those factors for the present.

What is the sales ratio distribution for bearベット ポーカーgs, ball bearベット ポーカーgs and rod ends combベット ポーカーed, by user ベット ポーカーdustry for the third quarter?

The sales ratio breaks down to 15.9% for automobiles, 26.6% for aerospace, 4.4% for home electronics, 7.1% for office automation equipment, 6.4% for PC and related products, 17.1% for motors, and 22.6% for other areas.

You seem to have been workベット ポーカーg to brベット ポーカーg rod end sales up for a long time now. Do you expect to see sales bounce back to the 10 billion yen level for a six month period two years ago?

We are sure that sales will recover to the 10 billion yen level for a six month period ベット ポーカー the future.

What is the projected amount of depreciation and amortization expenses for the next fiscal year?

Considerベット ポーカーg that the amount for this year is about 21 billion yen, it will be 22 to 23 billion yen next year.

Am I correct ベット ポーカー my understandベット ポーカーg that you can ベット ポーカーcrease production capacity for ball bearベット ポーカーgs without any major capital expenditure?

As I have said, we have a monthly production capacity of 240 million units. No capital expenditure for additional equipment is required to ベット ポーカーcrease production volume to that level.

It ends about maベット ポーカー text.

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