Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd

TSE:7012

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q1

[山本 克也 (やまもと かつや), executive]

I am Yamamoto. Thank you very much for joining us today. Without further ado, I explain the financial results for the first quarter fiscal year 2020.

Please turn to Page 3 of the presentation material. Page 3 shows summary. Orders received and net sales are as shown here. In particular, net sales decreased sharply as a whole by JPY 50.1 billion year-on-year mainly because Aerospace Systems were heavily affected by the spread of COVID-19. And including the decreased sales of aircraft for defense, the segment sales fell by JPY 47.5 billion. And Motorcycle & Engine was also heavily affected by COVID-19 with sales decline of JPY 9.3 billion.

Operating income will be explained in detail by factor on Page 5. But mainly due to the spread of COVID-19, it decreased by JPY 21.7 billion. Both of sales and profit declined sharply year-on-year, as shown here. But we expect the impact of COVID-19 will be gradually improving from the second quarter, and our profit tends to be skewed to the second half. Therefore, we do not regard that profit and loss of the first quarter will be sustained throughout the year. We continue to take measures, including curbing the CapEx and R&D expenses, slashing the management remunerations and reducing travel expenses, among others, which have been already implemented. Weighted average exchange rates and net sales in foreign currencies are shown at the bottom. As shown here, yen appreciated against both of U.S. dollar and euro by JPY 4 and JPY 5.6, respectively.

Please turn to the next page for the financial results by segment. Orders received, net sales and operating income by segment are as shown here. Let me explain on the page of each segment.

Please turn to Page 5 for variance analysis of operating profit. Operating profit decreased from JPY 1 billion to minus JPY 20.6 billion, down by JPY 21.7 billion year-on-year. Let me share with you the variance analysis. Impact of COVID-19 for the whole company was minus JPY 20.2 billion on OP. Aerospace Systems account for 60% and Motorcycle & Engine account for 20% of all. Other major impacts were observed on Rolling Stock with a suspended delivery of passenger cars in New York area and France closure, followed by the Precision Machinery & Robot with production and sales suspension in China and India.

As for effects of foreign exchange rates as mentioned before, yen appreciated against both of U.S. dollar and euro on weighted average. It was minus JPY 2.1 billion. As for change in sales, as sales for -- decrease, including P-1 and C-2, fell temporarily in the first quarter. Its impact was minus JPY 0.8 billion. As for change in product mix and other factors, profitability of Rolling Stock improved. But in Aerospace Systems, product mix of commercial aircraft and engines decreased. And the impact of increased fixed cost during operational suspension weighed, and the impact was minus JPY 3.9 billion.

SG&A improved by JPY 5.3 billion due to reduced sales and promotion cost in Motorcycle & Engine, and lower R&D costs mainly on hydrogen-related expenses.

Please turn to next page for summary of income statement. Operating income variance analysis was just explained. Nonoperating income improved by JPY 7.2 billion year-on-year to JPY 1.7 billion. As for major factors for change on gain and loss on foreign exchange, in the previous year, loss was posted due to appreciation of yen. But in this year, yen was relatively depreciated. And as a result, improvement of JPY 7.4 billion year-on-year was posted. As for extraordinary income and losses, gain on sales of corporate housings and gain on sales of shares of subsidiaries and affiliates, among others, added up to JPY 4.8 billion.

Please turn to Page 7 for results and forecast by segment for Aerospace Systems. Orders, sales and profit in the first quarter FY 2020 against the previous year are as shown here. This segment was most affected by the spread of COVID-19. As for the aircraft, in addition to the reduced production of Boeing 787, 777, 777X and the shipment suspension due to the planned operational suspension of Boeing due to the time lag at the project for defense ministry, sales and profit decreased sharply. As for engines, engine sales fell by half year-on-year, and after-sales also decreased. And sales and profit decreased sharply.

Earnings source of the engine business is after-sales services, and it consists of sales of spare parts and the revenue linked to the flight hours based on the long-term maintenance contract. But in this past quarter, revenue linked to the flight hours were almost none. Furthermore, replacement cost claim for the spare parts full sales were booked in the fourth quarter of the previous year concentrated in this first quarter, and that resulted to large losses.

Regarding the full year forecast for FY '20. As for aircraft business, production for Boeing was resumed, and profitability will be improving from the second quarter. As for engine business, in addition to the gradually recovering flight hours from the second quarter, maintenance cost allocation will be partly offset by the new after-sales parts sales income. Therefore, recurring of the large losses comparable to the first quarter will not be likely.

Please turn to Page 8. For Energy System & Plant Engineering, order, sales and profit in the first quarter FY '20 against the previous year are as shown here. Increased domestic sales more than offset the impact by the spread of COVID-19, and that resulted in a profit growth backed by the sales growth. As for the forecast for the full year, orders will grow year-on-year due to contracts of energy-related equipment despite the impact of COVID-19. Sales will be flat year-on-year. Profit will decrease as profit in the previous year increased due to a large overseas project, which would not be recurring this year. And service-related sales will decrease. And operating loss is expected due to COVID-19.

Please turn to Page 9 for Precision Machinery & Robot. Orders, sales and profit in the first quarter FY '20 against the previous year are as shown here. Despite the strong demand recovery in construction machinery market in China due to sluggish European and emerging markets, the whole segment's performance was weaker than the previous year. Robots for semiconductor manufacturing equipment are firm. As for the forecast for the full year, orders will be flat year-on-year. In Chinese market, hydraulic components sales for construction machinery is more solid than expected, but hydraulic components for construction machinery in developed countries will decrease due to the spread of COVID-19. Sales will be down due to contracted hydraulic components for construction machinery and robots for automotive production due to the spread of COVID-19. Despite the increase of robots for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, profit will also decrease.

Please turn to Page 10 for Ship & Offshore Structure. Orders, sales in the first quarter FY '20 against the previous year are as shown here. Operating income was flat year-on-year. As for the forecast for the full year, regarding orders, partly due to the COVID-19 impact, closing time of the contract which are under negotiation are pushed back since the previous year, but we will continue to strive to win orders of LNG and LPG carriers. And this year, orders for submarines are expected, and that will lead to the growth in orders. Sales will increase due to increase in construction work for ship repairs and submarines. But profit will -- deteriorated year-on-year due to operating loss by the expected decrease in construction works of new ships this year.

Please turn to next page for Rolling Stock. Order, sales in the first quarter FY '20 against the previous year are as shown here. Both of orders and sales increased for the domestic markets. Regarding profit, loss was incurred with a temporary suspension of acceptance process in customer's depot in New York and the temporary production interruption in our New York and Nebraska plants by the impact of the spread of COVID-19. But overall profit improved by JPY 2.1 billion due to profit increase with sales growth of passenger cars in domestic markets and cost improvement progress.

As for the forecast for the full year, in North America, which was heavily affected by the COVID-19, customer's acceptance process has already resumed, and plant utilization is coming back to the normal level. Therefore, we do not expect to incur large losses from now on. We'll continue to reduce cost and promote every possible measure to improve profit, including further cutback of fixed cost and strive to return to profitability promptly in next fiscal year and onward.

Please turn to Page 12 for Motorcycle & Engine. Sales in the first quarter FY '20 against the previous year are as shown here. This segment is affected by COVID-19, but performance varied by geography. Sales decline in Europe and emerging markets were sharp as expected. But in North America, since April, sales have been stronger than expected, particularly of off-road models of motorcycles and vehicles.

Regarding operating income, in addition to the sales decline caused by operational interruption at production sites and the sales suspension due to lockdown, we suffered impact by yen's appreciation. And operating income worsened by JPY 3.1 billion year-on-year. As for the forecast for the full year, despite the better-than-expected retail sales growth of motorcycles and vehicles in North America, motorcycles in Europe and emerging markets and the general-purpose engines in North America sales fall, drastically affected by the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, profit decline will be inevitable. Besides thoroughly reviewing CapEx, R&D and indirect cost among others, we'll take every possible measure to improve profitability.

Please turn to Page 13 for the summary of balance sheet. Compared to the end of the previous fiscal year, collection of trade receivables progressed mainly in Aerospace Systems, but cash and the deposit increased by securing cash on hand to prepare for the COVID-19 risk, and inventories increased due to temporary production interruption in Aerospace Systems segment. With these major reasons, total assets increased by JPY 55.4 billion. On the side of total liabilities, interest-bearing debt increased in line with the total asset. As a result, net D/E ratio increased to 126.8%. We'll continue to work hard to improve to achieve the level of 70% to 80% shown as a guideline.

Please turn to Page 14 for the summary of cash flows. Operating cash flow improved by JPY 62.6 billion year-on-year with a backlash in the previous year from the liquidation of receivables at the end of FY 2018 in Aerospace Systems, progress in trade receivables collection in Motorcycle & Engine segment due to the strong retail sales and lower inventories. Investing cash flow improved by JPY 19.7 billion year-on-year to plus JPY 2.6 billion due to sales of corporate housings and shares of subsidiaries. As a result, free cash flow improved by JPY 82.3 billion. We'll continue to improve financial position by improving profitability, capital efficiency and improvement of the cash flow in the second half and beyond.

Please turn to Page 15 for consolidated forecast of orders received, net sales and profit. Orders and sales against the previous year are as shown here. As for the profit, as shown in the first quarter results, COVID-19 impacts are substantial in Aerospace Systems and Motorcycle & Engine. And operating loss will be JPY 30 billion for the full year. This forecast is based on a certain assumption for the impact of spread of COVID-19. Therefore, depending on the future development, both upside and downside is conceivable. But we will make utmost effort to minimize operating loss and achieve profitability by further cutting back fixed costs, among others.

As for the column of recurring profit and below, we are currently examining the possible additional cost during the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 period. We hope to announce these additional measures and the new management policy, which will succeed to the current FY 2019 MTBP in the first half results meeting at the end of October. Given these conditions, no interim dividend will be paid. And as for the year-end dividend, though the prospect seems to continue to be grim, it is undecided as of today. For the business recovery in the next fiscal year and onward, we will take every possible measure to improve profitability and take bold actions.

On Page 16, FY 2019 actual and FY 2020 forecast by segment are shown in the table for reference.

Page 17 shows the historical data covering the period from 2006 to 2019.

Page 18 and onward show the market overview by segment for your reference.

This concludes my presentation. Thank you for your attention.