Kurita Water Industries (6370) Q4 2024 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY24 orders rose 4.2% to ¥390,152m, net sales increased 11.7% to ¥384,825m and business profit grew 9.0% to ¥42,055m.

• PSV-27 prioritizes faster customer problem-solving, digital water expertise, global CSV expansion and growth in electronics-related services.

Financial highlights

• Operating profit rose 41.9% to ¥41,232m and attributable profit increased 45.0% to ¥29,189m; the operating profit increase partly reflected no repeat of the prior-year ¥7,646m goodwill impairment.

• Basic EPS rose to ¥259.70 from ¥179.14; FY24 net sales were ¥384,825m versus ¥344,608m in FY23.

• Orders exceeded the February forecast by ¥15.2B, net sales by ¥4.8B and business profit by ¥2.1B.

• Business profit increased ¥3.5B, reflecting sales contribution of +¥7.4B, cost-of-sales ratio impact of -¥0.5B, SG&A of -¥4.8B and FX/new consolidation of +¥1.4B.

Outlook and guidance

• FY25 guidance: net sales ¥400,000m (+3.9%), business profit ¥47,000m (+11.8%), operating profit ¥46,000m (+11.6%) and attributable profit ¥33,000m (+13.1%).

• FY25 H1 forecast: net sales ¥194,000m (+3.0%), business profit ¥20,000m (+10.7%), operating profit ¥19,500m (+6.6%) and attributable profit ¥13,500m (+7.2%).

• FY25 business profit guidance includes +¥7.6B from sales growth and +¥4.6B from cost-of-sales improvement, offset by ¥6.8B higher SG&A and ¥0.4B from FX/new consolidation.

• Capex is forecast at ¥46.4B, depreciation at ¥31.5B and R&D at ¥7.5B, with investment in ultrapure-water projects and precision tool cleaning expansion.

• Electronics Industry sales are forecast to fall while profit improves; General Industry sales and profit are expected to grow, supported by facility and CSV business expansion.