Nihon Kohden Corporation (6849) Q2 2027 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY2026 1H net sales fell 4.4% YoY to ¥103.369bn; excluding Abbott products, sales rose 2% on a local-currency basis.

• Operating income declined 40.5% to ¥4.013bn; international growth and North American gains were offset by domestic weakness, higher SG&A and foreign-exchange losses.

• Gross margin improved to 55.3% from 52.5%, supported by favorable product mix.

Financial highlights

• 1H gross profit was ¥57.168bn, up 0.7%; SG&A rose 6.2% to ¥53.155bn, lifting the SG&A ratio to 51.4% from 46.3%.

• Ordinary income fell 55.0% to ¥3.032bn; net income attributable to owners of parent fell 56.3% to ¥1.976bn, partly reflecting ¥1.042bn in foreign-exchange losses.

• Comprehensive income increased 22.1% to ¥3.033bn, including ¥1.174bn in foreign-currency translation gains.

• 2Q net sales were ¥55.963bn, down 3.7%; operating income was ¥4.996bn, down 6.5%. Excluding Abbott products, sales grew 3% on a local-currency basis.

Outlook and guidance

• FY2026 forecast was revised to sales of ¥228.5bn, operating income of ¥17.0bn, ordinary income of ¥16.0bn and parent-attributable income of ¥10.5bn.

• Sales guidance was cut ¥4.0bn: domestic sales to ¥126.0bn, down ¥7.5bn, and overseas sales to ¥102.5bn, up ¥3.5bn. Operating, ordinary and parent-attributable income forecasts fell ¥6.5bn, ¥7.5bn and ¥4.5bn, respectively.

• Revised forecast gross profit is ¥125.0bn with 54.7% gross margin; SG&A is ¥108.0bn and operating margin 7.4%.

• 2H priorities include comparable sales growth in the mid-single digits, operating-income growth in the high-single digits, gross margin of at least 54%, SG&A restraint and focus on in-house products; FY dividend forecast is ¥33 per share.