Nitto Group Report 2018

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Nitto Group Report 201809Top MessageBusiness Summary of Fiscal 2017 and Forecast for Fiscal 2018During the scal year ended March 31, 2018 (scal 2017), the real economy showed signs of growth across the globe, buoyed by the economic expansion that had started in the previous year and favorable economic fundamentals. In Japan, the real economy showed a moderate yet rm performance, as the employment environment remained stable and private businesses continued to invest in higher efciency to counter labor shortages. Since the start of calendar year 2018, however, the stock markets in developed countries underwent a major adjustment from their high plateau due to concerns that the favorable employment situation in the U.S. might accelerate the pace of interest-rate hikes. At the same time, there is a growing wariness concerning protectionist moves by such countries as the U.S. and China.Against this background, the Nitto Group successfully achieved signicant year-on-year earnings growth in its mainstay Optronics segment by launching high-value-added products in response to major changes in demands for smartphone displays. For the Industrial Tape segment as well, revenue expanded for a broad range of industrial applications, including electronics. Meanwhile, in the Life Science segment, the oligonucleotide medicine contract manufacturing business slowed down after having previously driven the earnings of the segment, due primarily to customers’ termination of new drug development programs. Nonetheless, steady progress was able to be achieved in drug discovery and development of oligonucleotides.As a result of the above, revenue increased by 11.5% from the same period of the previous year (changes hereafter are given in comparison with the same period of the previous year) to 856,262 million yen. Operating income To our stakeholdersHideo TakasakiBoard Member President, CEO & COO Nitto Denko CorporationNitto will celebrate its rst centennial on October 25, 2018. Ever since 1918, when the company was established in Tokyo to begin production of electrical insulating materials in Japan, we have been able to follow a path of constant growth and bring a variety of products to the world.On behalf of the Nitto Group, I would like to extend our most heartfelt appreciation to our customers, employees both past and present, shareholders and investors, business partners, and our host communities, without whose support we could never have come this far. Now, I would like to share with you more about what we delivered in scal 2017 and our key initiatives for scal 2018 and beyond.• Business Performance of Each Segment(Yen in Millions)Fiscal 2016Fiscal 2017Year-on-year ComparisonIndustrial TapeRevenueFunctional Base Products186,187209,594112.6%Transportation124,229129,600104.3%Total310,416339,195109.3%Operating Income27,43334,357125.2%OptronicsRevenueInformation Fine Materials352,905424,153120.2%Printed Circuit Boards42,87142,03898.1%Processing Materials23,41024,439104.4%Total419,187490,632117.0%Operating Income48,46692,548191.0%Life ScienceRevenue44,45936,17181.4%Operating Income21,2005,98528.2%OthersRevenue26,03925,27997.1%Operating Income61-140–The above numbers do not include “Intercompany eliminations” under the “Business Performance of Each Segment” on page 6.