7735.T FY2027 Q1 Earnings Call Transcript
Date: 2026-07-28
Source: Financial Modeling Prep

Nakamura: Good afternoon. The time has come, so let us start the SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.'s earnings call for the first quarter for the fiscal year ending March 2027. Thank you very much for your participation despite your busy schedule. I am the moderator for this opportunity, Nakamura, the Deputy Head of Investor Relations, Communication Strategy Division. Thank you very much for your kind cooperation to the end of the program. Before the presentation, let me give you some housekeeping information. There was an earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture, and we are now collecting information about the event. There is a case that we have to end this presentation session earlier than scheduled. We'll give you the further notice when a decision is made. I ask for your kind understanding. This presentation is provided both in Japanese and English. Simultaneous interpretation into English is available for the investors from abroad. Your camera and microphones are disabled. We have the Q&A session after the presentation, so when we confirm you're raising a hand with button, we'll enable your microphone. How to proceed Q&A session will be introduced to you later. When you make questions, please refrain from mentioning the specific name of the customer or competitors, or the specific situation of the specific company. This session is for the institutional investors and analysts. As was notified before, we will not entertain a question from the media. Thank you for your kind understanding. Recorded data of the presentation and Q&A session will be available on our website on July 29th, Wednesday. Please find and use it. Now, let me introduce you today's presenters. The Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, Masato Goto.

Masato Goto: I'm Goto. Thank you for this opportunity.

Nakamura: Managing Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Manabu Ishimura.

Manabu Ishimura: Thank you for this opportunity. I'm Ishimura.

Nakamura: Senior Executive Officer, Head of Communication Strategy, Chiho Otobe.

Chiho Otobe: This is Otobe. Nice to talk to you.

Nakamura: Let us invite CFO Ishimura to give you the consolidated business results and forecasts. Mr. Ishimura, microphone is yours.

Manabu Ishimura: I want to talk about the summary of FY 2027 March first quarter earnings, and guidance for next fiscal year, the full year. This is the summary of consolidated earnings. The net sales is JPY 121 billion. year-on-year, it's -10.3%, -JPY 14 billion year-on-year. OP income is JPY 14.3 billion, which is -41.1% year-on-year. It's -JPY 10 billion. OP margin is 11.8%, and it's -6.2% year-on-year. All in all, sales and profits both decreased year-on-year. SPE sales and profits fell year-on-year. However, this is within our expectation, so there's no particular things happened. The slide project, the memory project for China, and the revenue for this company will be posted in second quarter. It's going to happen as planned. GA, sales and profits grew year-on-year. Sales of recurring business increased. For FT, sales and profits rose year-on-year. Equipment sales for OLED and LCD increased. That was the situation in first quarter, but we have received record high order, and full year forecast was guided upward. The annual dividend plan was increased from JPY 175-JPY 183, increased by JPY 8. Next is the first quarter consolidated earnings in detail. For net sales, as I explained, it's JPY 121.7 billion, which is -JPY 14 billion quarter-on-quarter. The OP income is JPY 14.3 billion, and ordinary income is JPY 15.4 billion and -JPY 9.1 billion. Net income is JPY 10.4 billion, and it's -JPY 6.1 billion Q-on-Q. This is the sales by destination. The China portion was 41% in first quarter, and now decreased to 27% in first quarter. On the other hand, the EU increased from 8%-16%, by 8%. Taiwan increased from 19% to 23%, increased by 4%. Korea also increased. Next is the sales price by segment. SPE actually was a bit low. 76.5% is from SPE, which is slightly less than 80%, and other business, basically no change. This is the consolidated earnings by segment in first quarter. SPE, the sales and profit both fell. It's JPY 93 billion, and the OP was JPY 14.3 billion, and the OP margin was 15.4%. Both sales and profits fell, and the sales decreased by -16%, and the OP decreased by -7%. The China/Taiwan declined, and the sales for foundry and logic decreased. Sales from a delay project to be posted in second quarter, as I have explained earlier. For GA, the sales of the first quarter is JPY 13.8 billion, and OP income is JPY 1.4 billion, and OP margin was 10.3%. The revenue increased by JPY 0.9 billion, and OP income increased by JPY 0.8 billion. For GA, sales and profits both grew, and it is driven by recurring business. For FT, sales was JPY 10.8 billion and OP income is JPY 1.2 billion, OP margin was 11.8%. It is a JPY 0.8 billion increase and JPY 0.4 billion increase in OP. PE was JPY 3.1 billion, and OP income was JPY -0.2 billion. Sales slightly increased, however, due to fixed cost increase, the profit fell. This is the balance sheet in consolidated. The net assets reached JPY 497.3 billion, and equity ratio is now at 4.6%. We believe equity ratio is in appropriate range. Next, please. This is the consolidated cash flow. The first quarter was JPY 9 billion. Due to the income tax payment, we had this number, JPY 9.0 billion. Investment cash flow is JPY -10 billion, and the total free cash flow is JPY -0.9 billion. Financing cash flow is JPY -16.2 billion. This is due to the dividend payment. Next is R&D and CapEx and depreciation or amortization. R&D is JPY 10.1 billion, we had almost expected landing. CapEx was JPY 17.8 billion in first quarter. From the trend of past, it seems to be high, but this is due to ATCA in New York. For rental equipment, we had to post all the rental cost in this term, and if we exclude, everything is ordinary. The depreciation is JPY 4.0 billion. Full year forecast has not been changed from last time. R&D or IT or production, those are the investment target. Looking at the order, we have to be ready for the increased capacity for the production. Next is the analysis of operating income growth. Compared to the first quarter last year, it is decreased from JPY 24 billion to JPY 14 billion. The major factor is the SPE sales declined in SPE, and also utilization has impacted. Profitability improved mainly due to FT, JPY +2.5 billion. For fixed cost, mainly in SPE, we had growth investments, JPY -3.5 billion. Exchange rate mainly impacted GA, JPY +1.0 billion. Profitability and exchange rate had JPY 2.5 billion and JPY 1.0 billion, and that will be canceled by this fixed cost decrease. Next is the business forecast for full year of FY 2027. For first half, we have not changed as a company total. The revenue, the net sales is JPY 317 billion, OP is JPY 56 billion, and the OP margin is 17.7%. Ordinary income will be JPY 56 billion. GA, FT, PE, there was some correction made, however, in the consolidated, we do not have any major change. To the right is the full year forecast. This time, the net sales is JPY 743 billion. We have increased from JPY 725 billion in May forecast. OP is JPY 156.5 billion. Again, we have made some increase from JPY 150 billion. Ordinary income similarly increased to JPY 156.5 billion, and net income is JPY 115 billion. We have made some increase from JPY 110 billion in May forecast. If we look into segments, SPE sales is JPY 620 billion, increased by JPY 20 billion from May forecast. Accordingly, OP income will be increased to JPY 159 billion from JPY 153 billion, and OP margin will be 25.6%. For GA, the sales and OP both increased by JPY 1 billion from our May forecast. FT, we expected JPY 47 billion in May forecast, but the sales of advanced packaging was examined this time, now we are estimating JPY 43 billion. For PE, the sales is going to increase by JPY 1 billion from May forecast. Next is the operating income growth forecast. Last year was JPY 122 billion, our estimate now is JPY 156 billion. Breakdown is the sales and capacity utilization has an impact of +JPY 74.5. Compared to last time, we have increased it JPY 3 billion. Profitability, in SPE, the product mix will change, so we are estimating -JPY 8.5. For fixed cost, it's -JPY 31.5, and exchange rate is -JPY 3.5 billion. Together with the sales increase, we are estimating a profit increase. That's the major trend in this fiscal year. The dividend outlook interim forecast was not changed. JPY 60. For the year-end is JPY 150 in the May forecast, but now we are announcing JPY 123. Total will be increased from JPY 175-JPY 183. This is going to be record high dividend for us. This concludes my part. Thank you very much.

Nakamura: Thank you, CFO Mr. Ishimura. Now let us invite President Goto to give us the business environment and outlook.

Masato Goto: This is Goto. Let me give you a presentation about business environment and outlook. First of all, about the full year outlook overview, as was explained by Ishimura a moment ago, full year forecast was raised, or we made upward revision. Mainly with the AI investment, we witnessed a very strong demand from the market. The record high level of the inquiry and order have been witnessed, and in the second half, we're going to turn them into the sales. That's why we made upward revision for the second half forecast. Given the situation, we have to catch this demand and opportunity to achieve the further growth. In previous fiscal year, we opened the ATCA U.S. as an research and development hub. In Hikone, we enhanced the production capacity. With these, we would like to deal with the increasing demand. About SPE, we will capture the strong investment in leading-edge foundry, logic, and memory. The situation is getting better, so we will surely capture this demand, and we will outperform WFE market growth. That's what we will surely achieve. Under the current mid-term management plan, we made the investment. For this investment or for these projects, we'll carry them out and harvest the results. In that sense, the ATCA evaluation process will be established and launched. Preparing ourselves against the further growth in the market, we will increase the production capacity of SPE. We have the plan for them, so we would like to prepare ourselves against the upcoming opportunities. We have made a preparation for the enhancement of the competitiveness of the products and also the production capacity. Through these, we would like to capture the opportunities in expanding the market. Next slide, please. This is the situation in the market. As I mentioned a moment ago, for the whole WFE in calendar year 2026, we expect about 20% growth. In the same way, in calendar year 2027, we expect a similar level of growth. The balance between the two years may change because of the situation. The coming two years will be the one we see a very steady market growth. As you know, including the Middle East situation, there is a geopolitical situation, which might seem settled down a little bit, but again, the uncertainty is rising. We'll continue to pay close attention to the geopolitical situation so that we can be flexible enough to take the appropriate measures when things happen. Investment trends by application. As you can find here, foundry, AI-driven leading edge investments to be the primary driver of WFE growth. Logic. The large scale project launches is a background for the recovery. In addition to that, we have the support by the AI side demand. Logic related strong demand is expected from now. Next is memory. As you know, DRAM and HBM, the advanced products, is in shortage now. The CapEx into DRAM will drive the recovery in the memory market. Not only the advanced HBM, but the existing DDR is also in shortage. In addition to the HBM, the general type of DDR will also receive the CapEx. For two years to come, we can expect a very strong investment into memory in general. The same situation can be expected with NAND. There's a recovery in investment into data center. The domestic and overseas NAND manufacturers are now planning investment. Memory, both for the DRAM and NAND, we can expect a very strong demand. The next is image devices. It was sluggish, but now we see the recovery in the situation. Japanese major auto manufacturers now started to increase their production. As for the image devices, we can expect a growth from now. Power devices and others. Compared to the other types of devices, the process was a bit slow, but finally, we see the sign of recovery in investment. In that sense, compared to the other advanced devices, the start is rather kind of slow. By dealing with that situation, we'd like to capture the demand from the market. Next is advanced packaging. WLP applications to lead initially, followed by the growth in PLP applications. Our key areas of advanced package should be dealt without fault. China market. Same as the other device manufacturers, not only among the existing foundry and memory clients, investments are becoming active, especially among the emerging and foreign-affiliated clients. Globally, the market from 2026-2027, we can expect the big growth in the SPE business. Next page, please. This is the composition of equipment sales by application for SPE. As you can see here, this is a result of the first quarter. About half is coming from foundry, and we have the strong DRAM. This is the current situation. Q-on-Q basis, and also on the year-on-year basis, we can see the sales increase of DRAM, which is very clear trend in application sales. Next slide, please. This is the post-sales. About post-sales, the higher fab applications rate by the customers. As a background, we can see the stronger demand for the replacement of consumable parts and units. This is an area of business we can expect a further growth. In addition to the sales of the new equipment, we'll have the lineup of the consumable parts and units for the replacement and post-sales. Next page, please. This is SPE composition of sales by destination. As you see here, Taiwan and China accounts for almost half. In addition to that, Japan, North America, and Europe follow. When you see the overall situation, in the first quarter, on a quarter-over-quarter basis, sales to North America rose and Taiwan remained solid. Year-on-year basis, we saw the increase of sales to North America. This is the situation from the first quarter. This is the composition of sales by application. First of all, the foundry has a large portion, followed by DRAM, and this situation will continue. The proportion will continue in this way. This situation is not limited to the first quarter, but we expect the same situation into the second half of the fiscal year. Next page, please. This is the post-sales for the SPE forecast. As I mentioned earlier, in order to secure the profitability and in order to follow or maintain the equipment we sold, we'd like to follow this post-sales. For the first time in this fiscal year, the post-sales will exceed JPY 100 billion and will further enhance this field of business to ensure the profitability. In addition to new businesses, this is another key business we have. Next is the SPE's composition of sales by destination forecast. As I mentioned earlier, as for the situation, we do not expect any big change. Taiwan and China, these two regions will continue to achieve the big growth, followed by North America and Europe. As you see here, in the second quarter compared to the first quarter, top line will grow, but the proportion by destination will not change so much. China and Taiwan their ranks reversed, but this may change quarter-by-quarter, but the situation will not change. China and Taiwan will continue to lead the positions. Next page, please. This is a GA sales trends and forecast. As we have been explaining to you, we want to increase the recurring business in addition to the sales of the equipment, so that we can secure or improve profitability. In GA business, we newly released the roll-fed digital printing press, which received a strong inquiry in North America, so we would like to grow this business. In Japan, the so-called CTP offset printing equipment has a strong demand. Also in Japan, we'd like to promote this new digital printing press. Next page, please. Next is the sales trend and forecast. Led by the OLED, we are promoting the sales so that we can secure the stable profits. From this fiscal year, we integrated the advanced packaging business into the FT. In that sense, compared to in addition to the display business, we can have the synergy with advanced packaging business so that we can secure the sales and profit. Next is PE sales trend and forecast. We struggled in this business, but finally, the market has recovered. Investment into memory and the inquiry from the packaging business has increased. Finally, as for the PE segment, from the second half of this fiscal year, we can expect a full recovery of the market. We will capture the opportunities in this market so that we can achieve the sales and profit secured for the PE business. Next page, please. These are about the recent SCREEN Group news. They were already released, so I think some of you already know about this. There are two news about SPE and one news release about GA. One of them is this news. SCREEN joins Applied Materials EPIC Center as innovation partner. This center will be newly launched in California. Various research developments have been done together with Applied Materials, and through this partnership, we can enhance or deepen our relationship with them. We would like to be involved in this launch of this new EPIC Center. Next is about related to GA, about the Chiyoda Gravure. We collaborate on promoting digital printing on flexible packaging, and we'll move on to the full scale production. Chiyoda Gravure has the market and into which we provide the flexible packaging. From the conventional paper-based packaging, we move on to the film-based packaging, and we'll take this opportunity to provide the flexible packaging into the market in addition to the conventional printing equipment. Let me now give the microphone to Otobe-san to explain the next page.

Chiho Otobe: This is Otobe. As usual, we have the small group meetings after today's earnings call. We host the small group meetings to follow up this earnings call today. We have the Japanese version one in the morning of September 2nd, and English version one in the morning of September 8th. For the investors in U.S., I'm sorry for this time frame, but we would like to give you the opportunities to follow up us at the conferences and other opportunities. I ask for your kind participation to these events. Please go to page 17. Goto talked about the WFE outlook. There was an announcement, we expect about 20% growth in calendar year 2026. Let me give you the breakdown about this part, because I think you may ask questions on this point. From the forecast in May, we made an update. First one is about the advanced logic foundry. "It's a bit less than 25%," was a comment we made, and we changed it to over 20%. Next is memory, especially about DRAM. "It's a bit less than 25%," was a comment we made. The revision, we changed it to over 25%. Next, about NAND. Previously, we said it is little bit less than 15%, and we made an upward revision to about 20%. The power devices and others, not much difference, but it's been about a little bit less than 10%. This time, we changed the slides related to SPE, especially about the one by application. So far, we had application plus other fab, and we had post-sales. We have the page for the application, so we separate it, application and post-sales. As was explained by Goto a moment ago, we have the page for sales by application and post-sales separately. You can find the appendix to show you, page 32 and page 33, to show you the composition of sales by application, and post for the equipment and post-sales.

Nakamura: Thank you very much, Mr. Goto and Ms. Otobe. I would like to go into Q&A session. Because the time is limited, I direct you to ask two questions per person, and I would ask for your kind cooperation and time management. Please use the raise hand button on Teams to ask questions. When your name is called, please unmute yourself and ask your question. Now, Yu from CLSA. Would you please?

Yu Tsuchiya: Thank you very much. I am Yu from CLSA. First of all, SPE sales is going to expand towards second half. Lead time for equipment is how long, and how much visibility you have in the order taking? Maybe if you break down into third quarter and fourth quarter, can you please tell us the breakdown of the second half?

Nakamura: Goto is going to address this question.

Masato Goto: The lead time for equipment, of course, differs depending on the type of model, but currently maybe 4.2 months on average. Four to five months on average. Order visibility. The order for the sales of this fiscal year is almost fixed. Based on that, we are making upward revision. For the sales of this fiscal year is almost visible. The breakdown between third quarter and fourth quarter, fourth quarter is higher than third quarter. The sales is going to be flat. Looking at customer demand, as you may know already, the memory, they have to increase production. Memory device makers are asking the delivery accelerated. Probably the demand is now stronger than our capacity right now.

Yu Tsuchiya: Thank you very much. My second question is, WFE market is probably same level of growth in next fiscal year from this fiscal year. There was application update in this fiscal year, toward next year, do you see any different trend in any application? If you have any comment by application, would you please?

Masato Goto: The outlook for next year is almost no change in the trend from this fiscal year. As you may know, the DRAM and memory device makers are going to be very aggressive in investment from the second half to next fiscal year. Their CapEx or production plan, looking at that, probably early next year to second half of next year. The centering around memory, we have seen strong order, and also latest logic foundry will be similar to this year level. There will be no major change in the trend.

Yu Tsuchiya: How about logic? Maybe some customers are changing in their tone. Do you have any upside?

Masato Goto: As you may know, some customer makes announcement, logic customer as well, making some announcement in strategy, and we are seeing some inquiry, but it's not fixed yet. Individual device maker, the situation, there's not much we can share with you right now. As soon as we see any concrete business, we would like to disclose to you.

Yu Tsuchiya: Thank you very much.

Nakamura: Thank you very much, Tsuchiya-san. Next, let me invite Mr. Shibano from Citigroup Securities.

Masahiro Shibano: This is Shibano from Citigroup Securities. The first question is that, how should we think about your capacity? You explained it, but for the FY 2026 and 2027, for calendar year, expect the 20% growth. When I make the simple calculation in 2027, JPY 17 billion or JPY 18 billion is expected. If the demand grows further and in 2027, if it reaches JPY 20 billion or JPY 25 billion in 2028, or maybe close to JPY 30 billion demand exist, as SCREEN Holdings or the supply chain of SCREEN Holdings, is it possible to respond to such scale of demand? This is my first question.

Masato Goto: About the capacity, in this fiscal year and next fiscal year, we already have the capacity to cover the demand coming in the two years from now. If the market situation changes further, and if the further increase of the capacity is requested, in order to prepare ourselves, we have equipments in Nagaoka, in Kyoto, and we are now remodeling them so that we can increase our capacity. That has started in this fiscal year and will be complete in the beginning of next fiscal year. This is where we can see the expected increase of production capacity. Also in Hikone, we have the existing capacity, and we are already going through the measures to enhance their capacities. If the demand goes up to JPY 30 billion in a short period of time, we have to solve the issues of the supply chain others, it may be difficult to jump to that level. When we think about realistic situations, when we think about the suppliers of equipment or the others or the materials, I think even if there's any further increase demand, I think we are prepared so that we'll not be behind the other suppliers.

Masahiro Shibano: For example, when it hit WFE 2027 and 2028, do you see any visibility about how much capacity you can increase or?

Masato Goto: As mentioned by Otobe-san a moment ago, or as I explained to you, WFE growth, we are going to outperform the growth of the WFE market itself. That means that we are going to have the capacity to achieve that. How much we can achieve is hard to be described. As I mentioned a moment ago, not only by ourselves, but we also have to look into the supply capacity of other suppliers, and I have the confidence that we can cover the demand. We are now establishing the next midterm management plan. Including this point, we'd like to make another announcement when we are ready. As for the currently expected market growth for this fiscal year and next fiscal year, and plus alpha can be covered by our current capacity.

Masahiro Shibano: Thank you very much. My next question is about the first quarter semi sales. Was a little bit slow, and how do you expect the situation in the July to September period? I think you expect a big recovery. It includes the delayed project and also the increasing shipment from the April to June period. How about the probability of this delayed project you mentioned? The probability of recording the sales for that delayed project is 80%-90%, and in July to September period, you are going to record high sales. How much of the sales was already shipped?

Masato Goto: It's about the delayed project. We have the very high probability, the final stage of the confirmation about the auditor is waiting. Probability is higher than 90%. About the July to September period, how much of the shipment was made against the expected sales? I think about half of the expected sales is already shipped. Already half of the expected sales was shipped, and about the remaining half, in order to record the sales by the end of September, that means by the first week of September, we will complete the shipment.

Masahiro Shibano: You said that about half is already shipped, this is not the end of the June, but as of now, you shipped about half?

Masato Goto: Yes, as of today, almost half of the sales was already shipped.

Masahiro Shibano: Thank you very much. It's clear.

Nakamura: Thank you very much, Masahiro-san. Suzune-san from Morgan Stanley, would you please?

Suzune Tamara: Thank you very much. I am Suzune from Morgan Stanley. Full year guidance. I wanted to ask about full year guidance. The third quarter and fourth quarter, when somebody asked earlier, maybe it is going to exceed the capacity of fourth quarter. For monthly revenue in SPE, if there is some more upside, do you think that we should believe that you can achieve? And also, in the last presentation, we have some discussion. You are going to increase sales in this fiscal year, profit has to increase, we believe. Again, I want to ask your take on the profit for this fiscal year. The third quarter and fourth quarter, the further sales increase, if there may be or not.

Masato Goto: As we have received in the first question, the revenue for this fiscal year, we have also almost made production plan. There is no more room that we can change drastically. However, if there is slight upside, we could still take it. In that sense, the possibility is not zero. However, as I said earlier, there is no drastic increase, like 30% or 20% going forward. That is very difficult. Also for profit, as I explained earlier, the further capacity has to be prepared. Our out of our profit, maybe some %, has to be used for investment for next phase. The increase of our profitability, also growth investment, we need to look at together in making plan. That is why we are making this kind of plan.

Suzune Tamara: In the fixed cost increase in the plan, as you have explained in the last presentation, are you seeing even more upside or not?

Masato Goto: No. For fixed cost, it is no change.

Suzune Tamara: Sorry, some investors are not muted. Would you please mute yourself if you are not giving a question. Another question is the equipment makers are now increasing prices. You are in a very favorable position to increase prices, I believe. Not like maybe price increase, but you have a better position in negotiating. Are you taking the lead in the price negotiation, or do you have any plan?

Masato Goto: We are not making negotiation because we are in a strong position, but we are now improving performance of the equipment, and those are evaluated, and those are reflected in the price. In addition, recently, there are many geopolitical risks and raw material cost is increasing. For this increase, we are making our corporate effort. However, at the same time, we are reflecting those raw material price to the equipment price. It is not like we are in the strong position, we are increasing prices, but our performance of equipment is improving. The raw material price is increasing. That is why we need to ask customer to reflect into the prices.

Suzune Tamara: The situation in last year or compared to the past, do you think it is easier to pass on to the price? Additional value can be reflected in the price more easily?

Masato Goto: Yes. For additional value, we are asking day-to-day basis to customer to understand. As long as customer understands it, that it is reflected into the price. For raw material increase, it is not only affecting us, but entire market, and the customer understands because their raw material is increasing. They fully understand that we need to share this kind of situation or environment. We will continue this effort and negotiation with customer. For cost increase, we want to share with customer.

Suzune Tamara: Thank you. Understood very well. Thank you.

Nakamura: Thank you, Tamara-san. Next, let me invite Mr. Takashi from Okasan Securities.

Takashi: This is Takashi from Okasan Securities. I have two questions. First one is about WFE. I want to confirm some figures you gave us. Finally, you may change the figure from the less than 25% to 20%. Is this a decline or increase? How do we understand this change? We raised the figures. Previously, it was between 15%-20%, and we had assumption on the case of the 15% or 20%. With a bit less than 25% is assumption when we have the 20%. It depends on how much increase we can expect, but anyhow, this is an increase of the figure. We look into the situation of the investment by the customers. We came up with this assumption or expectation. Thank you very much. Second question is about WFE in China. Could you give us how you see the situation?

Masato Goto: About situation in China, as you know, the AI related new solutions or new AI are released. When they have such products released, they need infrastructure for the operation of the AI. That means they need the high functional devices and data centers, and they have to make investment into these. That is a field where we have the competitive edge and strength. The situation hasn't changed so much from the past, and WFE in China is growing. Of course, there are the Chinese local manufacturers for the general type products. As I mentioned a moment ago, the need is growing, not only for the general type ones, but especially for the advanced type ones. The situation is same in China, and that trend is favorable for us. That is the situation we find in China with WFE.

Takashi: Previously you said that you expect a flattish situation in China. You haven't changed it?

Masato Goto: China is growing. Please understand it this way.

Takashi: Thank you very much. That's all from me.

Nakamura: Thank you, Takashi-san. Nakamura-san from Goldman Sachs, please.

Nakamura (Goldman Sachs): Thank you very much. Can you hear my voice?

Nakamura: Yes. Yes, please.

Nakamura (Goldman Sachs): The sales and profit of first quarter is as per you planned. That's what you said. In semiconductor segment, sales and profit dropped so sharp. Can we explain only from the sales drop or not? Can you explain again?

Manabu Ishimura: Yes. The sales goes so much down, so profit has to come down. This is solely due to the sales drop. There's no other particular reason. No other particular reason other than sales drop.

Nakamura (Goldman Sachs): Annually, you're planning the fixed cost. Are you consuming as planned from the first quarter?

Manabu Ishimura: Well, slightly increase is less, but almost as per plan.

Nakamura (Goldman Sachs): Thank you. The semiconductor in second quarter, how do you look at the profitability? You said second half is almost full capacity and full sales. In that situation, the profit ratio that you can consider from your product mix If there is any change in product mix, would you please share with us?

Masato Goto: Any one-time event, we are not expecting. We have this volume of the project, and the product mix that we are assuming will be good to make this kind of profitability. There's no special factor.

Nakamura (Goldman Sachs): Thank you very much.

Nakamura: Nakamura-san, thank you very much. Next, let me invite Mr. Atsushi from Nomura Securities.

Atsushi: Thank you for this opportunity. This is Atsushi from Nomura Securities. Can you hear me? Yes. I have two simple questions, including confirmation. First one is that the sales of the post-sales. On page 19 and on page 22, you explained the post-sales. On page 22, in the second half against the first half, there's a decline of the post-sales. On the quarterly basis, the sales is about JPY 26 billion. From the second half of the previous fiscal year, I think there's no big change in this figure. My question is that in the second half post-sales, do you have a conservative view, or you expect the increase of the utilization and the shortage of the clean room? There's a big growth of the post-sales first, expect a decline in the second half. How do you see or interpret this post-sales in the second half?

Masato Goto: About the post-sales itself, we have the maintenance or guarantee period for them. Two years after the sales of the equipment, we can expect the growth of the post-sales. For this fiscal year post-sales, coming from the sales of the equipment two years ago, this is a background we have about the growth or performance of post-sales. When there's any change in the situation in the market in this fiscal year, that may have some impact on the consumable sales. As for the major trend of the post-sales, as we see in this fiscal year, when we have the big sales of the equipment in the second half, the proportion of the post-sales may decline. We have the plan for the growth of the post-sales based on the actual well-established plan. There's no special factor for that. As for the improvement of the performance upgrade, the utilization ratio is quite high at this moment at the customer site. It is difficult to stop it to give the upgrading of the equipment. This is a kind of situation we now face. We'd like to cover this situation up with the offering of the consumables. Given these situations, we come up with a plan.

Atsushi: Understood. Thank you very much. My second question is about confirmation of some figures. I'm looking at the page 12 in operating profit, others and adjustment column.

Masato Goto: In Q1, it is the -JPY 2.4 billion. If you deduct this in the second quarter, we expect about JPY 6 billion or more of the minus figures.

Atsushi: Would you explain this big figure for the adjustment and others in the second quarter? I think there's a kind of buffer from the operating profit from the first quarter. Would you explain this figure for the second quarter?

Masato Goto: This is just an adjustment, so it includes a kind of buffer, and a consolidated adjustment is also included. There will be no big change.

Atsushi: Understood. This figure is because of the buffer. Understood. Thank you very much.

Nakamura: Closing time is coming soon. We would like to have the final question from SBI Securities.

Adachi: I have a question about China. It's going to explode, that's what we see here.

Masato Goto: They're trying to get the equipment as soon as possible, and they're fiercely competing over that.

Adachi: What's the situation? As you have mentioned, the China situation, they have to be prepared, the AI-related infrastructure. Cutting-edge device is in strong demand. We are seeing a lot of inquiry in China.

Masato Goto: As I said earlier, the cutting-edge device, we are very strong. We are receiving so many inquiries, not only from China but also from different regions. Market situation is maybe record high, the inquiry we are receiving. Going forward, it's going to continue for a while. The ratio of China, we get questions so often. Originally, it will be maybe around 30%. That was our forecast. The manufacturing plan or inquiry will make some effect, but the basic situation is not going to change so drastic.

Adachi: The next one is about PoP. How much in this fiscal year and next fiscal year can you share the outlook for PoP?

Masato Goto: The concrete number in PoP is very difficult to share at this moment. Next fiscal year, as you know, mass production is not happening yet, but evaluation phase is starting. Compared to this fiscal year, probably it's going to be double. That's the market forecast. We don't have a concrete number, and at the end of this fiscal year, we hope we can share some number. Double of that will be maybe coming to next fiscal year. This is our assumption.

Adachi: Thank you very much.

Masato Goto: Thank you, Adachi-san.

Nakamura: We apologize, but due to time, we'd like to conclude this meeting. This concludes the first quarter presentation of SCREEN Holdings. Thank you very much for your time, and thank you very much for your participation. Thank you very much.