GS Yuasa International Ltd. Business Report FY ended Mar. 2013

Business Highlights

Financial Overview

(in millions of JPY)
  FY ended Mar. 31, 2013 FY ended Mar. 31, 2012 Rate of
Change
(%)
Factors
Overall
Sales 274,509 285,434 (3.8) -Sales increased in Japan because of greater demand created by eco-car sales incentives. Sales of factory-installed automotive batteries and power sources increased as a result of the full-amount purchase system for electric power. On the other hand, as a result of the financial slowdown caused by the debt crisis in Europe, sales in Europe fell year-on-year.  In addition, sales of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles also fell.
Operating income 9,775 16,030 (39.0) -Performance at existing operations in and outside Japan improved mainly from higher sales of lead-acid batteries. However, sales of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles were lower year-on-year. In addition, the Company posted higher depreciation costs.
Ordinary income 12,258 17,991 (31.9) -
Current net income 5,767 11,733 (50.8) -An impairment loss was recorded for facilities manufacturing automotive lithium-ion batteries, along with expenses posted for taxes and minority shareholders losses.
Domestic Automotive Battery
Sales 55,648 58,784 (5.3) -Sales of factory-installed lead-acid batteries for mainly hybrid vehicles and vehicles with idling stop systems were strong. However, sales of aftermarket lead-acid batteries and automotive parts were sluggish.
Operating income 3,931 4,266 (7.9) -
Lithium-ion Battery
Sales 10,597 20,974 (49.5) -Sales of products designed for EVs dropped tremendously.
Operating income (11,249) (3,265) - -In addition to operating income falling, higher depreciation expenses were recorded.

Major Contracts

Blue Energy Co., Ltd., based in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, announced that its new lithium-ion batteries are installed on Honda's new Accord Hybrid and Accord Plug-in Hybrid. The Accord Hybrid is equipped with the EH5 battery, which offers higher output and improved durability than conventional products, while maintaining the same product size. Meanwhile, the Accord Plug-in Hybrid features the large-capacity, high-power EH19 battery which ensures the outstanding levels of reliability and safety. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on July 16, 2013)

Recent Development Outside Japan

<Thailand>
-The Company announced that it will increase its shares in Siam GS Yuasa Battery Co., Ltd. (SGS), an equity method affiliate in Thailand, to 60%. This will make SGS its consolidated subsidiary. GS Yuasa purchased a 10% share of SGS from other shareholders in March 2013, increasing the total share to 49%. In May 2013, the company will further increase SGS shares through a third-party allotment, which will raise its contribution ratio in SGS from 49% to 60%. Founded in 1966, SGS has been a center of automotive lead battery production and sales of GS Yuasa group in Thailand. After taking control of SGS, GS Yuasa will transfer the state-of-the-art battery technologies for idling stop cars to SGS and prepare for the production of five-million-unit batteries for vehicles by 2014 by introducing automated production facilities. GS Yuasa will accelerate the globalization of SGS and business expansion by investing its resources in the Mekong economic region. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on May. 18, 2013)

-The Company announced that Siam GS Battery Co., Ltd., its subsidiary in Samuthprakarn, Thailand, began to produce lead-acid storage batteries to be loaded on vehicles fitted with the automatic engine stop/start system. The batteries are supplied to Mitsubishi Motors for its "Mirage" compact, which entered production in Thailand in April. The Company, which has been producing batteries for the stop/start system vehicles only in Japan, has decided to localize production of these batteries in Thailand to supply for the Mirage destined for sale in Japan. The "M" and "G" trim levels of the Mirage for the Japan market are fitted with the "Auto Stop & Go" mechanism. They can achieve fuel efficiency as high as 27.2 km per liter under the JC08 mode, which is the best in the non-mini-vehicle gasoline engine segment. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on August 29, 2012)

Performance Forecast by Segment for FY ending Mar. 31, 2014

(in billion of JPY)
  FY ending Mar. 31, 2014
(Forecast)
FY ended Mar. 31, 2013
(Actual Results)
Rate of
Change
(%)
Domestic Automotive Battery Sales 59.0 55.6 6.1
Operating income 4.0 3.9 2.6
Domestic Industrial Batteries & Power Sources Sales 80.0 72.4 10.5
Operating income 11.0 10.8 1.9
International Business Sales 166.0 119.9 38.4
Operating income 8.5 6.4 32.8
Lithium-Ion Battery Sales 28.0 10.6 164.2
Operating income (7.5) (11.2) -
Others Sales 17.0 16.0 6.3
Operating income 0 (0.1) -
Total Sales 350.0 274.5 27.5
Operating income 16.0 9.8 63.3

 

R&D

R&D Expenditure

(in millions of JPY)
  FY ended Mar. 31, 2013 FY ended Mar. 31, 2012 FY ended Mar. 31, 2011
Domestic Automotive Battery 663 596 -
Domestic Industrial Batteries & Power Sources 1,793 1,558 -
International Business 684 639 -
Lithium-Ion Battery 2,735 2,995 -
Other 351 460 -
Overall 6,227 6,250 5,854

 

R&D Facilities

Business Unit Company Location
Domestic Automotive Battery GS Yuasa International Ltd. Kyoto, Japan
International Business GS Yuasa International Ltd. Kyoto, Japan
GS Battery Taiwan Co.,Ltd. Tainan, Taiwan
Yuasa Battery, Inc. Pennsylvania, USA
Yuasa (Tianjin) Technology Ltd. Tianjin, China
Lithium-Ion Battery GS Yuasa International Ltd. Kyoto, Japan
Lithium Energy Japan Shiga Pref., Japan
Blue Energy Co., Ltd. Kyoto, Japan
GS Yuasa Technology Ltd. Kyoto, Japan

R&D Activities

Automotive Batteries for Japan
-The Company continued working on R&D activities involved with automotive lead-acid batteries. As part of the Company's activities in the area of technology for automotive batteries needed for fuel-saving vehicles such those with charge-controls and the idle-stop function (which are becoming more popular with customers), the Company is working to improve battery-charging performance.

-The Company unveiled the Eco.R Long Life high-performance battery series, the first in the domestic market which can be installed both on normal cars and idling stop cars. The "Eco. R Long Life" battery features a 200 -300% longer life than the company's standard battery and is scheduled for launch in July 2013, with which the company aims to achieve 100,000 unit sales per year. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on May. 18, 2013)
 
-The Company announced that it has developed a new lithium-ion battery technology for next-generation plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). This technology was developed by the Company having been commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) as part of the Li-ion and Excellent Advanced Batteries Development (Li-EAD) Project, launched in 2007. The new technology combines a three-component positive electrode found in conventional HEV lithium-ion batteries with small quantities of lithium iron phosphate to improve output performance and battery life under low state of charge (SOC) conditions. The Company will continue to enhance the technology while conducting long-term evaluations to determine the challenges to commercialization. (From a press release on November 8, 2012)

-The Company announced it has developed a new power storage system combining the solar generation system with heavy-duty lithium-ion batteries. The company says it will propose the technology, citing its advantage of contributing to leveling off power consumption at plants and other facilities, and also functioning as an alternative power source in case of an accident or a disaster. The system consists of solar panels, a power conditioner and lithium-ion batteries. The power conditioner can adjust output by 10 kilowatts on a scale from 10 to 50 kilowatts. Storage batteries can also cater to meet customers' needs in terms of volume and system with 16 kilowatts set as one unit. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on August 13, 2012)

International Business
-The Company is conducting R&D activities on lead-storage batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries. In the automotive lead-storage battery sector, the Company is working on developing batteries being produced and used outside Japan for charged-controlled and idle-stop vehicles. Based on its R&D achievements in this sector, the Company began producing lead storage batteries in Thailand.

Lithium-Ion Battery
-Basic R&D on lithium-ion batteries

  • The Company is conducting R&D activities on medium- and large-size batteries in order to improve their reliability and safety. It is doing research especially under the aim of starting operations in the area of iron-phosphate lithium positive electrodes as soon as it can.
  • In order to further improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries even more, the Company will search for and evaluate the performance of materials needed for next-generation positive electrodes and next-generation negative electrodes.
  • The Company is studying post-lithium-ion batteries.

-Developing onboard lithium-ion batteries

  • In continuing the legacy of the LEV50, developing new-type cells offering improved performance.
  • In continuing the legacy of the EH4 lithium-ion battery designed for hybrid vehicles, developing new-type cells offering improved performance.

Joint Development Project

-A German company Robert Bosch GmbH and two Japanese companies, the Company and Mitsubishi Corporation, announced on June 20 that they've agreed to develop the next-generation of high-performance lithium-ion batteries together. The three companies intend to set up a joint venture for joint research and development in Stuttgart, Germany in early 2014, to support their mother companies in sales and marketing activities. The JV aims to increase energy content of the batteries while reducing their weight, and increase the range of both electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The total investment in the JV is undisclosed. Bosh will hold a 50% share of the JV, while the Company and Mitsubishi Corporation are going to hold 25% respectively. The composition of the board of management and supervisory board will reflect these shareholdings. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on Jun 21, 2013)

Investment Activities

Capital Expenditure

(in millions of JPY)
  FY ended Mar. 31, 2013 FY ended Mar. 31, 2012 FY ended Mar. 31, 2011
Domestic Automotive Battery 641 679 -
Domestic Industrial Batteries & Power Sources 1,044 890 -
International Business 4,078  3,447 -
Lithium-Ion Battery 24,943 30,525 -
Other 2,451 3,306 -
Overall 33,159 38,849 20,005

 
-During the fiscal year ending March 2014, the Company plans to invest 90 billion yen in its lithium-ion battery business, and 60 billion yen outside Japan.

-The Company announced that Blue Energy Co., Ltd, a joint venture between the Company and Honda Motor, was awarded a 3,187 million yen government subsidy from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on November 6, 2012, under a program to promote domestic plant construction in industries that create low-carbon-type employment. In February 2011, Blue Energy began mass production of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) at its Osadano plant, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The joint venture will utilize the subsidy to make new capital investments and increase production capacity of lithium-ion batteries for HEV and other vehicles to 15 million cells a year. (From a press release on January 10, 2013)

New Facilities

(As of Mar. 31, 2013)
Facilities
(Location)
Equipment Amount
(in millions of JPY)
Date of start Scheduled date of completion Purpose of the investment
GS Yuasa International Ltd.
(Kyoto, Japan)
Facilities for manufacturing storage batteries, etc. for automotive applications 1,037 Mar. 2013 Within FY ending Mar. 31, 2014 and after April, 2014 Reduce costs
Facilities for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications 253 Mar. 2013 Within FY ending Mar. 31, 2014 and after April, 2014 Expand R&D facilities
Lithium Energy Japan
(Kyoto, Japan)
Facilities for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications 12,084 Mar. 2013 Within FY ending Mar. 31, 2014 and after April, 2014 Add new manufacturing facilities and increase production capacity
Blue Energy Co., Ltd.
(Kyoto, Japan)
Facilities for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications 6,582 Apr. 2013 Within FY ending Mar. 31, 2014 and after April, 2014 Add new manufacturing tools
GS Battery Taiwan Co.,Ltd.
(Tainan, Taiwan)
Facilities for manufacturing lead storage batteries 834 Dec. 2012 Within FY ending Mar. 31, 2014 and after April, 2014 Increase production capacity
Tianjin GS Battery Co., Ltd.
(Tianjin, China)
Facilities for manufacturing lead storage batteries 1,108 Dec. 2012 Within FY ending Mar. 31, 2014 and after April, 2014 Increase production capacity
Yuasa Battery, Inc.
(Pennsylvania, USA)
Facilities for manufacturing lead storage batteries 642 Dec. 2012 Within FY ending Mar. 31, 2014 and after April, 2014 Increase production capacity
PT. Yuasa Battery Indonesia
(Tangerang, Indonesia)
Facilities for manufacturing lead storage batteries 622 Dec. 2012 Within FY ending Mar. 31, 2014 and after April, 2014 Increase production capacity
GS Battery Vietnam Co., Ltd.
(Binh Duong, Vietnam)
Facilities for manufacturing lead storage batteries 1,075 Dec. 2012 Within FY ending Mar. 31, 2014 and after April, 2014 Increase production capacity