Hitachi Chemical Company, Ltd. Business report FY2008
Business Highlights
Financial Overview | (in millions of JPY) |
FY2008 | FY2007 | Rate of Change(%) |
Factors | |
Overall | ||||
Sales | 488,638 | 626,929 | (22.1) | - |
Operating profit | 19,938 | 60,493 | (67.0) | - |
Ordinary income | 16,524 | 59,499 | (72.2) | - |
Current net income | 2,740 | 31,438 | (91.3) | - |
Electronics Related Products | ||||
Sales | 251,937 | 314,177 | (19.8) | 1) |
Operating profit | 17,212 | 45,670 | (62.3) | |
Advanced Performance Products | ||||
Sales | 239,264 | 279,894 | (14.5) | 2) |
Operating profit | 2,916 | 15,559 | (81.3) |
Factors
1)
Wiring board and materials for wiring board
-Sales of multilayer-printed wiring board (layer PWB) decreased due to a slump in the automobile and semiconductor markets.
2)
Industrial materials
-Sales of epoxy resin curing agent decreased due to lower demand for LEDs and automobiles.
Carbon ceramics
-Sales of electric brushes decreased due to lower demand for automobiles.
Automotive parts
-Sales of automotive interior and exterior molded parts and friction materials decreased due to the global decline in automobile production.
Powder metallurgy products
-Sales of powder metallurgy products decreased due to the declined sales of automotive mechanical parts, etc.
Recent Developments outside Japan
<Mexico>
-The Company announced that it will establish a new plant in Mexico, aiming to reinforce its automotive parts business centered on brake friction materials in North and South America.
>>>See Investment for more details
R&D
R&D Expenditure | (in millions of JPY) |
FY2008 | FY2007 | FY2006 | |
Overall | 27,600 | 28,200 | 27,800 |
Electronics Related Products | 15,800 | 15,700 | 15,300 |
Advanced Performance Products | 11,800 | 12,000 | 11,500 |
Technical Assistance Contracts (As of Mar. 2009)
Company name | Concerned company name | Contract Details | Period |
Hitachi Chemical Company, Ltd. Japan Brake Industrial Co., Ltd. |
Federal Mogul Corp. (USA) | Permission of working rights to the subject patent. Provision of technical information on disc pads | 2007.3.31- Until the time production of vehicle models that use the subject products is stopped |
Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery Co., Ltd | Exide Industries Ltd. (India) | Permission of working rights to patent. Provision of technical information on automotive lead storage batteries | 1999.4.1- 2010.3.31 |
Permission of working rights to patent. Provision of technical information on sealed accumulators | 1995.06.22- 2010.06.21 |
Technological Licensing Agreements (As of Mar. 2009)
Group company name | Other Party to the Agreement | Contract details | Period |
Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. | Hitachi, Ltd | Acquisition of patent rights and license to use technical expertise on ホシ-Chip tags. | Apr. 20, 2007 to Apr. 19 2019 |
Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery Co., Ltd. | Panasonic Storage Battery Co., Ltd.(Japan) | Acquisition of patent rights and license to use technical expertise on lead storage batteries | July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2014 |
Investment Activities
Capital Investment | (in millions of JPY) |
FY2008 | FY2007 | FY2006 | |
Overall | 36,000 | 37,400 | 37,700 |
Electronics Products | 17,600 | 19,100 | 16,900 |
Advanced Performance Products | 18,400 | 17,600 | 19,100 |
Investments in Japan
-The Company announced its plan to build a new plant at its Yamazaki Works (Katsuta), Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Pref., Japan, to manufacture carbon anode material for lithium-ion secondary batteries. At the same time, it will raise production capacity of its Yamazaki Works (Sakuragawa), Hitachi City, Ibaraki Pref. A total of approx. 1.5 billion yen will be invested to respond to increasing household demands for its products used in cell phones and laptops and possibly to meet future automotive needs. The completion is scheduled for the autumn of 2009 and the anode material production capacity will then be increased by approx. 50%. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on Oct. 25, 2008)
Investments outside Japan
<Mexico>
-The Company announced that it will establish a new plant and start local production in Mexico, aiming to reinforce its automotive parts business centered on brake friction materials in North and South America. The new plant will start operation in June 2009 to produce disk brake pads for the time being. The Company will invest 2.5 billion yen over the next 5 years to establish a production system which will allow it to manufacture 15 million units per year in 2015. It also considers increasing production items, focusing on brake related parts such as shoe assemblies of the rear wheel dram brake. (From an article in the Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun on Oct. 15, 2008)