Iwatani increased its net sales by 6.6%, while operating profit decreased by 2.7%. Ordinary profit was increased by 1.9% and net profit for the term by 9.4% comparing with the previous term. Although the operating profit was affected by the increase in sales administrative expenses (3.3 billion yen) due to the hike of the transportation costs and personnel expenses, the ordinary profit turned out to be positive thanks to the increase in the non-operating income. It made the company renew the record-high ordinary profit /net profit for the term for four consecutive terms.

The general energy segment of Iwatani’s core business resulted in the increase of sales thanks to the hike of import price of LPG and the growth of sales of LPG for carburation of city gas although the LPG business for consumer use kept reducing on account of the warm winter. In terms of profit, on the other hand, there occurred a negative account of about 3.3 billion yen due to the drop of the import price of LPG from the latter half of the term. It resulted in the increase of sales by 4.7% and the decrease in operating profit by 21.3% comparing with the previous term.

In the industrial gas and equipment business, there was an increase in the sold volume of air separation gases by about 100 million m3 coming up to a pace of about 1.6 billion m3 in total.

In spite of the decreased delivery of helium due to the tight supply/demand situation, the price revision brought an increase in the sales revenue. The gas equipment and the machine-related business like robots for automotive use maintained a good pace. As the electronics-related business including specialty gas like CIF3 and the polishing device for semiconductor production was so good that the sales in this segment increased by 6.5% with the operating income up 13.5%.

The sales revenue of industrial gases increased by 5.3% amounting to 100.2 billion yen comparing with the previous term. It was the first case that Iwatani accomplished a sales figure over 100 billion yen.

In the materials business there was a decrease in the delivery of functional film, but mineral sand business increased. In addition, with the substantially increased sales of PET resin material and the secondary battery material, the sales increased by 14.3% with the operating income up 28.4% comparing with the previous term.

The sales of natural industry business decreased by 7.5% with the operating income down 16.3% due to the rise of purchase cost of frozen vegetables and the reduced sales of livestock equipment.

As for the forecast of FY2020 ending March, the sales as of the second quarter is estimated to increase by 1.9% amounting to 340.5 billion yen with an operating income down 1.4% amounting to 10.2 billion yen, an ordinary profit down 2.1% amounting to 11.5 billion yen and a net profit for the quarter down 4.6% amounting to 7.1 billion yen. As for an annual forecast, the sales is expected to increase by 4.5% amounting to 747.3 billion yen with the operating income up 15.3% amounting to 30.5 billion yen, the ordinary profit up 10.2% amounting to 33.0 billion yen and the net profit for the fiscal year up 6.7% amounting to 20.5 billion yen. In the industrial gas and the equipment-related segment, the sales is estimated to increase by 4.7% amounting to 197.0 billion yen with the operating profit up 0.3% amounting to 11.3 billion yen.