Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd. (JCR) announces t
Post# of 22456
April 17, 2015
NITTO DENKO CORPORATION (security code: 6988)
<Affirmation>
Long-term Issuer Rating: AA
Outlook: Stable
Rationale
(1) NITTO DENKO CORPORATION (the "Company" is a manufacturer of various materials, with adhesion, coating, and polymer function control technologies being its forte. The Company is
engaged in operations of Industrial Tape such as tapes and sealing materials for automobile and electronics industries, Optronics such as LCD related materials and flexible printed circuits, and
Medical & Membrane such as medical products and polymer separation membrane. While the Company set forth "Global Niche Top" strategy, which is to target large shares in relatively small
markets, as its basic business policy, it has been developing "Area Niche Top" strategy, which is to increase its market shares in each area of the world, in recent years.
(2) The Company maintains a high earnings power by having many products, which hold the world's largest market shares. Its business performance has been expanding and it seems to have
recorded the highest ever recorded operating income for fiscal year ended March 2015. The large fluctuations in demands for the Optronics, which targets electronics industry, will not have any
significant impact on the earnings for the time being. JCR expects also that the Company will be able to maintain the stable financial conditions. JCR affirmed rating for the Company with Stable
outlook, taking the above into consideration.
(3) The Company’s operating income seems to have increased for straight three years and reached 100 billion yen for fiscal year ended March 2015, up 37.9% year-on-year. It seems to have a
record operating income exceeding the past record of 89.2 billion yen for fiscal year ended March 2006. Thanks to expansion in market for smartphones, products such as new products of optical
films for thin LCDs in the main Optronics were strong. The Industrial Tape was steady on the back of the increased automobile production volume. In addition, the Medical & Membrane is beginning
to see an operating income constantly. Given that there are no significant changes in the business environment, JCR thinks that the Company will be able to maintain a certain level of profit for fiscal
year ending March 2016.
(4) Its financial structure remains good. Having sufficient ready liquidity, it has a positive net cash position as before. Under the mid-term management plan “Nitto-2016,” It plans to make capital
investments totaling 200 to 220 billion yen for 3 years from fiscal year ended March 2015 centering on the non-Optronics operations to shift its business portfolio. JCR thinks, however, such capital
expenditures will not have any significant impact on the financial structure.
Mikiya Kubota, Takeshi Rikawa
http://www.jcr.co.jp/release/pdfen/15d00652NDen.pdf