Mitsui Kinzoku Raises Revenue Forecast to 875 Billion Yen Despite Cutting Net Profit Outlook
Key Facts
On Nov. 10, Mitsui Kinzoku raised its revenue forecast for the fiscal year ending in March 2027 to 875 billion yen from 850 billion yen, and increased its operating profit estimate to 99 billion yen from 94 billion yen. By contrast, it cut its forecast for net profit attributable to owners of the company to 78 billion yen from 80 billion yen. The revisions came as it reported interim results for the six months ended Sept. 30, 2026. The company recorded revenue of 431.064 billion yen, up 18.3% year on year. Basic earnings per share were 69.12 yen, compared with 33.31 yen in the same period a year earlier.
Operating profit in the first half rose 44.7% to 57.549 billion yen, while ordinary profit increased 55.7% to 60.936 billion yen. Interim net profit attributable to owners of the company jumped 107.6% to 39.546 billion yen. The company attributed the improvement in operating profit to higher sales volumes of its main copper foil products, the weaker yen and improved inventory effects linked to movements in non-ferrous metal prices. It added that higher earnings from equity-method affiliates contributed to growth in ordinary profit. It said, "Higher sales volumes of our main copper foil products, together with the continued weakening of the yen and improved inventory factors linked to fluctuations in non-ferrous metal prices, contributed to this."
The company said average zinc, copper and indium prices rose from the same period a year earlier, as did average palladium and rhodium prices, although the latter two trended lower during the first half. On the demand side, resilience in the semiconductor market supported sales of its main copper foil products. Sales of motorcycle exhaust purification catalysts also increased on strong demand from India. These factors were reflected in the Functional Materials segment, where sales rose 40.7% to 211.8 billion yen. Its ordinary profit increased 70.6% to 45.1 billion yen, supported by higher copper foil sales and improved margins following price adjustments and inventory factors linked to indium prices.
The divergence between segments was reflected in the revised annual forecasts: the company raised its ordinary profit estimate for Functional Materials to 85 billion yen from 78 billion yen, but cut its estimate for the Metals segment to 24.5 billion yen from 26.5 billion yen. The changes to the two segments indicate that the expected increase in Functional Materials does not offset the lower estimate for Metals. The company also cut its annual net profit forecast to 78 billion yen, despite raising its revenue and operating profit estimates. It said the lower net profit outlook was due to an expected extraordinary loss related to a review of its retirement benefit plan. The company puts the expected loss from terminating the retirement benefit plan at 6.4 billion yen for the fiscal year ending in March 2027.
The company announced the same day an investment of about 190 billion yen to build a new copper foil plant in Malaysia, with operations set to begin in stages from April 2031. It expects operating profit in its copper foil business to reach 3.2 times its fiscal 2025 level by 2030 and 5.5 times that level by 2033, as it expands production capacity for core products. Under its dividend policy for the current fiscal year, the interim dividend was 140 yen per share, while the year-end dividend forecast is 18 yen per share after the stock split. The company split each common share into 10 shares effective Oct. 1, 2026, and calculated interim earnings per share on the assumption that the split had taken effect at the start of the previous consolidated fiscal year. The half-year report is due to be submitted on Nov. 12, and dividend payments are scheduled to begin on Dec. 8, 2026.