NOK to Stem Profit Decline of FPC Business in F2008

NOK Corporation, Japanese top maker of seal products and flexible printed circuits (FPCs), aims to stem the profit decline of the FPC business in fiscal 2008 started April. NOK is the world top supplier of FPCs while has been suffered from year-on-year profit decrease of the business for recent 3 years due to drop down of FPC selling price. The price down is estimated to continue in F2008 at the range as wide as F2007. However, NOK plans to sustain the consolidated operating profit of the FPC business at 15.8 billion yen in F2008, as flat as F2007, with the management efforts including the sales expansion at overseas.NOK announced its business result of F2007 and the management plan of F2008 on 12 May. The firm posted the consolidated net sales at 526.3 billion yen and the operating profit at 42.5 billion yen in F2007 as total. The net sales for the FPC business were 185.7 billion yen in F2007, up by 10.7% year-on-year, while the operating profit was 15.8 billion yen, down by 22.1%. The firm set the revenue target at 200 billion yen and the operating profit at 15.8 billion yen for the business in F2008.NOK was suffered from the sharp price down of FPCs, whose negative effect on the profit was annually 3 billion yen in F2007. The firm estimates the profit decline by 3 billion yen due to the same reason in F2008. Another negative effect was the sale volume decrease for liquid crystal displays in Taiwan during April-September 2007.In F2008 NOK expects the sale volume increase for overseas cell phone makers, whose positive effect on the profit would be 3 billion yen annually, as well as for hard disc drives and digital steel cameras.