Showa Denko Expects for Operating Profits for All Business Units in 2H09

Kyohei Takahashi, president of Showa Denko, attended a press conference on Tuesday and said the firm’s all business units are expected to gain operating profits for the second half of 2009 (July-December 2009). The aluminium business unit turned into the monthly black for July-September. The hard disc shipment is estimated to reach record 20 million discs per month for October-December. Showa Denko’s financial condition has rapidly rebounded from the worst level during the first half year.

The sales of aluminium rolled products related to electronic appliances bottomed out in January-March. The sales for automotive industry are recovering to 70-80% level compared with the peak. Profitability of the business unit has also improved as a result of optimizing measures including the withdrawal from architectural materials and layoffs.

Meanwhile, Showa Denko explained the firm plans capital expenditure at 21.5 billion yen for electronics fields in 2010. The firm plans to invest 11 billion yen for ultra high brightness LEDs, 3 billion yen for carbon nano tubes and 7.5 billion yen for development of high capacity hard discs. The firm will raise output capacity of LEDs to 340 million units per month toward mid 2010 from current 200 million units.