Fujikura in Full Production of Optical Fiber for Overseas

Yoichi Nagahama, Fujikura’s president and CEO, explained about the recent market condition and Fujikura’s operation at a press conference. Mr. Nagahama showed a concern about the possibility of second economy recession in the second half of fiscal 2009 (Oct09-Mar10). He said the recent economic recovery is mainly supported by governmental stimulus measures and it is still unclear whether the market could sustain the sustainable recovery without the deals.

Fujikura currently revised up the consolidated operating profit forecast for April-September 2009 to 2 billion yen from the previous estimation of 3 billion yen loss. Mr. Nagahama said a half of 50-billion-yen improvement is generated from the telecommunication business unit and the rest 25 billion yen is equally covered by the other 2 business units: electronic & auto, and metal cable & systems.

Mr. Nagahama explained overseas demand for optical fiber and cable is very strong and Fujikura’s domestic plant is in full production of optical fiber preform and fiber. As to electronic materials such as flexible printed circuits (FPC) and connectors, the demand is recovering from cellular phones, digital cameras, game consoles or iPods. However, he said, the sales still stay at 70% level compared with a year earlier. Demand for automotive parts maintains inactive, too.

As to the metal cable & systems business unit, Fujikura’s power cable sales are decreasing by 20-30% year-to-year due to stagnant capital expenditure by domestic manufacturing industry. Meanwhile, the profit is improving thanks to the upsurge of electrolytic copper market price by 300-400 million yen for April-September 2009.