Risk of stagnating demand for fire protection equipment at hospitals and care facilities due to COVID-19

「Demand for equipment at hospitals, welfare facilities and other sites is showing signs of improvement, and the earnings base of the sprinkler-head manufacturing and sales business has also been steadily strengthened.」

「Sales of Naius, the company's core sprinkler fire-extinguishing system, are gradually shifting toward a recovery trend against the backdrop of hospitals, medical facilities and welfare facilities resuming capital investment.」

「Although the economic impact of COVID-19 has been subsiding, demand for equipment and machinery at hospitals, welfare facilities and other sites, which declined amid COVID-19, has not recovered.」

「Although the economic impact of COVID-19 has been subsiding, demand for equipment and machinery at hospitals, welfare facilities and other sites, which declined amid COVID-19, has yet to recover. As a result, sales of Naius, the company's main product in this business, declined from the same period of the previous year, and operating results remained weak.」

「In this business, demand for equipment and machinery at hospitals, welfare facilities and other sites, which declined amid COVID-19, has not yet recovered sufficiently following the reclassification of COVID-19 to Category V. As a result, sales of Naius, the company's core product, declined from the same period of the previous year, and operating results remained weak.」

「Following the reclassification of COVID-19 to Category V, demand for disaster prevention equipment at hospitals, welfare facilities and other sites showed signs of gradual recovery. Against this market backdrop, the company has been expanding sales of Naius, its sprinkler fire-extinguishing system manufactured and sold within the group, primarily targeting hospitals and welfare facilities. However, demand for equipment and machinery, which had declined amid COVID-19, has yet to recover, and operating results remained weak.」

「As COVID-19 was reclassified to Category V under Japan's Infectious Disease Control Law, operating conditions and demand for fire protection equipment at hospitals, welfare facilities and other sites gradually began to recover.」

「As the impact of COVID-19 infections gradually improved, adoption of fire protection equipment at hospitals and other facilities became somewhat more active, and revenue increased.」

「The business environment remained uncertain as the impact of COVID-19 infections expanded. Although hospitals and care facilities continued to show weak appetite for capital investment, revenue increased as the company worked through its order backlog carried over from the previous fiscal year.」

「As the spread of COVID-19 reduced subsidies for installing sprinkler systems at hospitals and care facilities and kept demand subdued, in-person sales visits to hospitals and other facilities were often restricted. These factors also affected operating results.」

「As the COVID-19 pandemic caused subsidy amounts for installing sprinkler systems at hospitals and nursing-care facilities to decline and demand trends to remain sluggish, while sales activities at hospitals and other facilities were often restricted, operating performance remained sluggish as a result.」

「Demand declined as subsidy amounts for the installation of sprinkler systems at hospitals and care facilities decreased, and operating results remained weak.」

「We pursued sales activities to win orders for new fire protection equipment projects, but demand for fire protection equipment construction from hospitals and nursing care facilities remained weak. In response, we promoted remote sales activities, which helped reduce travel expenses and other costs, but this was insufficient to offset the impact of lower revenue, and performance remained weak. As a result, revenue in the Disaster Prevention and Safety segment for the nine months ended 31 December was ¥350 million, down 41.6% year on year, and segment profit was ¥29 million, down 21.7%.」

「Meanwhile, demand at hospitals and nursing care facilities remained below expectations. Although expenses were reduced, many of the potential projects held by the Group were postponed, and business performance remained sluggish.」

「Although stagnant demand for fire protection equipment at hospitals and nursing care facilities was a concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, orders from major customers remained at approximately the same level as in the same period of the previous year.」