Will the sharp recovery driven by AI and capital investment demand continue into FY2027-H1?

Consolidated revenue in FY2027-Q1 was ¥37.987 billion, an increase of ¥7.102 billion, or 23.0%, from ¥30.885 billion in the year-earlier period. Operating profit increased from ¥152 million in the year-earlier period to ¥1.673 billion, lifting the operating margin from approximately 0.5% to approximately 4.4%. Ordinary profit swung from a loss of ¥181 million in the year-earlier period to a profit of ¥1.087 billion, while profit attributable to owners of the parent for the quarter swung from a loss of ¥175 million to a profit of ¥867 million. The recovery in profit was therefore much larger than the increase in revenue.

By segment, revenue in the capacitor business rose 22.6% to ¥36.725 billion from ¥29.968 billion in the year-earlier period, while segment profit increased from ¥127 million to ¥1.542 billion. The Other segment also exceeded the year-earlier figures, with revenue of ¥1.261 billion and segment profit of ¥131 million, compared with ¥916 million and ¥25 million, respectively. Revenue exceeded the year-earlier period in many regions, including China at ¥13.295 billion, Europe at ¥4.121 billion and Other regions at ¥10.592 billion. However, the regional figures alone do not show which applications, such as AI servers, automotive or industrial equipment, led the increase in revenue.

The company attributes its performance to increased investment related to AI and capital investment, stronger competitiveness in the aluminum electrolytic capacitor business, and accelerated expansion into growth markets. However, the FY2027-Q1 disclosure does not provide separate amounts for AI server-related revenue, orders received, order backlog, product volumes, pricing effects or foreign-exchange effects. It is therefore not yet possible to quantify whether the sharp recovery in profit was driven by higher volumes of large-size and hybrid products for AI servers, pricing adjustments or improved capacity utilization.

The FY2027 full-year forecasts are revenue of ¥160 billion, operating profit of ¥8 billion and profit attributable to owners of the parent of ¥4 billion. Based simply on FY2027-Q1, progress toward these forecasts was 23.7%, 20.9% and 21.7%, respectively. However, seasonality and the assumptions for second-half demand have not been disclosed, so performance cannot be judged as falling short solely against a simple 25% benchmark. In FY2027-H1, the focus will be on whether AI server demand continued in Q2 against the year-earlier revenue of ¥64.246 billion and operating profit of ¥956 million, whether enough second-half orders have been secured to maintain the full-year forecasts, and whether additional disclosures by application and product are provided.