Message from Senior Management
I would like to thank you for your continued support.
During the first half of the fiscal year, FANUC remained highly profitable as facility investment continued to be strong, in spite of soaring natural resource prices and slowing down of the US economy. In the latter half of the year, the financial crisis spread from the United States to the world, triggering rapid reduction in facility investment. This, along with the appreciation of the yen, weighed heavily against our profits. Nevertheless, FANUC remained profitable, its dividend payout ratio at 30%, and will pay the year-end dividends of 54.01 yen per share.During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, FANUC posted consolidated net sales totaling ¥388,271 million, down 17.1%, consolidated ordinary income totaling ¥149,148 million, down 29.0%, consolidated net income totaling ¥97,162 million, down 23.5%, and ordinary income ratio at 38.4%, down 6.4 point, compared with the previous fiscal year.
The chart below shows sales in the FANUC FA business, which posted consolidated sales of ¥223,701 million, a 16.9% decrease compared with the previous fiscal year. FA Group sales accounted for 57.6% of consolidated net sales.
The chart below shows sales in the FANUC Robot business, which posted consolidated sales of ¥106,843 million, a 7.7% decrease compared with the previous fiscal year. Robot Group sales accounted for 27.5% of consolidated net sales.
The chart below shows sales in the FANUC Robomachine business, which posted ¥57,727 million, a 30.9% decrease compared with the previous fiscal year. Robomachine Group sales accounted for 14.9% of consolidated net sales.
Though we cannot foresee the future of the global economy, there are signs of recovery in facility investment in China, and FANUC is preparing itself for the economic recovery.
In April 2009, FANUC launched its new product "Genkotsu robot M-1iA", a very small high-speed assembling robot bringing about a dramatic productivity enhancement in parts mounting and electronic equipment assembly. The robot's simultaneous 6-axis motion with parallel link structure, the first in the industry, produces as flexible motion as the human hand, enabling a tilted insertion and twisting. FANUC plans to sell 3000 M-1iA robots in the first year.
Last November, FANUC started selling its new super heavy payload robot M-2000iA featuring the world's largest load capacity at 1200kg, thereby developing new robot applications, heavy object handling and car body transferring, which have been difficult to robotize. The robot won the 2008 Best Ten New Products Prize "Masuda Award" of Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun in January for its superior load capacity and the advanced control technology.
Although small in size, FANUC's machining center ROBODRILL with a spindle of taper size #30 realizes as high-speed, high-precision and high-efficiency machining as larger machines, the fruits of FANUC's technology.ROBODRILL is one of the most popular FANUC main products and FANUC has one of the largest machining and assembling factories in the world at the foot of Mt. Tsukuba to produce 1,000 ROBODRILLs per month.
FANUC is committed to developing its market and cutting costs, centering on the research and development.
We look forward to your continued support.
Dr. Eng. Yoshiharu Inaba
President and CEO
