NOK buoyed by earnings gains at seals, electronics units

Tokyo – NOK Corp. has reported significant gains in earnings and slightly higher sales at its two main business units for the first nine months of its fiscal 2024.

Net sales fell ‘slightly” at NOK’s seals business, increased for its electronic product business, while operating income increased for both units, the Japanese group recently reported.

While the ‘seal business’ posted a 0.8% year-on-year drop in net sales to Yen273,002 million, operating income totalled Yen18,991 million, 16.0% higher than the year-ago level.

The sales dip was linked to a decline in production volumes of Japanese automotive vehicles, according to the rubber-based products manufacturer.

Meanwhile, it said, sales of Japanese vehicles “continued to be sluggish” in China, while in the ASEAN region a tightening of car loans in Thailand also impacted demand.

For general industrial machinery applications, sales were hit by sluggish consumption and capital investment mainly due to inflation in Europe and America and the real estate downturn in China.

On the other hand, operating income increased due to an improvement in variable costs such as raw material prices in addition to price revision activities such as passing on selling prices.

At NOK’s ‘electronic product’ business, net sales grew 7.0% year-on-year to Yen290,725 million, mainly due to the exchange rate factors.

Operating income at the unit “greatly increased” compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year: from Yen937 million to Yen10,291 million.

While sales for hard disk drives increased mainly due to the recovery in demand for data centres, demand for smartphones and automobiles decreased, noted NOK.

In the automotive sector, meanwhile, sales increased for EV batteries for global vehicle manufacturers but decreased for other applications.

Due to the higher net sales and the change in product-mix, operating income increased versus the same prior-year period: from Yen937 million to Yen10,291 million.

NOK also posted ‘other business’ net sales of Yen25,378 million, up 22.5% year-on-year, and operating income of Yen1,895 million, compared to Yen1,895 million in the prior-year period.