Toray reports that its consolidated net sales for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2016 increased 4.7% compared with the previous fiscal year, to ¥2,104.4 billion (US$18,673 million).
Operating income increased 25.1% to ¥154.5 billion (US$1,371 million), ordinary income increased 16.8% to ¥150.2 billion (US$1,332 million) and net income attributable to owners of parent increased 26.9% to ¥90.1 billion (US$800 million).
According to the company, overall sales of Fibers & Textiles segment in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016 increased 4.1% to ¥892.0 billion (US$7,915 million) from the previous year and operating income rose 23.9% to ¥68.9 billion (US$611 million). In Japan, demand for apparel applications remained weak and sales for industrial applications were affected by inventory adjustment at some customers for automotive applications, while overseas, despite being affected by a slowdown in demand in Europe and sluggish domestic demand in China, textile subsidiaries in China and Southeast Asia pursued sales expansion and a shift towards high value-added products.
Overall sales of Plastics & Chemicals segment increased 5.0% to ¥521.2 billion (US$4,625 million) from the previous year and operating income rose 23.1% to ¥29.4 billion (US$261 million). In the resin business, while the shipment of automotive application products was affected in Japan by the decline in automobile production, other applications performed strongly in general. Overseas, shipment at subsidiaries in the US expanded for five automotive applications and shipment of ABS resin at a Malaysian subsidiary remained strong.
Sales expansion
In the Carbon Fiber Composite Materials segment, shipment of carbon fibers and intermediate products (prepreg) increased, as demand for aircrafts as well as that in the environment and energy fields including wind turbine applications expanded. The new facilities that started production in the latter half of 2014 and in the first half of 2015 contributed to production increase and sales expansion, and the shipment of products for fuel cell vehicles started in earnest. As a result, overall sales of Carbon Fiber Composite Materials segment increased 17.6% to ¥186.2 billion (US$1,652 million) from the previous year and operating income rose 37.7% to ¥36.1 billion (US$320 million).
This story is reprinted from material from Toray, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.