Nitta maintains full-year forecast on mixed Q1

TOKYO—Japanese industrial rubber parts maker Nitta Corp. is sticking to its full-year sales and earnings forecasts following a mixed set of first quarter results.

For the three-month period to June 30, Nitta posted a 2.3-percent drop in operating income, to $10.7 million (Yen 1.466 billion) on net sales 2.3-percent higher year-on-year at $153.7 million.

The higher revenues included increased sales in Europe, as Nitta's overseas sales ratio grew to 31.7 percent, from 30.8 percent in the prior-year first quarter.

Belt and rubber product sales rose 28.4 percent in Europe and the U.S., helped by higher demand for belts from the logistics, textile machinery and paper converting industries.

By contrast, sales of hose and tube products fell 18.9 percent across the same two regions, largely due to reduced demand for tubes for automobiles in North America.

Nitta said first quarter operating income was impacted by soaring raw material prices and SG&A expenses. It also noted an "allowance for doubtful accounts for selling agency in Russia."

Group-wide, Nitta reported net sales of belt and rubber products up 13.1 percent year-on-year to $51 million. Operating income lifted 23.7 percent to $6.96 million.

Nitta linked the higher earnings on belt products to gains in the logistics and textile machinery markets, while rubber products benefited from improved trading in machine tool and electronics parts markets.

By contrast, hose and tube operating income fell 54.4 percent to $1.83 million, on sales 2.7-percent lower at $57,933—as declines in the automotive and construction machinery sectors erased gains in semiconductor processing and EV production applications.

At Nitta's chemical industrial products unit, operating income fell 111.2 percent year-on-year to a loss of $43,850, on sales up 1.5 percent to $7.9 million.

The reversal was linked to declines in the railway products and OA equipment segments, which more than offset higher sales of waterproofing materials to the civil engineering market.

Nitta left its fiscal 2022 forecasts unchanged from those it announced May 13, with sales projected to come in at Yen86,000 million, 2.7% higher than in 2021, and operating income at Yen5,300 million, 0.7% below the prior-year level.