Announcement of the Settlement of Accounts for the Third Quarter of the Year Ending March 2009

(Note) Figures shown have been rounded down to the nearest million yen

Our settlement of accounts for the third quarter of the year ending March 2009 was announced on the afternoon of Thursday, February 5 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange Press Clubs. An outline of the accounts is presented below.

Consolidated Results for the Third Quarter of the Year Ending March 2009
(April 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008)

Overview of the FY2009 first three quarters (Year-on-year figures are shown as reference)

Japan's economy during the three quarters of the fiscal year has suffered drastic downturns following the worldwide fall in stock prices due to the US financial and economic crisis starting in September in addition to significant downward adjustments announced mainly by exporting companies resulting from the rise of the yen.
The food industry in which we are placed continues to face a harsh cost environment despite the slowdown in the rise of most international raw material prices. Heightened concerns for food safety and security add on to the pressure.
Amid such challenging business environment, our group embraces the motto of "speedy innovation" in carrying out the new medium-term business plan "Innovation and Action 2010" which includes efforts such as the adoption of the company system. Also, we have promoted management restructuring including stricter oversight of each division's business profitability.
We are continuing to emphasize on food safety and security issues as the Group's management philosophy. We have also made efforts to create distinctive products and reduce costs.
For the three quarters of the year ending March 2009, we achieved net sales of 183,930 million yen (16.6% y-o-y increase), operating income of 9,076 million yen (48.4% y-o-y increase), ordinary income of 8,401 million yen (50.9% y-o-y increase) and net income of 5,433 million yen (60.2% y-o-y increase).

Overviews by division are as follows:

<Oils and Fats Processing Division>
Although declines were seen in industrial-use fats for frying due to decreasing demands from the food service industry following the economic recession, steady growth continued to be seen in specialty products including palm oil, coconut oil and hard butters for chocolate and contributed to gains in both sales and profits compared to the previous year in the domestic market. Our subsidiary in the overseas market also achieved increases in both sales and profits as the refining segment in Asia and US improved profits and hard butters for chocolate continued posting excellent results in Europe and the US.
Through these efforts, this division achieved a sales volume of 82,418 million yen (33.4% y-o-y increase) and an operating income of 5,695 million yen (102.6% y-o-y increase).

<Confectionery and Baking Ingredients Division>
Domestically, chocolates for industrial use continued to enjoy steady growth but this was not enough to offset the negative effects of the rising international prices of cocoa, resulting in decreased profits. Creams, margarines, shortenings and fillings also experienced decrease in profitability due to the rise in raw material prices. As a result, profits declined compared to the previous year despite the increase in sales.
Imported confectionary and baking ingredients, on the other hand, recovered its stagnating sales to some extent through the shortage of domestic dairy products but nevertheless recorded decline in sales volume.
Dessert products from our domestic group company saw decrease in both sales and profits due to the rising raw material prices and failure in launching a new hit product.
Our group companies overseas for this division have seen increased demands in margarines and shortenings due to the declining prices of fats but are continuing to suffer slow sales of chocolates due to high cocoa material prices.
Through these efforts, this division achieved a sales volume of 72,327 million yen (7.8% y-o-y increase) and an operating income of 3,564 million yen (a decrease of 18.7% y-o-y).

<Soy Protein Division>
Domestically, soy protein ingredients continued to improve thanks to cost reduction and steady growth seen in products for fermentation and culture medium markets. Overseas, our group company in China experienced decreases in both sales volumes and profits due to the sharp declines in product prices within the country.
Soy protein products experienced decline in sales due to the narrowing-down of its product mix but achieved increase in profits through continuing improvements in production efficiency and cost reduction efforts among other measures.
Soy peptides saw improvements in both year-on-year net sales and profits as a result of cost reduction and developments in overseas markets.
Water-soluble soy polysaccharides posted increase in both net sales and income from the favorable sales of acid lactic beverages.
Soy milk improved profitability compared to the previous year despite its decline in sales through continued cost-cutting efforts.
For mail orders of soybean-related products, cost reductions and the "Isofla-Balance" product renewal launched in September contributed to improved profitability to offset the decrease in net sales compared to the previous year.
Through these efforts, this division recorded a sales volume of 29,184 million yen (1.4% y-o-y increase) and recorded an operating loss of 183 million yen (an operating loss of 1,077 million yen was recorded in the previous year).

Predictions for Consolidated Results for the Year Ending March 2009
(April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009)

*Explanation and other notes regarding appropriate utilization of the predictions
1) The full-year predictions have been revised for consolidated results announced on October 31, 2008.
2) The forecasts above have been made based on the information available at the time of this announcement, and the actual results may differ from these forecasts due to various factors.

End of report