Announcement of the Settlement of Accounts for the Third Quarter of the Year Ending March 2010

(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 2010 was announced on the afternoon of Friday, 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 2010
(April 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009)

Overview of the first three quarters for FY ending March 2010

Although the Japanese economy has shown slight recovery in export volume as a result of economic stimulus measures carried out domestically and throughout the world during the first three quarters of the fiscal year, it has continued to struggle nevertheless in part due to stagnating capital investments and worsening employment environment.

The food industry in which our group is placed has shifted more towards prevailing price reduction trends following dampened spending of consumers due to prolonged deflation and adverse employment conditions.

Amid such environment, we achieved favorable results through carrying out measures from the medium-term business plan "Innovation and Action 2010", promoting "technological management", engaging in product development fitting the needs of customers, delivering high functionality ingredients unlike any of those from competitors, reducing production costs and focusing on "expansion of overseas businesses" and "reconstruction of soy protein businesses" positioned as key issues.

As a result, for the first three quarters of the year ending March 2010, we achieved net sales of 161,013 million yen (decrease of 12.5% y-o-y), operating income of 14,586 million yen (60.7% y-o-y increase), ordinary income of 14,067 million yen (67.4% y-o-y increase) and net income of 9,141 million yen (68.2% y-o-y increase).

Overviews by division are as follows:

<Oils and Fats Processing Division>
Domestically, the steady growth of general oils and fats for processing in addition to specialty products such as hard butters for chocolate were not enough to offset the impact from adverse market trends as demonstrated from the struggling of industrial-use canned products and raw material prices, which in turn resulted to year-on-year decreases for both sales and profit.

Overseas, although there were some negative effects observed in Russia, Eastern Europe and South America due to the economic recession, refining divisions in Asia demonstrated improved profitability and significantly contributed to gains in profit despite decrease in sales.

Through these results, this division achieved a sales volume of 62,403 million yen (a decrease of 24.3% y-o-y) and an operating income of 6,408 million yen (12.5% y-o-y increase).

<Confectionery and Baking Ingredients Division>
Domestically, chocolates for industrial use including those for frozen desserts posted solid results. For creams, margarines, shortenings and fillings, functionality-focused products contributed to steady growth.

Imported confectionery and baking ingredients saw decline in sales but achieved increased profit due in part to growth in volume.

Conditions for dessert products from our domestic group company continued to be challenging, with new product launches failing to offset the impact from weak consumer spending.

Our overseas subsidiaries experienced decrease in sales due to fluctuating raw material prices, but expanded its profits following volume growth.

Through these results, this division achieved a sales volume of 69,503 million yen (a decrease of 3.9% y-o-y) and an operating income of 6,805 million yen (90.9% increase y-o-y).

<Soy Protein Division>
Domestically, soy protein ingredients expanded both sales volume and profits following steady increases in sales, volume and cost reduction efforts. Our subsidiary in China improved in profits as a result of its efforts in enhancing profitability.

Volume and sales shrank for soy protein products due in part to the narrowing down of the product mix, but nevertheless improved in profits.

For food function-enhancing ingredients, markets for fermentation and culture medium and acid lactic beverages generated solid results for both sales and profits.

Soy milk and mail orders continued to face challenging conditions, but profits improved thanks to cost reduction efforts and new product launches.

Through these results, this division achieved a sales volume of 29,106 million yen (a decrease of 0.3% y-o-y) and an operating income of 1,373 million yen (an operating loss of 183 million yen was recorded in the previous year).

Predictions for Consolidated Results for the Year Ending March 2010
(April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010)

*Explanation and other notes regarding appropriate utilization of the predictions
1) The full-year predictions have been revised for consolidated results announced on October 29, 2009.
2) The forecasts above have been made based on information available at the time of this announcement in addition to assumptions deemed as rational, and the actual results may significantly differ from these forecasts due to various factors.

End of report