Announcement of the Settlement of Accounts for the Third Quarter of the Year Ending March 2012

(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 2012 was announced on the afternoon of Friday, February 3 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 2012 (April 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011)

Overview of the first three quarters for FY ending March 2012

The Japanese economy during the company’s third quarter period, although showing some signs of recovery from the March 11 earthquake, continued to be challenged with prolonging problems of power shortages and radioactive material contamination in the aftermath of the nuclear plant accident, and trends of deflation and the rising yen continuing along with the stagnating employment conditions. The future projection of economic trend remains opaque in and outside of Japan with the anxiety for financial crisis in Europe aggravating, and the flood in Thailand causing damages.

The food industry in which our group is placed continued to face adverse business conditions challenged with thrifty consumer spending and lower pricing trends, and with high standards of key raw material and fuel prices.

Amid such environment, we carried out measures from our new middle term business plan “Global & Quality 2013”, engaging in product development fitting the needs of customers, delivering high-functionality ingredients and reducing production costs upon positioning “promotion of global management”, “promotion of technological management” and “promotion of sustainable management” as our fundamental policies.

As a result, for the first three quarters of the year ending March 2012, we achieved net sales of 180,649 million yen (8.1% increase y-o-y), operating income of 10,349 million yen (23.9% decrease y-o-y), ordinary income of 10,186 million yen (23.3% decrease y-o-y) and net income of 6,558 million yen (24.2% decrease y-o-y).

Overviews by division are as follows:

<Oils and Fats Processing Division>
Domestically, rising prices of key raw material lead to decreased profitability of hard butters for chocolate, but steady sales of coconut oil, palm oil and fats for frying lead to improved sales and profit of the division.

In our overseas subsidiaries, hard butters for chocolate shrank in sales and profits following drops in its sales prices impacted by the decreased market price of cocoa butter. Palm oil recorded improved sales compared to the previous year due to the rise in raw material prices but worsening profitability lead to decrease in profits. The overseas division posted increased sales and decreased profit overall.

Through these results, this division achieved a sales volume of 76,130 million yen (15.9% increase y-o-y) and an operating income of 3,159 million yen (41.4% decrease y-o-y).

<Confectionery and Baking Ingredients Division>
Domestically, chocolates for industrial use experienced decrease in sales and profit following the decrease in sales for colored chocolates. Margarines and shortenings posted increase in sales for products for breads, but fell in profit following higher raw material prices. Imported confectionery and baking ingredients achieved gains in sales and profit after improving sales of preparation products for milk powder formula, cocoa, and butter.

Our subsidiary overseas posted increase in sales year-on-year following good sales of chocolates for industrial use, margarines and shortenings in Southeast Asia, but rising raw material prices hampered profitability to mark a fall in profit.

Through these results, this division achieved a sales volume of 76,700 million yen (5.4% increase y-o-y) and an operating income of 5,451 million yen (19.4% decrease y-o-y).

<Soy Protein Division>
Domestically, soy protein ingredients posted decrease in sales for fishery and health foods following the termination of joint venture agreement with Solae, LLC in the US, but frozen foods, prepared foods and processed foods posted steady sales to leave the division overall with decrease in sales but gains in profit. Food function-enhancing ingredients experienced increase in sales for fermentation and culture medium and export products, but decrease in beverages and catering foods to mark decrease in sales and increase in profit overall. Soy protein products grew in sales after products for instant noodles and catering foods market increased but decreased year-on-year in profit. Soy milk improved sales year-on-year and also grew in profit.

Through these results, this division achieved a sales volume of 27,818 million yen (2.7% decrease y-o-y) and an operating income of 1,738 million yen (21.1% increase y-o-y).

Predictions for Consolidated Results for the Year Ending March 2012 (April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012)

*Qualitative information regarding forecast consolidated figures
No revisions have been made for the full year forecast announced on November 4, 2011. Revisions will promptly be announced if deemed necessary after determining the changes that may arise in the Company’s business environment.

*Explanation and other notes regarding appropriate utilization of the predictions
The forecasts above have been made based on assumptions deemed rational together with information available at the time of this announcement, and the actual results may differ from these forecasts due to various factors.

End of report