Hitachi posted record first-quarter revenue of ¥2.71tn for the period through June, up 20% from a year earlier (12% stripping out currency effects), and used the results to raise its full-year sales forecast by ¥600bn to ¥11.7tn. Adjusted EBITA, the group's preferred profit measure, rose to ¥323.5bn, a margin of 11.9%, up 140 basis points. Net profit attributable to shareholders slipped slightly to ¥189.5bn, down 1.4%, because the prior-year quarter had included roughly ¥50bn from a one-off special dividend tied to an earlier business reorganization.
The upgrade touched all four of Hitachi's operating sectors, but Energy did the heavy lifting. Segment orders rose 87% in the quarter, driven by several large high-voltage direct current transmission projects in Europe, and Hitachi lifted the segment's full-year revenue guidance by ¥360bn to ¥4.06tn. The Digital Systems & Services unit, which houses domestic IT modernization work and the GlobalLogic and Hitachi Digital Services businesses, grew quarterly revenue 11% on demand from financial and public-sector clients, and its full-year guidance rose by ¥30bn.
| Segment | Revenue revision | Adj. EBITA revision |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Systems & Services | +¥30bn | +¥8bn |
| Energy | +¥360bn | +¥76bn |
| Mobility | +¥100bn | +¥9bn |
| Connective Industries | +¥100bn | +¥14bn |
| Consolidated total | +¥600bn | +¥100bn |
Middle East exposure, flagged as a risk in April, turned out lighter than budgeted. Hitachi had originally modeled a ¥40bn revenue hit and a ¥20bn Adj. EBITA hit for the year; the actual first-quarter damage was ¥16bn and ¥7bn respectively, tied to logistics delays and higher input costs across the Middle East, a region where Hitachi generated about ¥470bn of revenue and employed roughly 2,900 people in the year to March 2026, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE among its principal markets there. The company still expects a further ¥10bn of revenue pressure across the rest of the year and says it is watching the situation closely.
Hitachi is also spending and returning cash at pace. Full-year capital expenditure guidance rose to ¥670bn, up ¥172.1bn from the prior year, concentrated in power-grid capacity additions. Share buybacks reached ¥147.9bn in the quarter, 27% of the ¥550bn annual authorization, leaving roughly ¥400bn still to execute. Separately, Hitachi Rail completed its previously announced acquisition of U.S. transit-technology provider Clever Devices on July 1 for $302mn (¥47.9bn), though the accounting for the deal was not yet finalized as of the earnings date.
The combined effect: Hitachi now guides to full-year Adjusted EBITA of ¥1.52tn and net profit of ¥900bn, both raised ¥100bn and ¥50bn respectively from its previous forecast, with basic earnings per share guidance rising to ¥201.14 from ¥188.78. Whether that holds depends heavily on how the Middle East situation evolves over the next three quarters.