Naito, the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed distributor of cutting tools and measuring equipment (code 7624), says a shift in Chinese mineral policy shaped its results for the six months to the end of August 2026. Tungsten, the primary raw material for cutting tools, surged in price and stirred supply anxiety after China tightened export controls on strategic minerals, and Naito says that combination rippled straight into its results. Consolidated net sales rose 18.1% to ¥25.6bn, operating profit rose 296.5% to ¥821mn, and net profit attributable to owners rose 293.4% to ¥590mn, up from ¥150mn a year earlier.
The gains were not evenly spread. Cutting tools, the segment most exposed to tungsten costs, grew fastest: sales rose 29.3% to ¥14.0bn. Measuring equipment sales rose 25.8% to ¥2.4bn. Industrial machinery and machine tools, a segment further removed from the raw-material squeeze, rose only 2.9% to ¥9.2bn.
Naito's own explanation for the jump has two parts. First, major cutting-tool makers revised prices in response to tungsten costs. Second, customers, anticipating tighter supply ahead, pulled orders forward rather than wait for shortages to bite. That is the company's account of the mechanism, not an independently verified market chain, but it fits a period in which profit grew far faster than sales.
On the same day, Naito raised its full-year forecast for the year ending February 2027 from the guidance it issued in March.
| Metric | March 2026 forecast | September 2026 forecast | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net sales | ¥45.0bn | ¥48.0bn | +6.7% |
| Operating profit | ¥400mn | ¥1.25bn | +212.5% |
| Ordinary profit | ¥430mn | ¥1.3bn | +202.3% |
| Net profit attributable to owners | ¥270mn | ¥900mn | +233.3% |
| Earnings per share | ¥4.93 | ¥16.44 | - |
Against that March forecast, full-year sales guidance rises 6.7% to ¥48.0bn, operating profit guidance rises 212.5% to ¥1.25bn, and net profit attributable to owners rises 233.3% to ¥900mn, with earnings per share guided to ¥16.44 from ¥4.93 previously. Measured instead against the year that ended in February 2026, when Naito earned ¥284mn, the new forecast implies another sharp step up in profit.
Naito left its year-end dividend forecast unchanged at ¥4 per share. The company held no earnings briefing and prepared no supplementary results materials. The open question sits inside Naito's own wording: demand that customers pulled forward to beat the tungsten squeeze could simply reverse in later quarters, leaving the size of the guidance increase resting on tungsten prices and order patterns that Naito itself describes as unusual.