Okuma, the Nagoya machine-tool maker, raised its full-year order, sales, profit and dividend forecasts for the year ending March 2027 on August 5, upgrading guidance it had issued only three months earlier. The company now expects annual orders of ¥276.0bn, up from the ¥250.0bn it forecast on May 12.
The upgrade follows a record opening quarter. Consolidated orders for April to June came in at ¥75.263bn, up 38.9% year on year and the highest quarterly figure the company has posted. Demand was led by large US manufacturers buying for aerospace, satellites, defence and data-centre and energy projects, with mid-size and smaller customers also resuming capital spending. Japan saw similar strength in aerospace, defence and data-centre work, plus steady orders for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, shipbuilding and general industrial machinery. Europe's overall order book grew as defence-related investment offset weakness in Germany's car industry and exporters. In China, large orders tied to a big electric-vehicle maker that had propped up last year's bookings have paused, though demand for semiconductor equipment and general industrial machinery held steady.
That order flow showed up quickly in earnings. First-quarter sales rose 16.3% to ¥51.903bn, operating profit jumped 175.1% to ¥4.399bn, and net profit attributable to parent shareholders climbed 253.7% to ¥4.984bn. Okuma said it absorbed higher spending on human capital, materials and freight, plus added costs from US tariffs, by lifting selling prices and improving production efficiency.
The order upgrade now flows through to the full-year numbers. Okuma lifted its sales forecast to ¥260.0bn, up 6.1% from the May guidance, operating profit to ¥26.0bn, up 36.8%, ordinary profit to ¥26.5bn, up 35.9%, and net profit attributable to parent shareholders to ¥20.0bn, up 53.8%.
| Metric | Previous forecast | Revised forecast |
|---|---|---|
| Annual order forecast | ¥250.0bn | ¥276.0bn |
| Full-year net sales | ¥245.0bn | ¥260.0bn |
| Full-year operating profit | ¥19.0bn | ¥26.0bn |
| Full-year ordinary profit | ¥19.5bn | ¥26.5bn |
| Full-year net profit (parent) | ¥13.0bn | ¥20.0bn |
| Annual dividend per share | ¥100 | ¥120 |
The company also raised its annual dividend forecast to ¥120 per share, split evenly between a ¥60 interim payment and a ¥60 year-end payment, up from the ¥100 (¥50 and ¥50) it had previously guided. Okuma said the increase reflects its policy, under the Medium-Term Management Plan 2028, of keeping the payout ratio at 35% or more of net profit attributable to parent shareholders, with total shareholder returns targeted at the same level achieved during the prior mid-term plan running through the year to March 2026.
Okuma's revised full-year guidance assumes exchange rates of ¥159 to the dollar and ¥185 to the euro for the rest of the year. The company also raised its guidance for the April-to-September half, to sales of ¥119.0bn, operating profit of ¥11.5bn, up 89.8% year on year, and net profit of ¥10.5bn, up 130.6%, giving investors an interim checkpoint before the full annual figures are due next spring.