Resonac Holdings has raised its full-year core operating profit forecast by 40% to ¥196.0bn even as it cut revenue guidance by 11%, a divergence that traces back to one corporate decision rather than a change in underlying demand.
The Tokyo-listed materials group said on August 6 that revenue guidance for the year to December 2026 falls to ¥1,165.0bn from the ¥1,310.0bn it projected in February. Operating profit guidance rose 52% to ¥160.0bn, and net profit attributable to owners rose 46% to ¥112.5bn.
| Metric | Previous Forecast | Revised Forecast | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥1,310.0bn | ¥1,165.0bn | -11.1% |
| Core operating profit | ¥140.0bn | ¥196.0bn | +40.0% |
| Operating profit | ¥105.0bn | ¥160.0bn | +52.4% |
| Net profit attributable to owners | ¥77.0bn | ¥112.5bn | +46.1% |
The revenue cut is a bookkeeping effect, not a demand shock. Resonac's wholly owned petrochemicals subsidiary is due to leave the group through a partial spin-off on October 1, with a listing planned for September 29. Because the spin-off is now treated as near-certain, the unit's sales and profit move out of "continuing operations" and into a single discontinued-operations line starting with third-quarter results. That reclassification is why full-year revenue guidance looks smaller even though nothing about the company's underlying order book has weakened.
What has genuinely changed is chip demand. Semiconductor and electronic materials booked record quarterly revenue and core operating profit in the first half, with segment revenue up 30% to ¥299.0bn and core operating profit up 92% to ¥81.5bn. Back-end semiconductor materials, the epoxy sealants, bonding films, and laminates used in advanced chip packaging, grew sales 46%. Resonac attributes that mainly to higher volumes for AI-related advanced semiconductors. That single segment's full-year core operating profit guidance was lifted to ¥195.0bn from ¥128.0bn.
The chemicals segment also helped: its core operating loss narrowed to ¥0.6bn from ¥8.2bn a year earlier, as graphite electrode volumes recovered and cost-cutting from an earlier restructuring came through. Group-wide, first-half revenue rose 5.4% to ¥676.9bn and core operating profit rose 156.5% to ¥88.8bn, while net debt to equity improved to 0.65 times from 0.83 times at the end of 2025.
Resonac left its dividend forecast unchanged at ¥65 per share. The petrochemicals spin-off still needs board sign-off, expected at a meeting in late August, before the planned October 1 execution.