The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Tsubasa Sasaki - Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd., Research Division - Analyst
: I'm Sasaki, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities. I have 3 questions. The first question is a follow-up question. This time, in mining, you said Russia and the CIS
and Africa are deteriorating, which are new input. Is this simply because some are core price dropped? Please let us know again what is happening
there.
Question: Tsubasa Sasaki - Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd., Research Division - Analyst
: Second question is about the profitability. Originally, conventional Komatsu mining op margin was about 20% and KMC was about 15%. In the
first half, what was op margin of overall mining business?
Question: Tsubasa Sasaki - Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd., Research Division - Analyst
: But is it still double-digit on average?
Question: Tsubasa Sasaki - Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd., Research Division - Analyst
: Finally, let me ask about profit structure. I think structure profitability of mining has been good. And in construction equipment, strategic market
profitability is better than that of traditional market. Given the op margin of the second quarter is 11% and if the margin of mining is better than
the average, then the construction equipment margin will be high single digit. My question is, for example, when I looked at the competitor, in
the case of Caterpillar, their construction equipment margin is 18%. Then I think you have a good room for further improvement in margin for
construction equipment. Although the external environment is not very good, do you think you have a room for further improvement in construction
equipment margin? I'd like to have your observation on this.
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