Regular Press Conference for January 2010

(Summary of third quarter financial results)

• First, I would like to talk about Chubu Electric's third quarter financial results for FY2009.
• Net sales for this period recorded a decline. This resulted from a drop in service charges due, among other factors, to a decline in the volume of power sold in our electricity business, in addition to a decline in net sales in other businesses.
• With regard to ordinary income, a variety of factors impeded cash flow in our electricity business, including a decline in the volume of power sold and a reduction in the amount of nuclear generation, but we recorded a profit due to declines in the price of fuel, among other factors.
• As a result, both the consolidated and non-consolidated financial statements showed decreased revenue but increased profit.

(Cash flow outlook for FY2009)

• Next, I would like to discuss the outlook for this fiscal year.
• As was the case for the previous fiscal year, we project sales of 123.5 billion kWh in fiscal 2009.
• There will be a decline in our rate of nuclear generation due to an extension of the period of shutdown of Hamaoka Reactor No. 5, but based on recent trends we predict a strong yen, and for this reason among others, there is no change in our previously announced performance projections.
• As a result, we anticipate that both the consolidated and non-consolidated financial statements will show declining revenue and increasing profit.
• With the volume of power sales maintaining a low level and uncertainty surrounding future trends in fuel prices and the exchange rate, we believe that the severe business environment for the company will continue.
• As a company, we are working steadily to reduce costs and at the same time make our business operations more efficient.
  To this end, while focusing on what we term "matters in which high quality should be maintained and passed down safely to the next generation" and "matters in which there should be innovation and reform," we are pushing ahead with operational reforms in order to boost productivity.
• I personally wish to enter wholeheartedly into these company discussions and provide support to impart further dynamism to our efforts to achieve increased operational efficiency.

Reference

• 3rd Quarter Financial Report[PDF:255KB]

• I would now like to move on to discuss our employment plans.
• Two points are of the greatest importance in the achievement of a stable supply of electric power. These are
  - To establish facilities in a planned manner, based on a long-term outlook, and
  - To maintain the soundness of those facilities, applying our ingenuity and expertise to make further improvements
• To make this possible, it is very important that we continue to foster human resources to enable us to pass on, at the very highest level, the advanced technologies and expertise that we have developed over many years, and to hone them even further.
• Together with this agenda, against a background of intensifying social and economic change, it is essential that we employ personnel who are able to see change as an opportunity and who bring a powerful creativity and strong sense of purpose to the task of forging the future.
• Accordingly, to enable us to maintain a continuous flow of superior young personnel who will support the company's future, we have decided to recruit 540 staff members in fiscal 2011 as part of our regular recruitment activities.
  This is the same number as our recruitment plan for the preceding fiscal year.
• In addition, as necessary, we hire personnel who are already highly trained and who possess advanced specialized knowledge and insight.
  In fiscal 2010, we followed our pattern of the previous fiscal year, and hired around ten staff members on this basis, to work in areas including sales, fuels, and our international business.
• For a company, people are the mainstay of its business activities and an important management resource.
  We therefore regard the fostering of human resources as being of particular importance.
• To the young people who become members of the Chubu team, we do not seek to merely impart the skills and the technical and practical knowledge that form part of our business, but also, through their roles as part of a power utility supporting the public good, to pass on our aspiration to support the development of the Chubu Region and the daily lives of its residents.
• That concludes my remarks for today.