Wacom 2013 Annual Report Download - page 4

I am very pleased to present Wacom’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013, our 30th year.
Under our vision of “a world alive with creativity”, we are committed to serving our customers worldwide by providing
inspiration and tools to express creativity. We are dedicated to the creation of natural, intuitive user interface
solutions that allow people to create, express and share their ideas.
Today, our products support a wide range of creative activities, in everything from movie and game development
through to automotive and homeware design, education and medical solutions. Our technology is also helping to
create new categories in smartphones, tablets and e-books.
In the spirit of our brand concept “Open up. Sense more.”, we will continue to explore new technologies and products
that will help make our world a more creative place.
Strong growth in our 30th fiscal year
During the past fiscal year, the global economy gradually improved, despite the prolonged European debt crisis and
sluggish growth in the U.S. The Japanese yen, meanwhile, following a change in fiscal policy by the new Japanese
government, from the middle of the fiscal year reversed its rapid appreciation trend. In the global IT industry, smart-
phones and tablets grew rapidly as new mobile product categories, and together with SNS and cloud computing,
formed a new mainstream business platform.
In our Brand business, we expanded our Cintiq series of interactive pen display products and grew our Bamboo
stylus series for tablets. Our digital signature products business also produced further growth, as we met ongoing
demand for the higher security and speed required in paperless workflows.
In our Component business, shipments of pen components for Samsung’s smartphone “Galaxy Note” series
increased significantly and contributed to our growth. We formed a business alliance with Samsung Mobile to
strengthen our relationship and accelerate growth in the smartphone and tablet markets, and also achieved further
adoption of our pen technology in Windows 8-based tablets.
To support future growth, we invested in SCM organization in China, ERP systems in the Asia-Oceania region, and
development of our organization globally.
As a result, we recorded net sales of ¥61,068 million (up 50.0% year on year), operating income of ¥7,915 million (up
94.6%), ordinary income of ¥7,559 million (up 94.2%) and net income of ¥4,770 million (up 118.7%).
Further opportunities in the year ahead
For our 31st fiscal year, the global economy is expected to regain strength, supported by a recovery in the U.S.,
growth in emerging markets, and an improving Japanese economy, although the Eurozone appears likely to remain
weak. In the IT industry, smartphones and tablets are set to become further established as mainstream IT platforms,
and pen technology and ink solutions will move to the forefront of the user interface field.
Given this context, our approach at Wacom will be to continue striving to develop new business areas and new
markets, and accelerate our business growth by evolving our business model to meet the needs of the year ahead.
In the Brand business, we have reorganized our business line framework based on different user characteristics
among “Creative”, “Consumer”, and “Vertical Market” customers, and we will focus our innovation efforts on
addressing specific user needs in each customer category. In the Creative business, we will launch new mobile prod-
ucts in addition to the existing pen tablets and pen displays. For the Consumer business, we will expand our digital
stationery solutions for mobile environments. For the Vertical Market business, we will offer more efficient and secure
workflow solutions through digital signature products.
In our Components business, we will strive to enhance our leadership and accelerate growth in smartphone and
tablet categories, as well as build the foundation for an e-book segment and touch component segment.
To Our Shareholders
Masahiko Yamada
President & CEO
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In the area of business infrastructure development, we will further enhance SCM, global web marketing and develop
global headquarter functions.
Based on our business outlook and planned capital expenditure, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014 we project
net sales of ¥88,000 million (up 44.1%), operating income of ¥11,380 million (up 43.8%), ordinary income of ¥11,340
million (up 50.0%), and net income of ¥7,370 million (up 54.5%), assuming an exchange rate of ¥90 per 1USdollar and
¥115 per 1 euro.
In October 2012 we announced our new medium-term business plan for the period April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2016.
Under this plan, known as “WAP1215”, we aim to grow our business and enhance corporate value by expanding our
business platform from PCs to mobile and cloud computing. Our aim for the end of the plan in March 2016 is to
achieve consolidated net sales of ¥120 billion or higher, with an operating profit margin of at least 15%, and ROE of
at least 30%. To realize these goals, we will accelerate growth by expanding our product lines and increasing our
customer base in both the Brand business and the Component business.
Dividend and share split
Our dividend policy is to ensure that Wacom retains a solid financial foundation while also providing appropriate
returns to investors. In light of our financial results, and to reward shareholders for their support, we declared a
dividend of ¥4,500 per share including a commemorative dividend for the year ended March 31, 2013.
To improve liquidity and promote a more diversified investor base, we conducted a 400 to 1 share split and adopted
a share-trading-unit of 100 shares, effective June 1, 2013.
Growing need for intuitive interface solutions
As the IT industry shifts toward mobile and cloud-based platforms, we see an ever higher need for natural and
intuitive user interface solutions and a wider range of new opportunities ahead. We are committed to enhancing our
corporate value through the development of leading user interface solutions. We also take our social responsibilities
seriously, and are determined to underpin our culture of innovation with sound corporate governance.
Your support is invaluable and essential to our continuing success. On behalf of our organization worldwide, allow me
to thank all our investors and other stakeholders for believing in Wacom as we continue to bring creativity to the world.
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