The Clock Division with a history of more than 60 years since its founding has being "ticking away the time" together with customers. We have developed products that have been best geared to customers' values in each of the times we have brought them to market. In a modern society that has been evolving every day, the value of "every minute and every second" has become more important than ever. With this in mind, we take it as our mission to provide clock products that can accurately measure "every minute and every second," which are all valuable, while at the same time enriching people's lives. As well, we continue to work on developing products.
During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, our clock sales grew more than a year ago despite lower personal consumption and reduced corporate demand. The increased sales reflected the positive effects of improvements made in our product portfolio on a continuing basis and steady increase in sales of new products launched in 2010. Clock sales in overseas markets are up on a year-on-year basis, growing mainly in Asia and other markets, except the U.S. Sales of other products fell due to the negative impact of sluggish sales of jewelry and other items. However, the favorable effects from a stronger exchange rate for the yen to the U.S. dollar and other currencies and improved cost of sales increased operating income for the Clock Division.
As a result, the business segment reported net sales of 11,787 million yen for the consolidated fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, up 0.3% from 11,750 million yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. Operating income for the period was 752 million yen, up 88.1% from 399 million yen a year earlier.