En beskeden vækst på 0,9% i den japanske sektor for informationsteknologi forventes i 2016 pga. et mættet marked og en lav økonomisk vækstprognose på 0,6%.
- In 2016, growth in the Japanese ICT sector is expected to be modest at 0.9%, due to market saturation and a low economic growth forecast of 0.6%. A return to higher growth rates is expected in the medium term.
- The IT hardware segment is expected to contract due to saturation, longer replacement rates and migration to cloud services. However, cloud services and software development are expected to grow in 2016. Growth and profits in the telecommunications segment are expected to remain stable over the coming 12 months.
- Competition in the market is very high with Japan being the second largest IT market in the Asia Pacific region after China. The market is dominated by large companies such as Fujitsu, NEC, Toshiba, NTT Data and Hitachi.
- ICT companies obtain finance easily as banks are very willing to lend and interest rates are low. The current government is very supportive of bank lending, putting pressure on banks to even lend to weaker companies. Therefore, high gearing ratios are common in Japan.
- On average, payments in the ICT industry take between 30 and 90 days. The business culture in Japan promotes prompt payment, and therefore the number of protracted payments is low. The insolvency level in the ICT sector is low and no major increase is expected in 2016.
- Our underwriting stance for this industry is generally open due to stable growth and margin outlook, the low insolvency level and good payment experience.