First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of our shareholders and investors for your ongoing support.
Our company aims to contribute to people, society, and the earth through our business operations and become a company that is always needed by society. To this end, we have established “Vision 2040,” which defines the desired status we aspire to achieve by fiscal 2040. To achieve this vision, we are implementing a medium-term management plan which sets the period from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2027 as a foundation-building phase in which we are working to achieve sustainable growth and increase corporate value.
Uncertainties in our business environment are increasing due to factors including geopolitical risks, prolonged trade and tariff issues, increasing introduction of electrification and intelligent technologies, labor shortages, and rising costs of raw materials and energy. Given this situation, the automotive industry is facing a greater need than ever to not only adapt to change but also strengthen the international competitiveness of Japan’s automotive sector as a whole. Under our policy of “turning change into a competitive advantage,” we are working on “product-driven growth” and “business structure transformation” as key strategic pillers.
Under our “product-driven growth” strategy, we are pursuing product development that leverages our technological expertise and mass production capabilities with a focus on “environmental friendliness,” “lightweight,” “enhanced functionality/performance,” and “strengthened cost competitiveness,” as the role of plastics is shifting from that of a lightweight material to a core element of value creation. At the same time, we are working to build a foundation for growth that is highly profitable, by developing value-creating products through deeper collaboration with OEMs to increase both selling prices and profitability.
Furthermore, as part of our “business structure transformation,” we aim to build a business structure that can turn changes in the external environment into a comprehensive advantage. This will be achieved by reforming our business and profit structures, improving profit margins by shifting toward high-value-added products, and strengthening our earnings power through the use of artificial intelligence and digital transformation, operational reforms, and integrated reforms in production operations.
In terms of capital policy, we have revised our shareholder return policy from a management perspective that prioritizes capital efficiency, and we aim for a consolidated dividend on equity (DOE) ratio of at least 4.0% and a consolidated dividend payout ratio of around 40%. We also aim to buy back shares as appropriate.
We will continue to work steadily to promote “product-driven growth” and “business structure transformation,” aiming to achieve the medium-term management targets of 180 billion yen in consolidated sales, 7% in operation profit ratio, and 9% in ROE by strengthening our product competitiveness and profitability while improving capital efficiency.