President's Message
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to our shareholders for their continued support.
The business environment surrounding the Akebono Group continues to be uncertain due to factors such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, production cuts by auto manufacturers due to shortages of semiconductors and other parts, soaring raw material prices, and the impact of the situation in Ukraine on the global economy.
Under these circumstances, the Group is steadily implementing each measure of business restructuring in accordance with our Business Turnaround Plan. In Japan, improvement activities are ongoing since last year to optimize production at our plants, especially the transfer of production between facilities, and progress with the plan is partially ahead of schedule.
In fiscal 2021, the Group reported net sales of 135.50 billion yen (up 1.1% from the previous year), operating income of 4.24 billion yen (compared to an operating loss of 0.60 billion yen in the previous year), and net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company of 4.15 billion yen (compared to a net loss of 11.91 billion yen in the previous year). Net income attributable to owners of the parent was 4.15 billion yen (compared to a 11.91 billion yen loss in the previous year). Profits decreased in the U.S. and Europe due to a decline in orders. However, operating income benefited from a recovery from the decline in orders during the pandemic in Japan and Asia, the effects of some business structural reforms, and reductions in fixed costs, in particular the optimization of human resources in Japan and North America.
Regarding the progress of measures for preventing recurrence of inappropriate conduct in periodic inspection reports for certain products, we have established a "Corporate Culture Reform Committee." Under this committee we are promoting specific activities to prevent recurrence and will continue to implement measures in the future. We again apologize to our shareholders for any inconvenience and concern this may have caused.
We also deeply regret that we will pay no dividend for fiscal 2021, as we are still in the process of implementing our Business Turnaround Plan and are striving to improve our financial soundness.
We expect the business environment to remain challenging in the future, but we are determined to make a concerted and unrelenting effort to achieve the Business Turnaround Plan and to grow beyond it.
We sincerely ask for the continued support of our shareholders.
