President's Message
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all our shareholders for their continued support.
The global business environment surrounding the Akebono Group continues to be uncertain due to factors such as a reduction in automobile production caused by supply chain issues, including shortages of parts supply, as well as rising raw material and energy costs due to an increase in geopolitical risk, etc.
Under these circumstances, and despite a decrease in orders, operating performance of the Group for fiscal 2022 saw net sales of 154.0 billion yen (an increase of 13.6% year-on-year) due to the impact of the yen depreciation . Despite a reduction in fixed costs and the optimization of human resources to recover from decreased profits due to decline in orders, the Group was impacted by a steep rise in market prices such as raw material and energy costs. As a result, operating profit amounted to 0.2 billion yen (a decrease of 95.6% year-on-year).
Facing very challenging circumstances, the Group is soundly implementing each measure for business structural reforms in accordance with our Business Turnaround Plan. At the plants in Japan, Akebono successfully completed the transfer of production ahead of schedule in October 2022. In the U.S., the closure of two plants was successfully completed, and Akebono will continue to aim at securing profits from appropriately sized operations. In Europe, the plant in Arras (France) was closed and the process of selling the land and buildings was completed by the end of April 2023. The plant in Slovakia, which is expected to be profitable, and its support facilities in Germany are now working aggressively to secure additional orders. Thus, we are making steady progress in implementing measures in each region. In addition, we are endeavoring to win new business for future growth beyond the Business Turnaround Plan, and are steadily achieving results, including the adoption of our products by Chinese automakers and new OEM customers in Europe.
In particular, in order to enhance our competitiveness as a manufacturing company and achieve the Business Turnaround Plan, we are working on activities to improve SQDC+E and focusing on safety, quality, delivery, cost, and the environment as our key issues. The entire Group will work together in steadily advancing these activities to achieve the Business Turnaround Plan and sustainable growth thereafter.
We sincerely regret that we will not be able to pay a dividend for fiscal 2022, as we are in the process of implementing the Business Turnaround Plan and working to improve our financial soundness. We sincerely ask for the continued support of our shareholders.
