FY2022 was a year in which we were heavily impacted by complex global conditions. We promoted various measures to tackle this, such as revising prices in the Electric Wire and Cable Business against a backdrop of soaring raw material and energy prices, reducing costs and losses, and developing new products. We will continue carrying out our operations cautiously.

Meanwhile, we received a proposal from JX Metals Corporation to fully merge our two companies, and resolved to agree to the proposal in December last year. Over the course of 60 years, we have built a good relationship with JX Metals since when it was called Nippon Mining, not only in terms of a capital relationship, but also in many areas, including the trading of raw materials. We have recently received an offer from JX Metals to work on our businesses together as part of efforts to achieve its long-term vision for 2040.

JX Metals is a global specialist in nonferrous metals. It carries out operations ranging from the manufacture and sale of advanced materials related to nonferrous metals such as copper and rare metals, to resource development, smelting and metal recycling. It boasts extensive knowledge and an abundant team of specialist personnel both in Japan and overseas. We believe that we can learn a lot from sharing information and building a cooperative structure with JX Metals, as well as develop a more advanced and resilient global business. In addition, we anticipate such an environment will provide a major advantage in our human resource development, and have determined that this partnership can further enhance our corporate value.

As a new move for FY2023, we established the New Business Development Department at the head office, and also transferred the Technology Development Center from the Electronic Materials & System Equipment Group. To date, we have invested in startups in Japan and overseas with the aim of advancing our research and development in various fields. Going forward, we will further enhance and accelerate efforts to create new businesses and aim to build new businesses that will become new pillars to follow in the footsteps of our core businesses of Electric Wire and Cable Business and functional films business.

After declaring our support for the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, we began information disclosure in line with the disclosure framework in June 2022. Our analysis and policies based on the climate change scenarios for 2050 remain unchanged at the current stage.

We aim to achieve carbon neutrality (Scope 1 and 2) by FY2025 as a means to tackle climate change risks. We undertake initiatives on this front in order to proactively fulfill our corporate social responsibility and customer requests. In FY2022, we actively worked to generate and save energy, such as by installing solar power generation equipment at three sites in Japan and upgrading to more energy-efficient facilities. We also systematically promoted the shift to electric power sourced from renewable energy and carbon-neutral LNG. Having all employees participate in energy-saving activities, such as inviting employees to submit suggestions for an energy-saving awareness slogan and setting performance　indicators to help visualize achievements, helps raise employee awareness. This, in turn, will lead not only to the reduction of CO₂ emissions, but also to the reduction of electricity costs.

In recent years, a number of unpredictable situations have occurred in addition to natural disasters. Even against this backdrop, we regard it as our social mission and responsibility to develop technology and products demanded by society and our customers, and to ensure the stable supply of products and services to support economic growth. In particular, our functional films have been adopted by a large number of smartphone manufacturers around the world. We thus have an extremely heavy social responsibility to supply these products. In order to meet these expectations, we are vigorously promoting business continuity management system (BCMS) activities. As part of these initiatives, we plan to construct a new distribution center within Kyoto Works (to be completed in March 2024) to support BCP by dispersing inventory. By improving logistics efficiency, it will also help to reduce logistics costs, as well as tackle logistics issues brought on by tighter labor regulations, specifically caps on overtime for truck drivers, scheduled to come into effect from April 2024.

Going forward, we will endeavor to enhance our resilience as a manufacturer by considering cooperation with suppliers in our supply chain.

In promoting human capital management, recruiting and developing human resources is a major challenge companies face. When formulating the new personnel system we started rolling out in April 2022, responding to changes in the social and business environment was positioned as the main theme of human resource development, and efforts were made to further enhance our education and training programs. Although we have only recently kicked off such efforts, we have already conducted a number of interesting training programs.

We want to foster a company culture in which employees do not hesitate to make change or change themselves, and enjoy their work. In order to achieve this, we need to provide appropriate educational opportunities and organizational management that enable employees to feel their own growth. I hope that our employees maintain a positive attitude as they take on challenges and overcome difficulties, and grow while gaining a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.

TATSUTA has continued to carry out business operations since its founding in Higashiosaka City in 1947. We sincerely appreciate the understanding and cooperation given by the local residents for over 70 years. We endeavor to contribute to the prosperity and sustainable development of the region in hopes of returning the favor.

Specifically, we hold exchanges with and make contributions to the local communities in which we operate, such as Higashiosaka, Fukuchiyama, Kizugawa, and Sendai. Such activities include beautification of the areas around our plants, cooperating with local events, and giving visiting classes at local schools. We also support the revitalization of surrounding communities by promoting sports, such as sponsoring FC Osaka (a professional J.League soccer club) and displaying our billboards at Hanazono Rugby Stadium, both of which are based in Higashiosaka City, where our head office is located.

Of course, even after becoming a JX Metals Group company, we will continue to work diligently in everything we do, including these contributions to local communities. In order to continue our operations amid an uncertain future, engaging in dialogue with stakeholders and gaining their input is vital. We will continue to disclose information in a timely and fair manner. We hope that you are excited about TATSUTA’s future growth, and look forward to your continued support going forward.