Our management policy, “The Brand-new Deal,” serves as a compass for where ITOCHU is headed. It established three pillars to sustainability increase corporate value: grow earnings, enhance corporate brand value, and shareholder returns. We have steadily produced results in all three areas over the past year. In particular, consolidated net income reached 880.3 billion yen, a record high.

Under my “earn, cut, prevent” principle that provides a foundation for management, improved business performance requires not only earning money, but also predicting and preventing risks in advance. An increasing range of social issues pose a variety of different risks to companies, which are expected to respond. Some examples include climate change, natural capital, and supply chain management. Efforts to prevent risks in these issues can lead to stronger value chains and even new business. For example, around the time we began efforts to obtain information on sites of origin for natural rubber to prevent illegal logging and human rights issues, Europe adopted regulations on preventing deforestation and promoting a sustainable environment. The result was a new business model for us.

Diversification of human resources, including management, is also an important and urgent task. After introducing a system for promoting female employees to executive officer positions in FYE 2024, we internally promoted five female executive officers last fiscal year and another five this fiscal year, bringing the percentage of female executive officers to 28%, the highest of any general trading company. We believe that this is not simply a measure to increase the number of female managers, but rather a medium-to-long-term effort to create an environment in which every employee, regardless of gender or age, can play an active role, and to foster a culture that develops female executive officers; this will also further enhance our corporate brand value.

Meanwhile, it has been one year since we launched WECARS Corporation. We believe that the restructuring of the former company, which was once Japan’s top used car company in a domestic market that is estimated to be worth over 4 trillion yen, is of great social significance given the foundational role of used car distribution for society. In addition, providing safety and security to consumers, keeping workers employed, and restoring trust in the industry as a whole by making the used car business more transparent will contribute to the spirit of our corporate mission, “Sampo-yoshi” (good for the seller, good for the buyer, and good for society).

ITOCHU will continue to strive to be a valuable company for all stakeholders, in the spirit of “Sampo-yoshi,” and will aim for steady and sustainable growth even in a rapidly changing global environment.