Message from the CFO

Our Group is implementing the Mid-Term Management Plan, Reborn 2024, with the three-year period between FY2022 and FY2024 positioned as a time for strengthening our business foundation to enable a transformation into a corporate group capable of creating new value. To further shore up our business foundation from a financial perspective, we are aggressively implementing financial strategies aimed at improving financial position, improving capital efficiency, and strengthening financial monitoring.

FY2023 earnings resulted in increased revenues and profit. However, as Blommer is projected to transition below business targets assumed at the time of acquisition, we recorded extraordinary losses for additional amortization cost of goodwill and impairment loss on tangible assets. On the other hand, we restructured our business portfolio by selling off the fixed assets of a US oils and fats company and established a joint venture with the goal of strengthening our supply structure for certified sustainable oil in Malaysia. In the area of balance sheet management, we standardized the internal adoption of FUJI ROIC, metrics that enable us to ascertain and manage capital efficiency for each business and management unit, which has produced results. To improve our financial position, we advanced efforts to reduce operating capital. These efforts had the effect of reducing CCC by 2 days to 102 days, increasing operating cashflow by 40.6 billion yen, and reducing interest-bearing debt by 38.1 billion yen. As a result, our net D/E ratio was 0.54, a significant improvement from the end of FY2022 (0.80).

FY2024 is the final year of our Mid-Term Management Plan, Reborn 2024. While we did produce results in the areas of improving our financial position and strengthening financial monitoring during FY2023, improving capital efficiency remains an area of improvement. We recognize that improving our ability to generate cashflow and the allocation of cashflow are important to achieving sustainable growth in an environment of dramatic changes in raw material prices, foreign currency rates, and interest rates. I view enhancing our financial soundness to enable growth investments and shareholder returns as a critical mission of the CFO, and will continue working on various measures to achieve these goals.

I also view communication with stakeholders as very important, and will continue promoting highly transparent information provision by enhancing our financial and non-financial information disclosure. I ask for your continued guidance and support.