President’s Message

During the fiscal year under review (January 1 to December 31, 2023), the Japanese economy continued on the normalization path that began with the easing of Covid restrictions. However, uncertainties prevailed with fears of economic downturn abroad, the prolonged conflict in Ukraine, and soaring costs of energy and raw materials.

Against this backdrop, we continued working on our third medium-term plan, Field Expansion 2024, in which we tweak existing business and expand our business fields as part of our long-term vision, CCC 2030. To expand business fields, we reallocated resources from existing businesses, actively deployed strategic expenditures, and stepped up our global expansion efforts.

Despite a turbulent business climate, we maintained our competitiveness by flexibly adapting to the changing business conditions and shifting customer needs.

Net sales reached ¥328.7 billion (up 9.2% year on year). This year-on-year growth reflects the success of the furniture business in capturing office renovation demand. It also reflects the contribution of Kokuyo Hong Kong Limited following our full acquisition of the company last year. Gross profit increased to ¥127.3 billion (up 9.2% year on year) and gross profit ratio came to 38.8% (on par with the result for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022). Selling, general and administrative expenses increased to ¥103.5 billion (up 6.2% year on year), reflecting the proactive increase in strategic expenditures for expanding the business fields.
Expense ratio (selling, general, and administrative expenses to net sales) came to 31.5% (down 0.9 percentage point year on year).

Reflecting these results, operating income reached ¥23.8 billion (up 24.6% year on year). Ordinary income reached ¥25.9 billion (up 22.8% year on year). Profit attributable to owners of parent reached ¥19.0 billion (up 4.6% year on year).