TechnoPro Holdings

I am Hagiwara, CFO of TechnoPro Holdings. Thank you for your time today. Since last year, the Tokyo Stock Exchange has driven the capital market reforms, urging listed companies to manage their business with greater consciousness of cost of capital and stock price. Partly for that reason, foreign investors' interest in Japanese stocks seems to grow. Around two-thirds of Technopro's shares are held by foreign institutional investors as of now, but we have recently received more meeting requests from foreigners with whom we had no contact before. Additionally, the new NISA was introduced in Japan this year, and domestic retail investors are supposed to newly participate in stock trading. Through constructive dialogue with investor community and appropriate information disclosure, we strive to ensure sustainable growth and enhance shareholders' value over the medium to long term by gaining an understanding of our strategies and digesting analysis and guidance from an investor's perspective. So far, our group-wide plan for this fiscal year has been progressing smoothly compared to the initial one. The lack of resources to meet orders has become the norm, and there is no sign of any decline in domestic business confidence. On the other hand, this February is an extremely important month for contract renewals in March. The annual budgeting status of our customers which will start their new fiscal year in April, and the result of price negotiations in anticipation of pay hike for our engineers should both have a significant impact on our fourth quarter performance and operating plan for our next fiscal year. Moreover, 1,000 new graduates will join TechnoPro in April, and as with last year, we consider providing strategic long-term training to a certain number of new graduates, taking into account their initial assignment prices and future career paths. Consequently, in the second half of this fiscal year, we plan to make investments that will lead to accelerated growth in the next fiscal year and beyond, while drawing down savings from the first half and carefully confirming our customers' business conditions and robust demand. This time, there has been no revision to the full-year consolidated earnings guidance announced at the beginning of this fiscal year, but some revisions by segment have been made to the extent that the consolidated total remains unchanged. Now, I will explain the summary of the second quarter financial results, key KPIs in Japan, and the update of overseas subsidiaries. First, let's look at the financial overviews on page 2. Revenue for the first half of this fiscal year was 108 billion yen, up 10.2% year-on-year, while GP was 29 billion yen, up 11.6% or plus 3 billion yen year-on-year, resulting in GP margin of 26.9%, up 0.3 points year-on-year. As stated in the comment on GP increment breakdown, we are not only seeing quantitative improvement such as an increase in the number of assigned engineers, but also qualitative development such as price hike and solution business expansion. SG&A expenses for the first half were 16.7 billion yen, plus about 1.8 billion yen year-on-year, of which hiring related was plus 340 million yen and overseas segment related was plus 790 million yen. This fiscal year, we have been able to hire more engineers than in the same period last year, so it is natural that recruitment cost went up. At the same time, the cost per hire is also rising. Given more reliance on contingent fee-based placement agents and more hiring of solution talents with higher salaries, the upward trend in recruitment cost would be here to stay going forward. as for the overseas upfront investment in sales and marketing at robosoft and soaring costs at foreign subsidiaries due to local inflation are main factors core operating profit and operating profit for the first half were 12.2 billion yen and 12.4 billion yen respectively up above 10 year and year for both in the first quarter earnings declined year and year as expected while we were able to catch up in the second quarter as planned Core operating profit exceeded the first half plan by approximately 700 million yen, implying that we have secured some surplus to achieve our full-year guidance which has originally anticipated significant earnings growth in the second half. Pages 3 and 4 show the quarterly performance of each P&L item and key KPIs in Japan, along with the KPI outlook for the second half of this fiscal year. I would like you to pay attention to two points regarding quarterly KPIs. First, working hours in the second quarter of this fiscal year were the same as last year, while the number of working days was 0.5 days more. Therefore, the average monthly unit sales price increased by ¥17,000, although the base charge improvement has contributed to a certain degree. Such a price hike also resulted in higher GP margin for this second quarter. On the flip side, if you look at the year-in-year comparison for the third quarter, with shorter working hours and 0.8 fewer working days, the average monthly unit sales price is projected to be only about the same as the previous year. For TechnoPro, one fewer working day would be equivalent to the loss of GP by around 400 million yen. So, please kindly note in advance that lower growth rate of GP year-in-year, decline in GP quarter-in-quarter, and GP margin deterioration are expected in the third quarter. Pages 5 and 6 show the performance by segment for the first half and the second quarter, respectively. As shown in the earnings growth year-on-year, the R&D outsourcing and the construction management outsourcing are performing well, but the other businesses in Japan and the overseas are struggling. In the R&D, we are making steady progress in evolving our core business as outlined in our medium-term management plan. While in the construction management, the growth in the number of engineers is accelerating due to the expansion of inexperienced hires and its profit margin is also improving due to the increase in unit sales price. The deficit of the other businesses in Japan for the first half was almost as planned, but today, we revised the full-year guidance of revenue and operating profit downward by 500 million yen and 200 million yen from the initial plan respectively. Boyd & Moore, which conducts executive search for foreign tech companies, could not assume a recovery in demand for the time being, and should continue to focus on cost control. and pc assist which is engaged in education and training for engineers usually shows significant recovery of its financial performance in the fourth quarter because of the full involvement in new graduates training for techno pro therefore the full year operating profit forecast for this segment after the downward revision is 400 million yen a decrease of 160 million yen year and year Operating profit of the overseas, whose growth is projected to be heavily weighted in the second half, fell short by more than 300 million yen even in the first half. GP for the first half was up 9.5% year-on-year together with slight improvement of GP margin, while SG&A expenses have increased a lot due to RoboSoft's upfront investment in sales and marketing. However, the recoupment has not yet been achieved by winning enough new projects, and as a result, operating profit for the first half was almost halved year and year. Based on such first half results and current business environment, we lowered the full year guidance of the overseas for revenue by 500 million yen and operating profit by 700 million yen. The details for each foreign subsidiary will be explained in separate slides later. Page 7 shows balance sheet and cash flows. The cash balance as of December 31, 2023 was 39.1 billion yen, but this needs to be adjusted by 3.8 billion yen for social insurance premium and other payments due in the following month because of the bank holiday. So, please think of it as around 35 billion yen in real terms. Without this holiday adjustment, the cash would have hardly accumulated in the first half, meaning that almost all of after-tax-free cash flows generated by our operating efforts were utilized to pay dividends, acquire treasury stocks and Orion's remaining shares, etc. We will conduct appropriate cash management while being conscious of working capital level necessary for our business operations as well as capital efficiency. From page 8 onward, we will show the key KPIs for our domestic business. Please refer to the factbook file posted on our website for the detailed KPIs including solution business data. The number of engineers at the end of December last year was 24,730, plus 605 for six months of the first half, while the expected number of engineers at the end of June this year including 1,000 new graduates who will join this April, is 26,050, plus 150 from the initial plan. The utilization ratio at the end of December last year was 96.1%, 0.2 points lower than a year ago, while the average won for the first half was 95.4%, down 0.6 points year-in-year. Based on no change in the favorable business conditions, we are not too worried about the slight decline in the utilization ratio as long as GP margin improves. Especially in the fourth quarter, it is expected to be lower than the previous year. We should stick to pricing when reassigning engineers who will return after the expiration of their contracts this March. Also, we plan to increase the proportion of new graduates who extend their training period this year as well because new graduates targeted for strategic training program last year were able to be firstly assigned at a price that met our expectations. Pages 9 and 10 show the distribution and year-on-year growth rate of assigned engineers by technology and industry sector. I'll spare you the details. The next topic is the status of recruitment and turnover. The number of hires in the first half was 1,760, and for this fiscal year it is currently expected to be 4,460 plus 260 from the initial plan. Although the hiring environment remains very tough, we've maintained our competitiveness in recruiting as an industry leader by helping the job seekers appreciate our compensation system, education and training program and the attractiveness of the projects they will engage in after joining TechnoPro. On the other hand, the number of retirees continues to increase and the LTM-based permanent employee turnover ratio has risen to 8.2%. resignation is not only an economic damage, such as GP loss and additional hiring cost, but also an expression of some kind of dissatisfaction by the engineers. We must take current situation very seriously. We will work to address the root causes without getting satisfied with the fact that retirement has been offset by recruitment. In the DX promotion business, the Retirement Prediction AI engine developed by TechnoPro has been released in a full-fledged manner, so we would like to capitalize on this new tool to reduce attrition while visualizing retirement risk factors. Page 12 shows the change and its waterfall chart in unit sales price. The average monthly unit sales price for the first half was 676,000 yen in line with the initial plan, plus 15,000 yen or up 2.3% year-in-year. Also, the base charge or contract price for our existing dispatch engineers at the end of December last year, which is not affected by working days or overtime hours, stays at up 4% level compared to a year ago. We will be keenly aware of the expected regular pay hike for our engineers that will take place this July and will try to pass on incremental cost to our customers at the timing of the contract renewals in March. Next is the update of our overseas subsidiaries. Robosoft, which has been in its investment phase for sustainable top-line growth since the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year, has increased the number of account managers in the end customer market to cultivate new projects from existing customers. And it has also strengthened marketing activities by establishing a sales organization specializing in new customer development. Although a surge in SG&A expenses due to these upfront investments is in line with the plan, there have been delays in sales growth and a boost in GP as the source of recoupment. At this point, we assume such a tough situation continues in the second half as well. Therefore, achieving justifiable investment returns and returning to a high growth trajectory would be carried over to the next fiscal year. New digital spending may be held back due to economic uncertainty, but rather than blaming the market environment, we deeply regret that we should have more elaborately managed sales pipeline and more strictly verified return on investment. Furthermore, GP margin worsened unexpectedly due to several loss-making projects in India and a decline in utilization caused by advanced securing of bench resources in anticipation of new wins. RoboSoft, which used to be a small company, has achieved rapid growth beyond its capabilities, backed by strong new demand from existing customers during the coronavirus pandemic. Facing the current challenges in the second growth phase under our umbrella, we are working with RoboSoft's team to thoroughly implement techno-pro-style micromanagement, including detailed KPI analysis and preemptive actions based on it. Until we accumulate sufficient sales pipeline, we will focus on short-term initiatives such as optimizing resources and finalizing unprofitable projects, with the aim of growing both top-line and GP quarter-on-quarter. RoboSoft has been playing a key role in our global strategy, and we believe that it will drive the expansion of our domestic solution business while actively transferring overseas technical knowledge and talents to Japan. For your reference, our integrated report 2023 includes dialogue between the executives in charge of domestic operations and RoboSoft's CEO. In the China business, although revenue is growing due to the acquisition of new contracts through collaboration with Japan team, operating profit decreased year and year due to the gradual completion of high-margin projects. We will seek opportunities for earnings growth next fiscal year while proceeding with a shift to the solution field, including offshoring for Japan. Helios operating profit for the first half was down year-on-year on a local currency basis excluding the impact of yen's depreciation, while it exceeded the plan. One-stop solution services for a major life insurance company in Singapore are off to a good start, and GP margin is improving because of offshore delivery from India. In the financial sector of Southeast Asia, where Helios' main customers belong, there is some slowdown in IT and digital-related demand, but earnings are expected to grow year-on-year in the second half. In the first half of Orion, despite sales increasing by 15% year-in-year on a local currency basis, the increase in SG&A expenses due to high inflation was not sufficiently absorbed, and operating profit was down by approximately 40%. In the second half, we anticipate quarter-on-quarter earnings growth, assuming a recovery in the highly profitable placement business. Page 15 is a guidance for this fiscal year, and page 16 is a breakdown by segment. This time, we have not changed full-year consolidated earnings outlook, but have revised each segment based on first-half results and second-half forecasts. The R&D and the construction management will cover the slump in the other businesses in Japan and the overseas. We shall not curb investment that will contribute to sustainable growth in our domestic business, which is performing well, while there is still uncertainty in our overseas operations. So, please understand that the full year guidance remains unchanged although the first half was slightly above plan. We have also updated some of key KPIs in Japan. Finally, please see page 17. Today's Board of Directors meeting resolved to distribute an interim dividend of 25 yen per share, with the scheduled payment date being February 29 of this year. The year-end dividend forecast for this fiscal year remains at 55 yen, with an annual dividend of 80 yen in total and an annual payout ratio of 51.2%. That's all for my presentation. Thank you very much. I am Yagi, CEO of TechnoPro Holdings. Thank you for joining us today. I will now explain the current Japan business environment, the medium-term management plan progress, and sustainability management. Page 2 shows the trend in contract renewal every three months. The contract renewal ratio for December 2023 landed at 93.3%, showing a 0.4 points improvement compared to the previous year. The next focal point is March, which has the highest volume of contracts up for renewal annually. Currently, we are progressing with information gathering on the customer's R&D budget for the upcoming fiscal year starting from April, and there are no significant negative factors observed at this point. As termination of dispatch contracts requires a one-month prior notice, clear results are not available as of now. However, the contract renewal ratio for March this year is expected to be around 90.3%, similar to the previous year. While it is important to monitor the individual trends of customers, particularly those in manufacturing with significant exposure to China, overall, we anticipate the sustained strength in R&D needs. March, with many projects concluding, also presents an opportunity for shifting engineers to other clients or projects. Given the current demand-supply gap and the momentum for wage increases, we aim to more proactively engage in price negotiations at this timing to secure the salary increase source for engineers and maintain GP margin. Page 3 shows the trend of newly acquired orders. Similar to the contract renewal status, these reflects the strong R&D needs of customers. New orders in the first half of this fiscal year increased year-in-year in all technologies, showing notable growth in IT. The manifestation of orders for mechanical engineers in anticipation of an increase in Japan's defense budget is expected to become more evident from the third quarter onwards. Page 4 shows the transition of mid-career recruitment by technology. While some may suggest increasing hiring numbers to fulfill backorders, amidst fierce competition for talent, we are actively working on recruitment by fully utilizing capabilities and channels. As a result, in the first half of this fiscal year, we exceeded the plan with 1,760 mid-career hires. Looking at it by technology, IT is overwhelmingly dominant. Since the change in the head of the construction management segment in July last year, the number of hires in the construction has been increasing. In both IT and construction, we are also focusing on hiring inexperienced talents requiring OJT. In the ongoing global recruitment of foreign nationals, which resumed in earnest this fiscal year, we are progressing with retention support. Page 5 shows the percentage of IT engineers in each industry. The fact that IT engineers account for 57.3% of the total is one of our competitive advantages. The ratio of IT engineers is increasing in most industry, including transportation equipment, which traditionally has a strong image of mechanical field, reaching 49.6%. up by 3.5 points compared to the same period last year. This is attributed to the increasing investment in autonomous driving and EV-related technologies in the automotive industry, leading to the software development of embedded control. In line with the current medium-term management plan, we will continue to respond to the trend of shift to software and digitalization in R&D area across the industries. Next, I will explain the medium-term management plan progress. Page 7 shows the financial target of medium-term management plan. The current fiscal year corresponds to the first year of the remaining three years positioned as the accelerated growth phase. The full year guidance for this fiscal year has been revised for segment breakdown, but the consolidated total remains unchanged. Towards achieving core operating profit target of 24.5 billion yen, up 14.6% year-on-year, we will continue to focus on solid business operations in the second half while working on the recovery of investments and improving the accuracy of various KPI forecasts. The target for the final year of the medium-term management plan includes contributions from M&A, so there are no revisions at this point. Page 8 shows the actual performance and planned figures for each business revenue, ratio on revenue, number of engineers and average unit sales price. Regarding the bars outlined with a black border in the graphs after this fiscal year, these represent the expected contribution from M&A as initially planned. Additionally, the shading and X marks for the June 2024 period indicate the outlook at the beginning of the term. Revenue and composition ratio of the solution business are steadily increasing this fiscal year, contributing to the overall improvement in the average unit sales price. Number of engineers is also increasing at a pace exceeding expectations, despite challenges related to turnover deterioration. We are experiencing positive results in price negotiation contributing to the increase in the average unit sales price. However, due to the rising cost pressure, including recruitment expenses, the reduction in the SG&A ratio is expected to take a bit more time. We are aiming to cover this through improvements in GP margin. Page 9 is a slide used at the announcement of the full year results of the previous fiscal year, mapping out strategic initiatives to achieve high earnings growth. To address the intensifying competition for experienced talent acquisition, the worsening turnover ratio, increasing standby costs, and rising cost pressures such as wages and recruitment, training cost, we are executing these initiatives to achieve revenue growth, expand GP margin, and reduce SG&A ratio. Page 10 provides the results of financial performance and reviews of initiatives aimed at achieving high earnings growth. In the financial performance, we present revenue, unit sales price, and assigned engineers per the core business and the solution business separately. It is noteworthy that year-in-year growth ratio of the solution business exceeds that of the core business in all aspects, leading the overall growth. Although SG&A ratio on revenue worsened by 0.3 points compared to the first half of the previous fiscal year, it improved by 0.5 points on quarter-in-quarter basis. Regarding reviews of initiatives, I would like to provide some additional clarification. We established consulting business division and project type business risk management organizations with external professionals appointed as responsible leaders. However, the timing has been slightly delayed compared to the initial plan, and we are actively working to catch up as early as possible. In the consulting business, the pipeline is gradually building up, and contracts are starting to be executed. The line graph on page 11 shows the trend of LTM-based GP margins for the R&D outsourcing and the overseas segments. As per the scenario of, bigger composition ratio of higher margin solution business will contribute to GP margin expansion in each segment, the GP margin for the R&D outsourcing has improved both on quarter-and-quarter and year-and-year basis. The overseas segment is trending below the previous year due to the impact of the struggling RoboSoft, but maintains GP margin higher than the Japan domestic business. Page 12 lists the digital technologies and solution offerings that TechnoPro focuses on. Using the functionality of the Center of Intelligence , equivalent to R&D, in our value chain, we identify and address focus areas based on technology trends, market research, and internal capability evaluations. As shown on page 13, Japan's solution business is experiencing steady growth in revenue, average number of assigned engineers, and average unit sales price. Average unit sales price per month, which had slowed down due to the increase in junior engineer assignments, has now risen to 798,000 yen, up 2.2% year-in-year. The solution premium to the total average unit sales price has expanded to 17.9%. These developments are believed to reflect the effects of recruiting and nurturing solution talents, including highly priced project managers. Page 14 provides the training achievements of engineers capable of working in emerging technology areas. In the current fiscal year's first half, training for cloud engineers, in particular, has progressed well. Based on the partnership with Amazon, our goal is to achieve a total of 3,000 AWS-related certifications by June 2025. As of the end of December last year, we had reached 2,603 certifications. Last November, we were recognized by Amazon as a company with over 2,000 certifications, earning the AWS 2,000 APN certification distinction. In the cloud-related domain, certifications for Azure have also seen a significant increase. Even for relatively challenging certifications such as Salesforce and SAP, while the absolute numbers are small, there is a growing trend. Looking ahead, we believe that two main initiatives will become even more crucial. First is the need to increase the number of holders of advanced level certifications to respond to the heightened complexity of customer needs. The second is to secure and promote the assignment of tasks and projects that align with the qualifications of certificate holders. Through these initiatives, we aim to enhance our presence and capabilities as a company with highly regarded engineers capable of meeting the increasingly sophisticated demands of customers. Simultaneously, we strive to increase job satisfaction among engineers and connect high growth through the expansion of solution business. Page 15 indicates our competence of the solution business that sets it apart from strategy consulting companies and essayers. The touchpoints with customers through our engineers, a robust customer base, and deployment capabilities are all strengths cultivated in our core business. Leveraging these strengths, we are expanding our solution business by focusing on IT domain and enhancing our ER&D service capabilities. The proximity of the core business allows for a gradual transformation of our business model. The core business also plays a role in supplying skilled and experienced engineers to the solution business. In just the first half of this fiscal year, 278 individuals were supplied from the core business to the solution business. Page 16 is the slide on the global strategy. As mentioned by CFO Hagiwara, RoboSoft remains at the core of our group's global strategy. RoboSoft, which is originally strong in the digital domain of solutions, has strengthened its capabilities through acquisition of the analytics business, small in scale though. Despite various hurdles, promoting solutions through India's offshore delivery will contribute to the expansion of the overall GP margin. While monetizing the upfront investment at Robosoft, we will enhance collaboration within the group. Page 17 is about our DX-related initiatives for aiming to contribute to business growth and reduce SG&A ratio. Here, we highlight the progress of initiatives such as launch of new main systems, expansion of B2B business of engineer training, release of an AI engine designed for retirement prediction, establishment of a skills data platform, and utilization of RPA. However, we recognize that we are still on the path to achieving our goals. We are implementing these DX investments with the purpose of enhancing the effectiveness of operational investments and improving productivity through the use of digital technology and data. At the same time, we intend to thoroughly verify the effects of these DX investments as we move forward. Finally, I will explain about our sustainability management. Please proceed to page 19. The Integrated Report 2023, released at the end of last November has been completely revamped in terms of structure and design. It integrates the financial and non-financial information of our group from the perspective of value creation. We have made efforts to present our corporate philosophy including purpose, value creation direction based on materiality, business strategy and sustainability initiatives as clearly as possible along the value creation process. This is in consideration of the increasing use of integrated reports not only by investors but also by students and job seekers for company research. Additionally, we have incorporated new ideas, including dialogue between the executives in charge of domestic operations and RoboSoft's CEO, as well as conversations between our independent outside director serving as board chair and an investor. after the publication of this integrated report we received valuable feedback through surveys from some investors and analysts i would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude the valuable opinions received will be used to enhance and improve the content in the coming years Page 20 illustrates our value creation process, which is also included in the integrated report. We aim to improve economic value by steadily executing human capital and business strategies. We strive for positive outcomes for society, generating social value, and ultimately realizing our purpose. In our business model, the enhancement of economic value and social value coexists. Since last fall, during town hall meetings in our group, I have been using this value creation process chart to permeate the understanding of our purpose and encourage each employee to consider and act upon the value they provide. I plan to continue dialogues with employees, aiming to improve their engagement. Page 21 illustrates our organization structure for sustainability management. In the sustainability committee held this fiscal year, we deliberated on initiatives such as human capital disclosure, TCFD compliance, and supplier policy operations. The various risks comprehensively monitored by the ERM committee are also discussed in the board of directors, focusing on the significance and impact on the company. The newly established management development committee has begun discussions on succession planning for key positions. As we aim for an increase in market capitalization, the development of organizational structure and talents is crucial. While I serve as the chair of each committee, the operation and discussion will prioritize contributing to enhancing corporate value. From page 22 onward, I will explain human capital management. In recent years, human capital management has rapidly gained attention as a management methodology. In our business model, we consider talent to be the source of value creation, and the operation of our business itself is human capital management. As conveyed in the CEO message of the integrated report, We aim to be a platform where engineers gather, grow, and thrive successfully. Through the recruitment and utilization of diverse talents, functions and environments that allow for reskilling, upskilling, and attractive job assignments, we generate both economic and social value. As a group with a large number of high-value engineers who play a role in solving the increasingly complex challenges of customers and societal issues, we contribute to innovation and the realization of a sustainable society. Page 23 is a logic tree diagram showing the connection between human capital investment and execution of business strategy and corporate value enhancement. Based on the belief that continuous investment in human capital is directly linked to financial performance and contributes to sustained economic value, we will continue initiatives related to human capital, emphasizing the interconnection with value drivers in our business strategy. This tree diagram shows the pathway each initiative takes to achieve the targeted management indicators. It also aims to foster understanding and widespread awareness of these initiatives within the organization. Page 24 shows the transition of human capital KPIs. This page addresses the feedback from investors who expressed the desire to understand the goals and progress of each KPI, in addition to the previous logic tree diagram. Most KPIs, including number of recruitment of non-Japanese engineers, number of engineers aged 60 and over, number of assigned engineers in the solution business, and average monthly unit sales price have improved. The paternity leave uptake ratio for male employees has also exceeded Japanese government's target of 50% by 2025. While the Employee Satisfaction Index for this fiscal year is currently blank, we are in the process of conducting the annual survey. The primary challenge remains in the turnover ratio. Considering the results of the latest employee satisfaction survey, we aim to explore effective measures and implement them. Recognizing Japanese government's efforts to promote job mobility through career support, we understand that reducing the turnover ratio is not an easy task. However, with our extensive customer base, we can move talent to growth areas. When it comes to retaining employees, timely and thoughtful communication becomes crucial. While utilizing our AI engine designed for retirement predictions, we also believe that improving the quality and quantity of interviews with engineers flagged by alerts is important. The final slide is about management with consciousness of cost of capital and stock prices. We have been committed to management that is conscious of cost of capitals and stock price, even before the recent request from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The core of this approach is ROIC-based management. Thanks to internal training sessions conducted by CFO Hagiwara himself, the use of ROIC in business operations, including recruiting and education, has become deeply ingrained within the group. In the context of M&A, we aim to achieve a ROIC of 10% within three years post-acquisition through strengthened PMI and monitoring. Additionally, periodic strategic reviews are also conducted at the board of directors. especially for existing overseas acquisitions. Depending on the alignment with group strategy and these strategic reviews, there is a possibility of considering the sale to a best-suited owner, as explained six months ago. To achieve long-term shareholder value enhancement, it is essential to achieve capital profitability that exceeds cost of capital and expand this spread. From the perspective of controlling cost of capital, reducing information asymmetry is considered effective, so we will continue to enhance disclosure information and engage in effective dialogue with investors. There is no change in our capital policy. While actively seeking M&A opportunities, if justifiable investment opportunities are not foreseen, we will flexibly consider share buybacks for shareholder returns. This year marks the 10th anniversary of our listing in December 2014. The company's share price has increased at a CAGR of over 20%, resulting in more than a five-fold increase since IPO. Going forward, we will continue to invest in leverage-friendly areas, enhance investment effectiveness through talent development and organizational improvement, and strive to meet the expectations of investors for our sustained growth. That concludes my presentation. Thank you very much.