President’s New Year’s Address for 2025

Happy New Year, everyone.

I hope that you are feeling refreshed after the year-end and new year holiday. During the past nine days, I hope you were able to travel, relax, and spend valuable time with friends and family. As Sojitz's president, I am excited to welcome this first new year together with all of you.

Looking back on 2024, there was positive news such as Japan’s medal rush at the Paris Olympics and Shohei Ohtani’s record-breaking performance in U.S. major league baseball. At the same time, it was a year of significant change with many countries and regions experiencing political changes in government. In Japan, we saw the ruling party lose its majority in the past election. We can expect to see President-elect Trump return to office in the U.S. and make large-scale policy shifts regarding U.S.-China relations and decarbonization that exceed his last term.

Even amid this rapidly changing environment, Sojitz was able to achieve JPY 100 billion in profit for the second consecutive fiscal year. In terms of our financial results for the first half ended September 30, 2024, we have realized JPY 44.3 billion in profit, and our progress is largely on track. Thank you to everyone for your hard work.

We are approaching the end of the first year of Medium-term Management Plan 2026. To realize the Next Stage, which we have defined as profit for the year of JPY 200 billion, we must build our earnings foundation by continually working to improve our business strategy to maintain a competitive advantage. Rather than expanding the scale of our business through linear growth, it is vital that we broaden our business fields and create clusters of revenue-generating business (Katamari) in order to pursue non-linear growth that raises our business value.

Consider the following questions: What goods and services are necessary in each market and business field? Why do our customers and business partners choose us, and how can we generate customer appeal for the functions and value we provide? In addition to making your own observations, be sure to use objective competitor analysis to clarify Sojitz’s positioning in each business field and to create concrete visualizations of your organization’s vision. By implementing these strategies, we can create the Sojitz Growth Story.

Our external business environment will undergo an unprecedented level of change in the coming year, starting with policy changes from the new incoming administration in the U.S. While no small number of Sojitz businesses will see impacts, it is necessary to forecast the needs of new markets and future business models and to take a backcasting approach to transform these changes into opportunities.

In addition to these environmental changes, I ask that you also consider other factors such as changes in the digital landscape and the emergence of new markets. In your business or industry, how can you leverage Sojitz’s functions and value based on our existing competitive advantage? Please take action by forecasting future changes and responding accordingly.

The process of forecasting and demonstrating Sojitz’s functions and value begins with the individual, but in order to spread this approach within the organization and to elevate this strategy, both internal and external communication is critical. To reiterate, the quality of communication is highly important. Being a good communicator requires one to step into the listener’s shoes and organize information in a way that will be easily understood by the listener, while being an active listener requires the listener to focus their attention on understanding the speaker’s perspective and going one step further to draw out the speaker’s expectations. I ask that both those conveying information work on their communication skills and those on the receiving end work on active listening skills to raise the quality of communication.

High-quality communication leads to an organizational level of thinking and action that surpasses the sum of individual thought, which will allow us to better convey Sojitz’s functions and value. Be sure to communicate with those outside your organization or industry and improve the quality of your communications by sharing your theories and communicating with purpose with the intent of understanding the other party on a deeper level.

Last year, I created opportunities to speak directly with business partners and customers on business trips and at other events. I also plan to continue to hold open discussions within the company in order to connect with a broader range of employees and to create a space for candid conversations. Through these discussion sessions, I have gained fresh insights on new business opportunities, employee expectations, and in-house matters. I would like to continue to prioritize straightforward and speedy communications both within Sojitz Group and with stakeholders.

To conclude, I would like to remind you of the KATI model announced at the start of Medium-term Management Plan 2026, which is based on the three components of Sojitz’s DNA—future forecasting, innovative transformation, and a challenge-taking spirit. Please keep this model in mind as we continue to make strides towards realizing the Next Stage. In addition, we have established a stock incentive plan to encourage employees to realize the targets of Medium-term Management Plan 2026. Let us all work together to accelerate the process of raising Sojitz’s corporate value. I will continue to strategize, hold discussions, and innovate with you, so that we can create Sojitz’s unique identity together.

I wish all our Sojitz Group members around the world and the families who support them good health in the new year.