New Year's Message

I wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Looking back on last year, it was an especially notable year for the field of sports, with Japan's national teams making strides with performances that excited the whole country and provided courage and inspiration. Despite continued unrest around the world due to regional conflicts, here in Japan, economic activity has normalized due to COVID-19 being downgraded to a Class 5 disease and to the easing of entry restrictions, and overall consumption has been on a notable recovery trend.

This year, the Onward Group will update our growth strategy to achieve our mid- to long-term management vision, ONWARD VISION 2030. Also, in the first year of our new three-year medium-term management plan, we will further realize our vision of "evolving into a customer-centric company, making the best use of employees' diverse strengths" based on our mission statement of "enriching and adding color to people's lives while caring for the planet."

In the Chinese zodiac, 2024 is the Year of the Wood Dragon, which is thought to be a year of new strength and the opportunity to build rich results. That makes it a good year to make strong progress with the group's operations.

We look forward to your continued guidance and support.