MUGEN ESTATE, running operations to purchase and resell pre-owned real estate mostly in the Tokyo metropolitan area, has been successfully expanding sales of residential real estate (purchase and resale of pre-owned condos on a unit-by-unit basis, etc.), which is to be followed by buoyant sales of investment-oriented real estate (purchase and resale of pre-owned condos on a single building basis, etc.) for FY12/2024, in line with a new policy to focus on the said operations, in light of the current state in the real estate market. As of the beginning of the fiscal year, real estate for sale (inventory) stood at a level only edged up over the previous year, but it appears that the Company is trying to get at steady increase in sales and earnings by means of raising inventory turnover with a decent respect to profitability where the trend of real estate market is well considered, as it did for FY12/2023. In fact, the Company is keen on raising inventory turn over from a long-term perspective, while the Company is planning to raise amount of purchase for real estate by more than 30% on a year-on-year basis for FY12/2024, implying that the Company is likely seeing a trend of ever increasing for its business performance from a long-term perspective. By the way, it appears that the Company is to release its next midterm management plan (FY12/2025 to FY12/2027) at the stage of announcing the actual results for FY12/2024 to reveal its prospective performance toward FY12/2027, the final year of the plan.

On 12 April 2024, MORESCO, running operations of R&D, manufacture and sale of chemical goods used in diverse applications with autos as the mainstay, released its FY02/2024 results. It has been revealed that earnings are surging and the Company is implementing measures to realize steady growth from a long-term perspective at the same time. In addition to Japan, the mainstay by region, the Company is seeing a favorable recovery in earnings in Southeast/South Asia (Thailand, Indonesia and India) and North America, far more than compensating for sluggish performance in China, where a recovery of local demand is delayed. Meanwhile, the Company has released its 10th Midterm Management Plan (FY02/2025 to FY02/2027) to focus on satisfying both of Realization of a Sustainable Society and Enhancement of Added Value of Business as the theme, implying CAGR of 6.0% in sales and 30.1% in operating profit as an anticipated rate of growth with its management performance target. Thus, it appears that the above-mentioned Enhancement of Added Value of Business has a lot to do with the Company’s policy to proactively improve sales mix, going forward. We are to attend the results briefing via webcast (scheduled for 22 April 2024) and then interview the Company's management for further details, so that we should be able to update our Company Report in light of the content of both and release afresh.

YAMABIKO, which develops, manufactures and sells a variety of products belonging to Outdoor Power Equipment, Agricultural Machinery and Industrial Machinery, is to see a recovery of sales in the Americas, the mainstay by region, for FY12/2024 over FY12/2023. At the same time, the Company is to see an acceleration in sales growth rate on the Industrial Machinery side. In the actual results for FY12/2023, sales on the Outdoor Power Equipment side, the mainstay by business, were stagnating and thus the Company’s sales as well. The Company suffered from a recoil reduction in demand associated with stay-at-home trend stemming from the impact of Corona disaster in the Americas as well as unfavorable weather conditions during demand season. However, the Company saw operating profit highest ever, driven by an improvement in gross profit margin, which was far more than compensating. The Company states that it has made a steady progress in “sale of high-margin inventory built up in North America during the previous year, ongoing cost cutting and revision on selling prices in Japan and overseas.” Meanwhile, for FY12/2024, the Company is going for an increase in sales due mainly to a progress made for optimizing of inventory levels at distributors in North America. Furthermore, the Company expects an increase in earnings as a result of “full-year impact of revision of selling prices, a review of product mix and lower ocean freight rate.” Still, the Company is to see an increase in expenses at the same time as it is to aggressively invest for growth from a long-term perspective, e.g., in “developments of new business and/or new product, those of IT system and those of marketing.” The Company is currently in the process of propelling “growth in existing domains and monetization of new business,” calling for prospective sales of \250,000m for FY12/2030, implying CAGR of 7.4%, when setting the actual results for FY12/2023 as the point of origin.