Message
Results in the previous year
One year has passed since I became President. I feel humbled by the heavy responsibility entrusted to me by Chairman Matsumoto, who has skillfully led the Company over the past decade. At the same time, I am committed to heading the drive toward new growth for the Nichimo Group. My career has been mainly in aquaculture previously. My mission as President is to use that experience to steer the Company toward further development, including in the aquaculture business.
Looking back on FY2024
In FY2024, my first year as President, the Nichimo Group faced many uncertainties both domestically and internationally. Yet, we still managed to increase revenue and profits compared to the previous fiscal year, with consolidated net sales of 133.9 billion yen and operating profit of 3.0 billion yen. Achieving higher revenue and profits in all four major business segments—Food, Marine, Machinery, and Materials—is an incredible accomplishment. I have also seen the seeds for future growth beginning to sprout.
Over the past year, my position as President has allowed me to see the strengths and challenges of each business more clearly. While achieving initial profit targets is an important achievement, it will take more time and effort to nurture these new seeds as they grow into standalone businesses. This holds true for all of our businesses. Going forward, I am convinced that we need to act with a sense of urgency and harness our ability to execute.
Review of the medium-term management plan
FY2024 was the final year of the three-year “Fiscal 2023 Medium-Term Management Plan (Toward the next stage)” (the “previous medium-term plan”). The initial quantitative targets have almost all been achieved, and the overall results are quite satisfactory. However, it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing over the past three years. Although the first year went according to plan, there was a temporary slowdown in the second year, and then the third year saw a recovery that finally balanced the books.
In the previous medium-term plan, we focused on three connections: Connecting to the Future, Connecting Businesses, and Connecting with People, and implemented measures in line with our management policies. Each of these connections has deep meaning, and the results speak for themselves. It is important that we take this opportunity to look back on these connections and clarify outstanding issues with an eye toward future growth. I would like to discuss each connection in detail.
Sustainable management stands at the core of our philosophy of Connecting to the Future. To continue expanding the scale of our business and increasing corporate value, we must further increase our corporate appeal while fulfilling our social responsibilities as a company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market. As a “public organ of society” as stated in our corporate philosophy, it is important that we strive to meet the expectations of our shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders and pass on our business to future generations.
Expanding the aquaculture business has a vital role to play in fulfilling our commitment to Connecting Businesses. The effects of climate change are becoming more serious, with salmonids in the north unable to return to rivers and high temperatures in western Japan making feeding and shipment difficult. Our staff who work on the frontlines feel a strong sense of urgency and are working to resolve problems from a bottom-up perspective. This kind of initiative demonstrates the vitality of our organization and is an achievement that we are extremely proud of.
The Nichimo Group has 18 consolidated subsidiaries that are part of our aim of Connecting with People. Although this number may be large compared to other companies of a similar size, we aim to create a structure in which each employee has a sense of belonging as a member of the Group and works together to drive the growth of the Group as a whole. To achieve this, the general managers of business divisions at the head office need to develop a clear image of our direction and implement measures with consideration given to the entire Group. We will actively promote human resource development and a shared awareness.
Challenges facing each business
The Group as a whole achieved increased revenue and profits in FY2024. Yet, when looking at each business, it was also a year in which every segment was plagued by issues related to raw materials. As a result, I feel that the issues that each business needs to address have become clearer.
Food Business
Although we felt a sense of accomplishment with our performance, the Food Business faced some serious difficulties due to the instability of purchasing raw materials from overseas. We need to go a step further in our efforts to combat the effects of global warming. In the Food Business, we are moving forward with product development, aiming to shift from sales of raw materials to sales of high-value-added processed marine products, but speed is an issue. We need to tackle these challenges across the entire business, strengthen our response to environmental issues, and enact a new growth strategy while ensuring long-term sustainability.
Marine Business
The Marine Business was also impacted by unstable catches. In particular, there have been many incidents of reduced catches without historical precedent, and the fishing net business, our very origin, is facing a crisis. While we are focusing on expanding our aquaculture business in the Marine Business, we are also working to transition the materials used to make fishing nets and other supplies to have lower environmental impact and to help our customers recognize the value of these materials. As we are forced to respond to changes in the environment, business transformation is an urgent matter, and here too there is a need to speed things up.
Machinery Business
To make up for labor shortages, there is an increasing need for mechanization. In particular, the domestic market continues to expand, and the possibilities for expanding food machinery overseas are also growing. The trend towards manufacturing and selling Japanese food and other products in overseas markets is accelerating, so we must overcome the challenge of labor shortages that accompanies overseas expansion to harness this tailwind to grow the business. Resolving this issue is key to achieving further business growth, and we must take concrete steps to address it.
Materials Business
As demand for detached homes declines, sales of related materials have been sluggish, and the building materials business continues to underperform. On the other hand, demand for synthetic products in the automotive and mobility sectors is increasing, and there is also a growing need for plant- and bio-based plastics for packaging materials instead of petroleum-based plastics. Rising demand for products with a low environmental impact is also spreading to the Marine Business, and developments in this area are expected to shape its future direction. In particular, strengthening collaboration between our Marine Business and Materials Business will have an important role in unlocking further growth.
Working on problem solving
Further accelerating our efforts
To reiterate, speed is an important issue common to all our businesses. Although this may sound a bit harsh, there are situations where sales just wait for orders. When talking to sales staff, I sometimes ask “How long are you willing to wait?” to encourage a change in their attitude. Although the approach varies depending on the product and department, it is essential that we speed up each process and layer. In the development department, we need to speed up the creation of business seeds. In business operations, we need to speed up the PDCA cycle. In management, we need faster decision making. Promoting this kind of all-round speeding up will strengthen the Nichimo Group’s unique qualities and help us to meet society’s expectations. In particular, the marine products industry is directly affected by environmental changes such as climate change, so it is only natural for us to be sensitive to the situation and respond quickly.
Business portfolio restructuring
I have already mentioned the significance of optimizing the performance of our 18 consolidated subsidiaries, which will also lead to a restructuring of our business portfolio. There are some companies within the Group where internal controls are not functioning adequately due to outdated structures, so we must focus on improving them. Going forward, we will categorize our current businesses from the perspectives of growth, stability, and assessment, and will redefine growth domains while leveraging the characteristics of each business. We will also aim to maximize profits of the entire Group by improving capital efficiency.
While implementing this transformation, it is important to not be swayed by personal feelings and to make decisions that, if necessary, include withdrawal from existing domains. At present, our efforts are still only halfway complete, and there are still aspects where the idea of group management has not yet been fully adopted. For this reason, we must first strengthen cooperation among Group companies. Strengthening cooperation will also help revitalize our businesses. We are currently focusing on expanding cooperation within the Group while also working to raise awareness among management at Group companies.
Formulation of Purpose and new medium-term management plan
In May 2025, we set out transformational goals for further growth, defining our new Purpose as “From Ocean To Dining, Challenges For The Better Future,” and announced our Fiscal 2026 Medium-Term Management Plan (the “new medium-term plan”) to achieve this. The major difference from the previous medium-term plan is the use of a backcasting perspective, looking ahead to our ideal state in 10 years. The marine products industry is currently undergoing a paradigm shift, and we have determined that we need to make a bold shift in our own conventional thinking to respond to this new business environment. Therefore, the new medium-term plan sets “challenge” as a key word.
The Nichimo Group is a corporate group with a history of adapting to changes in the times and constantly taking on challenges for over a century. For example, when the 200 nautical mile regulation was put into place about 50 years ago, it could be best described as a natural disaster for the Group, but our predecessors at the time overcame this and have since used it to expand our business. I believe that the current situation, in which the impacts of climate change are becoming more serious, poses a comparable challenge. In light of this, the new medium-term plan focuses on creating new value for the future by leveraging the spirit of taking on challenges that we have cultivated thus far as our driving force, and by harnessing our frontline experience and services.
The new medium-term plan emphasizes our ideal state in the medium to long term and has been formulated as a frontline-led plan. The long-term vision encapsulated in our ideal state in 10 years has been compiled based on frontline experience, and we place great importance on this process. Speed is particularly important. Rather than waiting 10 years to achieve our ideal state, we need to pursue concrete results with an emphasis on picking up our pace. Through this new medium-term plan, we will accelerate our transformation as a company that continues to take on new challenges.
Frontline trial and error supporting the Nichimo Group’s growth
The new medium-term plan sets out our goal of “becoming a company that creates new value for the future.” However, there is still no clear answer as to what exactly constitutes this new value. In times of uncertainty, we should be cautious about determining answers in advance. The seeds of new value may lie with the customers and business partners we interact with in the field. By communicating deeply with these people and sharing the challenges we must overcome for the future, we may be able to clarify the value that needs to be created. From a management perspective, it is most important to carefully monitor and listen to the voices and efforts being made on the ground. Then, we will prioritize the many options and choose what to do and not do. This process is the very essence of management.
Managing the Company for the long-term
In order to disseminate our Purpose and long-term vision throughout each business, we need mechanisms and communication that allow management to accurately grasp what is happening on the ground. As part of this, we are holding town hall-style meetings. Looking back over the past year, I feel that there is a problem with the current situation, where unless I reach out to people on the frontline, their voices do not reach me. Through dialogue at these town hall-style meetings, we hope to directly convey the message to employees on the front lines that “the President’s door is always open.”
It is also important to listen to the voices of various stakeholders, including not only employees but also customers and investors. Through wide-ranging dialogue, we hope to verify the appropriateness of our awareness of issues and initiatives, and use this as the foundation of management. It is vital that this process expands beyond the Company to close communication with other business entities and promotion of open innovation.
I learned the saying “be harmonious, yet not conforming” while living in a dormitory during high school. It is important to choose partners who seek harmony without compromising their principles, who are determined, and who are willing to work together with you. Building long-term relationships of trust will increase the speed of our business and give rise to new seeds.
While addressing the most pressing issues, I will continue to approach management with a long-term perspective, looking 10 years into the future as I steer the Company forward.
Based on our newly established Purpose and long-term vision, we will cherish dialogue with stakeholders and create new value for the next stage of our growth.
