Our company observes the 135th anniversary of its founding this year. On our 120th anniversary in 2005, we declared the start of a "Third Era" of rejuvenation, taking that special year as a springboard to achieve further growth. We also laid out our "Mission, Vision, and Core Values," or MVCV, a corporate philosophy for achieving our goals of helping clients create value and benefitting society as a whole through our "Tsunagu," or "connecting," technology. The MVCV is now firmly entrenched in the minds of our employees around the world, ensuring that standard values are held throughout the Fujikura Group. The goal of the Third Era is to become a company that is appreciated by our customers, seen positively by society and supported by its energetic employees, which combined will bring further growth to Fujikura and its Group. I would like every one of you who are entering the company today to understand and put the MVCV into action.

In April 2016, our company launched its five-year 2020 Mid-term Management Plan with the slogan "2020 Mid TermBusiness Plan-Change ourselves, and bridge to the future!" Achieving high ratio of the operating income, not the net sales, would be the top goal of the Plan. The target is to reach a ratio of operating income to net sales of at least 7 percent in 2020. In the 2018 fiscal year, themidpoint of the management plan, our company faced severe business conditions due to the fallout of trade frictions between the United States and China. However, I am confident we can still attain the goal not only by providing solutions to social challenges with our basic products, but by accelerating partnerships with outside entities to produce creative and competitive products. Our goal is to stake out a solid position as a company that can solve society's problems and contribute to the realization of a sustainable future.

On August 31, 2018, we have announced that our company had improperly handled some areas of quality control. As ensuring quality is a manufacturing company's raison d'etre, we deeply regret these instances. I think that it is very difficult to restore the trust in a moment, but although it will take some time, we will reform our corporate culture and organizational climate which in turn will result in our customers saying "Fujikura has changed!". Thus I would like to cooperate with you in this FY2019 aiming to restore the trust in the Fujikura brand.

Fujikura Group values every employee as an asset. We will do our best to reform both the ways our employees work and our personnel system itself so your individuality - in other words, the diversity of the company - is respected and you can carry out your work and other activities as smoothly as possible. By aiming high and not backing down from challenges, I am sure you will quickly meet our expectations. As the MVCV states, we want every one of you to become a leading player in the company.