I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the support of shareholders and investors.

I am Hidekazu Matsumoto, and I was appointed as the President and COO of SG Holdings Co., Ltd. on June 23, 2023. I feel great responsibility being appointed as President in this turbulent socioeconomic environment. Unprecedented changes have taken place, and past successful experiences no longer apply in this difficult management environment. I intend to take this as an opportunity and embrace challenges with new ideas to demonstrate the true value of the Group handling social infrastructure.

Looking back on the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, there were signs of the economy returning to normal due to the relaxation of various restrictions stemming from COVID-19. Meanwhile, there have been significant changes such as rapid inflation and rising wages in a wide range of industries due to the impact of this, forcing a review of the assumptions of the management environment for the Japanese economy where there has been an entrenched environment of limited increases in prices and wage levels for the past several decades.

For the Group, which conducts a labor-intensive business, securing personnel such as drivers and strengthening of relationships with partner companies with whom we can work together are important issue for sustained growth. We are continuing to engage in this as a priority strategy in the “SGH Story 2024” Medium-term Management Plan. This has become increasingly important in the current management environment such as rapid inflation and increased upward pressure on wages. In order to secure personnel, we will work to solidify our resources through improvement of the working enviroment and business environment of employees and partner companies handling express package delivery services. Furthermore, at the same time, we have also begun fundamental transformation of cost structure through the utilization of advanced technology to create a robust system enabling responses to future changes in the environment.

I believe that handling logistics as a form of social infrastructure is a responsibility to continue to stably provide services that are constantly required by customers during any kind of environmental change. This intent is imbued in the long-term vision of “Grow the new Story. New logistics, nurturing a new society together.” and we will continue to achieve sustained growth as an entity that is constantly required by society while fulfilling this responsibility.

We appreciate the ongoing understanding and support of our shareholders and Investors.