In appreciation of the ongoing support of PILOT Corporation’s international shareholders, we are pleased to present the Company’s fiscal 2023 business report in English. Unfortunately, disasters strike frequently in various places, and in January this year, the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake occurred. We would like to express our deepest sympathies to all those who have been affected, and we sincerely hope for a quick recovery and reconstruction of the affected areas.

Regarding the period under review, although the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on markets around the world has subsided, we are seeing increasing uncertainty surrounding the global macroeconomic and geopolitical situations. Regional differences in the demand for writing instruments have emerged, with recovery trends progressing in markets such as Japan, the Americas and emerging countries, while stagnation continues in regions like the Chinese and European markets. Under such challenging management conditions, our performance has been solid, with the depreciation of the yen serving as a tailwind for the Company, which has many manufacturing bases in Japan, paving the way for us to achieve the highest sales on record. On the other hand, profits decreased due to various soaring costs such as raw materials and labor.

At present, PILOT Corporation is focusing on sales in its core business, the stationery business, while also actively investing in growth by preparing for emerging markets, such as India and the ASEAN regions, which are expected to grow into large markets in the future. We are also reorganizing domestic and international production bases in anticipation of future sales expansion, taking an active approach to growth investments and striving to establish a foundation for the future. At the same time, with the goal of continuing to grow in a rapidly changing social environment, we made improvements to multiple areas including products, marketing strategies, manufacturing organization, various systems, and human resources policy, to steadily strengthen our constitution towards realizing the 2030 Vision of PILOT Group, a medium- to long-term vision that we formulated in 2022. We have also enhanced our governance structure and accelerated our management to build a management foundation that can flexibly respond to the constantly changing market.

Under PILOT Group’s purpose statement, Our Creations Inspire Creativity, we will continue to improve corporate value from a medium- to long-term perspective of the Group, continue to pursue Reform and Challenge, and strive to meet your expectations.

As announced on February 13, PILOT Corporation has decided to make changes to the management system, which will take effect on March 28, 2024. This will mark the crossing of the bridge to a new era for PILOT Group. Having served as Representative Director and President for many years, I was able to advance numerous, though modest, reforms. In closing, we would like to thank our shareholders for their generosity over the past years and humbly ask for their continued support and suggestions in the years to come.

March 2024

Shu Itoh
President & Representative Director