In FY March 2025, the second year of the MTMP, earnings progressed steadily. Profit remained at a high level of 900.3 billion yen, and COCF reached the 1 trillion yen level for the fourth consecutive fiscal year.

In FY March 2026, the final year of the MTMP, we continue to face a highly uncertain business environment. However, we will steadily navigate toward enhancing corporate value while securing a wide range of management options. At the same time, we will seize the opportunities presented by changes in the supply chain to aim for a level of profit that exceeds our plan.

By the end of FY March 2025, we had decided on investments for projects that will help lift our future earnings base, such as the Rhodes Ridge iron ore project, Ruwais LNG, and the Blue Point low-carbon ammonia project. We anticipate investments for growth totaling 2.3 trillion yen during the MTMP period. When improving the quality of our business portfolio, maintaining and strengthening investment discipline is especially important for new investments, and we recognize that the role of corporate units, including the CFO Unit, is very significant. When making investment decisions, we use several quantitative indicators, mainly IRR, and at the same time, we emphasize qualitative aspects such as strategic value and the generation of synergies. Thorough discussions between the business units and corporate units, based on their respective expertise and knowledge, form the foundation of our investment discipline. This raises the quality of individual projects and leads to the improvement of the Company’s overall business portfolio.

Under the current MTMP, we are working to enhance base profit by strengthening existing businesses, through efficiency improvements and turnarounds, and by developing new businesses. The business units and corporate units are working in close collaboration to push ahead with these initiatives. In this process, the CFO Unit contributes to addressing and resolving various issues from the perspectives of risk management, finance, tax, and performance management.
Furthermore, Mitsui has established a global matrix structure that combines business units with overseas regional business units, enabling business and regional units to collaborate and leverage regional intelligence and networks. Even among business units, this kind of vibrant collaboration takes place, and we believe it is a key driving force directly linked to Mitsui’s value creation and is one of our strengths.

In addition, an initiative has been established to consider and implement measures that lead to the enhancement and improvement of earnings after an investment, through methods such as using ROIC by business area and analyzing the reasons for discrepancies between initial plans and actual results after an investment has been executed.
By pushing ahead with such initiatives, our base profit increased by 120 billion yen as of the end of FY March 2025 compared with the end of FY March 2023, and we expect to achieve the target of increasing it by 170 billion yen by the end of FY March 2026, the final year of the current MTMP.

To address situations in which complex risks such as credit, market, and country risks, in addition to geopolitical, cybersecurity, and environmental risks, manifest in a compound and chain-reaction like manner, Mitsui has established a system in which specialized personnel from each corporate unit collaborate across organizational boundaries. We have also added collaboration with regional business units to build a global-level risk management system. This allows us to take swift and effective measures from a range of options, even in cases such as the disruption to supply chains caused by geopolitical risks.
We also believe that our ability to proactively find potential business opportunities or chances to provide solutions to customers’ problems while dealing with such risks is one of our strengths.

As a result of steadily building a solid financial foundation and increasing highly repeatable cash generation capability since MTMP2023, we have been able to maintain a strong balance sheet. Therefore, we can always respond flexibly to a wide range of management options, such as executing investments for growth that contribute to the expansion of our long-term earnings base and increasing shareholder returns. We will continue to carefully assess changes in Mitsui’s business environment, repeatedly deliberate our cash flow allocation framework and financial strategy, and respond in a flexible manner.

We currently position ROE as the core of our key indicators for enhancing corporate value, and recognize that the CFO has a very significant role to play in maintaining and improving it. It is important that we drive Mitsui’s sustainable growth by enhancing base profit through strengthening existing businesses, turnarounds, and conducting carefully selected investments for growth. We will also improve the quality of our portfolio through continuous asset recycling, by maintaining a strong financial foundation that keeps open a wide range of management options, and by improving capital efficiency, including strengthening shareholder returns.

To fulfill these responsibilities as CFO, collaboration with the leadership team, which is composed of Executive Committee members, is essential. The office doors of the leadership team are always open, and members move freely and engage in active daily discussions. This free and vibrant communication extends to Mitsui and the entire Group.

In FY March 2025, the second year of the MTMP, we executed our largest-ever shareholder returns to a total of 692 billion yen (share repurchases of 400 billion yen, and dividends of 292 billion yen). Based on our track record of achieving a 1 trillion yen level COCF for four consecutive fiscal years, we forecast a dividend of 115 yen for FY March 2026, an increase of 15 yen from the previous fiscal year. Based on our progressive dividend policy, for FY March 2027, we believe 120 yen will be the starting point. For share repurchases, we will continue our existing policy of making flexible decisions after comprehensively considering management conditions, including the balance with investments for growth and share price levels. Moving forward, we will continue to work as a unified team to meet the expectations of our shareholders by increasing their confidence that our cash generation capabilities are sustainable in the long term.