2024 New Year’s Message

President Miyuki Ishihara gave the following New Year’s message to employees of the UACJ Group on January 5, 2024.

Now that 2024 has begun, I am delighted to have this opportunity to wish all of you a safe and happy New Year. I would also like to express my appreciation to those employees who went to work during the holidays to handle various projects currently underway, including the installation and startup of manufacturing equipment.

Looking back on last year, the UACJ Group dealt with unpredictable business conditions as international relations grew increasingly unstable amid heightened geopolitical risks, and prices of products and services continued to rise in every region of the world. Meanwhile, the yen weakened considerably against the US dollar, reflecting monetary tightening policy in the United States. Nevertheless, the Japanese economy grew moderately after the country downgraded COVID-19 to the level of seasonal influenza.

Despite the difficulties we faced under those conditions, the UACJ Group made significant progress in 2023. I would like to highlight some of our activities during the year.

First of all, with a view to responding more effectively to cases reported through our internal whistleblower system, the Compliance Committee led initiatives for raising awareness of compliance-related issues among employees and officers. This was part of our broader efforts to ensure safety and compliance throughout the Group, which are basic principles of the UACJ Way*.

We also established systems for reflecting prices of energy and aluminum alloy additives in product selling prices as a means to reduce the impact of fluctuating market prices on the Company’s financial performance. To manage supply chain risks more effectively, we continued to identify alternative sources of materials while maintaining inventories. These efforts greatly contributed to the stability of the Group’s earning structure.

Furthermore, we proceeded with major organizational changes in 2023 to ensure the success of our long-term roadmap, UACJ Vision 2030. Specifically, we established the Marketing & Technology Division, Extrusion & Metal Components Business Division, and Foundry & Forging Business Division with the goals of further leveraging synergies group-wide and accelerating the development of value-added materials. As part of our efforts to cultivate new markets for such materials, we launched a new brand of aluminum products called ALmitas+. We also created the Corporate Sustainability Division, revised the Group’s materiality issues, and promoted aluminum recycling together with our business partners in the industry.

While building on the progress of activities initiated last year, we must also pursue new goals in 2024, the year when our fourth mid-term management plan will commence. Based on what was achieved during the period of our third plan from fiscal 2021 to 2023 as well as the growth targets set in UACJ Vision 2030, management has formulated the following three key objectives for this year.

1. Maximize earnings and increase profitability

   The four main policies of UACJ Vision 2023 are to capture demand in growing markets and industries, add value to aluminum materials, develop all-new products and businesses, and reduce environmental impacts. Accordingly, we will work to provide added value to a wider range of markets and customers as a means to maximize the Group’s earnings and increase its profitability.

2. Make our businesses more agile and flexible

   Across the Group as a whole, employees worked tirelessly to complete structural reforms in fiscal 2022. With this same dedication, all of us must now aim to make our businesses more agile and flexible so that they can respond to both short- and long-term changes in the operating environment.

3. Strengthen foundations for new value creation and stable business operations

   To enable the Group to create new value and continue operating in a stable manner, we will need to secure competitive advantages and improve the performance and capabilities of our entire organizational structure by stepping up human resources development, enhancing technologies, and expanding the Group’s intellectual property.

Along with these three key objectives, all of us must continue giving top priority to safety and compliance. As stated in the UACJ Way, safety and compliance are the basic principles underlying all of the Group’s business activities.

Last October was the 10th anniversary of UACJ Corporation’s establishment. I was extremely delighted to celebrate that milestone together with employees from around the world. The UACJ Group now supplies environmentally friendly aluminum materials to customers worldwide. As members of the Group, we have a mission to raise awareness of aluminum, promote its applications, and facilitate recycling. Each of us has a role to play in achieving our goals as a team. Driven by our team spirit, and without forgetting the Company’s proud history and traditions, let’s work together toward a better world and healthier environment.

Once again, I would like to wish a happy New Year to all members of the UACJ Group and its business partners around the world. I sincerely hope that you and your families stay safe and healthy in 2024.

• * The UACJ Way is a set of basic guidelines for all employees to follow, and was created for the purpose of putting the UACJ Group Philosophy into practice. Founded on the principles of safety and compliance, the UACJ Way expresses a path forward for actions in accordance with the three values of respecting and understanding one’s associates, embracing honesty and foresight, and being curious and challenging.