News Room 2011 (The former Furukawa-Sky)

New Year Address by the President (Summary)

January 4, 2011

Welcome to 2011. May this new year bring health, happiness and prosperity to you and your families.

In reviewing the events of last year, we have emerged from the worst phase of the global recession triggered by the Lehman Shock in autumn 2008, and the overall economy is maintaining a trend toward recovery. Demand, however, remained at 80% to 90% of peak levels in Japan.

Meanwhile, the eco-car subsidies and other government initiatives for stimulating demand in Japan have now ended and the rise of the yen has accelerated, placing the Furukawa-Sky Group under persistently harsh conditions. Our sense of crisis over the future can only intensify further as we observe the exponential growth of aluminum rolling companies in China.

Under these circumstances, the Furukawa-Sky Group announced its new Mid-Term Management Plan in April of last year for the three-year period ending in fiscal 2013. We are currently moving full throttle toward accomplishing this plan by promoting structural reform in existing domestic businesses, responding to overseas growth markets and developing next-generation products.

In specific terms, concurrent with the structural reformation of our sheet rolling business, we have reinforced our response to global markets by establishing a coil center in Thailand, a nation whose position as Asia's automobile production hub continues to grow, and by opening new overseas offices in Shanghai, China and Dsseldorf, Germany.

As we pursue these domestic and overseas initiatives, the slogan for this new year has become: "Make a united Group effort to become an attractive company that ranks No. 1 in Asia."

Under this slogan, I encourage you to unite as a group and take action on the following priority issues.

1. Develop an acute awareness of safety, the environment and quality: Return to the basics to ensure consistency in basic actions.
2. Further enforce our corporate governance functions: Maintain a sharp eye on potential risks and rigorously exercise compliance.
3. Maximize customer satisfaction: Steadfastly observe our commitments to customers in quality, cost and delivery to forge a solid relationship of trust.
4. Strengthen our comprehensive capabilities in the global market: Unite the powers of the Group and achieve new heights by strengthening our business foundation and cost competitiveness and by accelerating the pace of global development.