Accelerating Global Growth and Making Further Strides as a Group to Become a “Global Tea Company” President and Executive Officer

To realize our long-term vision of becoming a Global Tea Company

The ITO EN Group aims to achieve its long-term vision of becoming a Global Tea Company, upholding our Group mission to being a Health Creation Company, by realizing healthy and fulfilling lifestyles for customers and a sustainable society through the creation of three types of health value: mental and physical health, the health of society, and the health of the planet.

We announced the ITO EN Group new Medium-Term Management Plan in June 2024. We will take on challenges going forward to make further strides, expanding globally from being the No. 1 tea company in Japan.

The Approach of the New Medium-Term Management Plan: Progressing to the Next Stage of Realizing Our Long-Term Vision

The ITO EN Group has established three key pillars of initiatives in aiming for its long-term vision of becoming a Global Tea Company: Unique, Value Creation, and Global. Being unique refers to its unique business model and technological development capability, spanning from creating products from farms to resource recycling, and its uniqueness is the source of our innovation and value creation. The products and services created from the ITO EN Group’s uniqueness will lead to value creation, contributing to grate taste, and helping solve social and environmental issues, and will also lead to the starting point of “Global” initiatives that will support customers’ mental and physical health and the fulfilling lifestyles of people around the world.

Currently, of the three growth stages to becoming a Global Tea Company, we have passed through the first stage of “Solidifying the existing businesses in Japan” and have begun to enter the second stage of “Developing Oi Ocha into a global brand.” The new Medium-Term Management Plan has set our long-term vision (how we would like to be) for the future around 2040. Considering what must be done in the next five years to realize our long-term future vision, our main quantitative targets are an average annual growth rate in consolidated net sales of 2% or more (8% or more overseas), an operating income ratio of 8% or more and ROE of 10% or more. The competitive environment in Japan is also expected to intensify, but we will accelerate our global expansion, with a focus on Oi Ocha, to speed up overseas business growth.

Pursuing Both Business Growth and Sustainability as “Team ITO EN Group”

In recent years, there is an increasing number of issues that need to be addressed, including the pursuit of both economic growth and solutions to sustainability issues such as energy and resources, climate change and human rights, and neither individuals nor companies will be able to grow if they are bound by existing organizational frameworks and ways of thinking. I came up with the “Team ITO EN Group” approach, which involves addressing such problems beyond organizational boundaries, in FY2023.

As of August 2024, the ITO EN Group has 46 companies in Japan and overseas. With changes to the organizational structure within the Group due to a company split and the establishment of new companies, we will be more aware than ever before of synergy across the Group.

Specifically, the Group Business Management promotion has been established and the officers of Group companies attend meetings, such as the DX Promotion Committee and Sustainability Promotion Committee, to promote theme based cross-organizational sustainability management.

Issues that are difficult to solve solely through our own efforts will address through partnerships outside the Company. Examples of cooperation in a variety of business fields including manufacturing, logistics and environmental measures have actually begun to emerge, and I would like to cooperate with a flexible viewpoint going forward.

An Organizational Culture of Continuing to Challenge Ourselves toward Our Vision

We are urging people within the Company to change previous ways of doing things and work with new perspectives and methods to achieve the new Medium- Term Management Plan. The ITO EN Group has been a company that attaches importance to the frontier spirit since the beginning, as reflected in its former company name, the Frontier Tea Corporation. I would like to remind everyone in the Company of the importance of the frontier spirit to carve out new paths and to transform to an organizational culture of continuing to challenge ourselves toward our ambitious vision of becoming a Global Tea Company. New perspectives and flexible thinking are needed to achieve challenging goals and generate innovation. Therefore, we will bring about an organizational culture where diverse ideas are produced and it is easy to take on challenges by stimulating cross-company personnel exchanges between Group companies, both in Japan and overseas. We will also cultivate management human resources that are equipped with the necessary skills and know-how for management who will drive global growth.

A work environment where individual employees can feel satisfied with their jobs and demonstrate their skills to the greatest extent is required to achieve becoming an organization where we continue to challenge ourselves toward our vision, oriented toward active roles for all as “Team ITO EN Group.” We will understand the costs necessary for organizational and personal growth as “growth investments” and continue to strive to increase the material and psychological satisfaction of all employees working for us, not only through pay raises but also through strengthening human resource development, expanding provisions and systems for workplaces that are easy to work in, and more.

Passing on Japanese Tea to the World and Future Generations

By all means, I hope that our shareholders and investors will continue to be shareholders for a long time and follow the path toward new growth along with us. In the new Medium-Term Management Plan, we set a target of “ROE of 10% or more” and aim to achieve both business growth and improvement in profitability by increasing ROE with emphasis on profitability and accelerating overseas business. I therefore believe that we must expedite managerial and other decision-making, and promote the new Medium-Term Management Plan with greater speed. We will work to respond to globalization and changes in the business environment, arrange a solid management foundation in accordance with business stages in Japan and overseas, and further strengthen and enhance corporate governance to realize become a Global Tea Company.

Spreading Japanese tea culture to the world and passing it on to future generations is our mission. Since our foundation, we have offered tea to match changes in the times and lifestyles, enabling tea culture to permeate life as a familiar presence for Japanese people and proposing “a life with tea.” As a leading tea company, in order to promote tea culture overseas in the future, The OCHA CULTURE CREATION MUSEUM and Oi Ocha Museum, a complex museum to serve as a base for joint development of the future of tea, opened in May 2024.

As the stepping stone, “Team ITO EN Group” will unite to work toward quickly realizing the development of Oi Ocha into a global brand. We will hasten progress to make strides to become a Global Tea Company as a Health Creation Company contributing to healthy and fulfilling lifestyles for customers around the world.