January 5, 2022

President and Executive Officer, CEO Kotaro Hirano

Happy new year. Let me say a few words as we greet the new year.

While the spread of COVID-19 appeared to subside during the latter half of last year, there were growing concerns throughout the world about the spread of the Omicron variant of the virus, and an uncertain situation continues even now.

Once again, I wish to express my sympathy with those who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as my respect and deep gratitude to all those who worked hard to prevent the spread of infection. I sincerely hope that we can somehow overcome this situation as soon as possible and that 2022 will be brighter and more hopeful than last year. The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were hosted last year under unprecedented conditions with no spectators. However, we were deeply moved by the energetic performances of each of the athletes and developed a positive frame of mind. The ability to host these events under such challenging conditions without any significant problems was a testament of Japan’s capabilities to the country and the world.

With the exception of China, the demand for construction machinery continued to expand all over the world. The mining market also showed encouraging signs with new investments by customers moving forward due to the rise in prices of mineral resources. However, management faced a difficult situation due to the impact of price increases centered around steel. The trend of CO₂ reduction accelerated throughout the world, and sales of the battery-powered electric hydraulic excavator developed by the HCM Group got off to an encouraging start in Europe. In the mining field as well, demands from customers for an environmental response are strengthening, and we are planning to further accelerate the development of an engineless, full battery rigid dump truck having the dynamic charging system with trolley together with ABB.

More than anything, March of this year will mark the beginning of our independent expansion in North America and Latin America, which is the company’s largest initiative. We are currently advancing all sorts of preparation including positive discussions with many dealers, preparing services and the parts supply to satisfy all of our customers and dealers, and expanding our ConSite service solution. Because the success of this Northand Latin  American initiative will have a significant impact not simply in those regions but on our business globally, the entire HCM Group is united in this undertaking.

This year as well looks to be a year with many ongoing issues such as concerns about a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures to reduce CO₂. However, we will stay one step ahead of customer issues and continue to promote measures to improve profits. We believe that improving corporate value is the most important thing certainly to our customers, shareholders and business partners, employees, and all stakeholders. Going forward, we will continue to steadily promote business management with an awareness of the company vision of “To pass on a productive environment and prosperous cities to future generations” to realize our sustainable development goals (SDGs ). In closing, I wish everyone a happy new year and pray that 2022 will be a bright year of health and tranquility.