To all of our shareholders, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude for your continued and exceptional level of support.
For the fiscal year ending in March 2023, we made efforts to increase the efficiency of our various businesses, and we were able to reduce our operating losses and ordinary losses compared to the previous fiscal year alongside the resumption of economic activity. We also sold off some of our fixed assets and recorded a net profit for the current fiscal term attributable to the parent company's shareholders.
Based on our management principles of "Customer First" and "Quality Oriented," the Daidoh Limited Group engages in initiatives to evolve the corporate group into an entity capable of generating profits from a medium- to long-term management perspective. While the future of the business environment remains uncertain, the entire group will work together to implement reforms and improvements and do our utmost to improve our business results even further.
To all of our shareholders, I humbly ask for your unwavering understanding and support in the future.
Status of operations for the current fiscal term (the period ending March 31, 2023)
As for the Japanese economy during the current consolidated fiscal year, while we have seen indications of a gradual recovery both in the prevention of coronavirus infections and in economic activity, the future remains uncertain due to factors such as increases in resource costs, attributable to sharp rises in the price of raw materials and an unstable international situation, as well as the weak Japanese yen.
Turning to the apparel industry, although the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could still be felt, in Japan we were able to observe a gradual recovery in demand due to the lack of measures that would have restricted activities or compelled people to remain indoors during the period in question.
While there was a period where our apparel business was unable to engage in regular sales in China due to the impact of citywide lockdowns that affected our stores primarily within Shanghai, customer numbers recovered in our retail division in Japan, which resulted in an increase in sales compared to the previous fiscal year. Our manufacturing divisions saw a recovery in orders from partner companies, which resulted in an increase in sales compared to the previous fiscal year.
In our real estate and leasing business, the Dynacity commercial complex in Odawara underwent a partial renovation to its facilities to attract tenants in new lines of business. The number of customers visiting the complex increased and thereby increased sales at our stores, which in turn resulted in an increase in sales compared to the previous fiscal year.
With respect to office buildings, we made progress in increasing our operational efficiency in areas such as increasing the area that can be leased to outside tenants. We also completed the sale of our main office building, which had been deteriorating, as part of our goal to implement a recomposition of the assets that we hold.
As a result of the above, the Group posted the following financial results for the current consolidated fiscal year under review: JPY 28,218 million in sales (an increase of 14.7% compared to the previous fiscal period), JPY 378 million in ordinary losses (compared to JPY 1,615 million in ordinary losses in the previous fiscal period), JPY 10,141 million in extraordinary profits such as profits on the sale of fixed assets, and JPY 357 million in extraordinary losses such as impairment losses. As a result of these figures, net profits for the current fiscal term attributable to the parent company's shareholders total JPY 6,757 million (compared to JPY 3,544 million of net losses attributable to the parent company's shareholders in the previous period).
Medium- to Long-term Activities
Our initiatives resulting from the recovery in business conditions are focused primarily in the establishment of new retail businesses, the expansion of business outside Japan, and measures to increase efficiency in our real estate and leasing business.
In the retail division for our apparel business in Japan, the cost of acquiring goods is rising due to factors such as increasing import costs and the weak Japanese yen. Even so, we are endeavoring to provide products of even higher quality through our core NEWYORKER and Brooks Brothers offerings. With this and our efforts that include improvements in inventory efficiency due to adjustments in stocking, refraining from discounting prices, and reducing the number of items that are disposed of, we are aiming to ensure profitability while introducing and applying new digital technologies.
For the NEWYORKER brand, we have strengthened our lineup of goods focusing on business attire, one of our strong fields, in order to support the diversification that has accompanied lifestyle changes and to attract new customers as part of our efforts to improve the value of the brand. With Brooks Brothers, we are aiming to expand our customer base by implementing unique projects for goods that align with the characteristics of the Japanese market and developing products in collaboration with other brands.
Furthermore, in China and other parts of Asia, markets in which our sales have further room for growth, we are engaging in initiatives to expand both our retail businesses and the supply of OEM products.
In Italy, at PONTETORTO, which manufactures materials for use in fashion wear and sportswear, we are seeing increasing demand for environmentally friendly materials, and the recyclable and biodegradable materials developed by the company have been favorably received. In addition to improvements in functionality brought about through the use of unique technologies, the development of environmentally friendly materials will help us in our goal of increasing orders from existing customers and in moving forward to establish relationships with new partners.
As for our real estate and leasing business, at our Dynacity commercial complex in Odawara, an electronics retail store opened last year, representing a new line of business, and Ito-Yokado, one of our core tenants, completed its renovations in December 2022. In the future, we will continue to invite tenants that will please our customers in the region, aiming to build an attractive complex while remaining aware of our coexistence with the surrounding community. With respect to our office leasing, we sold our main office building, which had been deteriorating, in March 2023, and are moving forward with the recomposition of our assets in terms of real estate for lease.
In our real estate and leasing business, we will seek to effectively leverage the assets that we own in the future as well in order to achieve stable business operations.