First, let me wish all of you greater health and prosperity, and thank you for your continued support.

Fiscal year 2009 marked the last year of our mid-term management plan, and we spent it working on sales activities to respond to the needs of customers both in Japan and overseas, developing new products, and reducing overall costs. In particular, for our steel sheet business, we established a sales subsidiary in Shanghai, China, developed new markets, started developing metal substrates for solar cells, and tackled other challenges aimed at future development. However, due to decreased demand in the first half of the year and the high cost of the yen, we did not achieve our profit goal.
Regarding our future outlook, although there are signs of restored demand in emerging markets freeing us from our serious economic situation, personal consumption and investment in facilities remains low in Japan, and the situation remains as questionable as ever. It is predicted that the difficult business environment surrounding our group, including the increasing costs of hot coils and various other materials, as well as fluctuations in exchange rates, will not change anytime soon.
In this difficult situation, Toho Kohan established a set of management principles last year to mark our company's 75th anniversary. These principles indicate how our companies and employees should act. Starting in this fiscal year (2010), we are establishing even higher goals as we begin to approach our 100th year of business. We are also establishing a new three-year mid-term management plan, STEP UP 100, to position our group favorably in the future, implement our management principles, flexibly utilize our management resources, and press on towards our goals.

We look forward to the continued support and guidance of you, our shareholders and investors.