I would like to thank our shareholders for their longstanding, exceptional appreciation and support of the Kao Group's business and corporate activities.

Fiscal 2015 was the final year of Kao Group Mid-term Plan 2015 (K15). During the year, we built and implemented a sustainable growth model based on maximizing the use of Kao Group assets and generating synergy through the effective deployment of expenditures. By promoting the following three growth strategies of K15, we worked to achieve not only increases in consolidated net sales and profits, but also our announced forecast and the targets of K15.

(1) Expand the Consumer Products Business globally
(2) Further reinforce the Fabric and Home Care Business, and accelerate profitable growth in the Beauty Care Business and the Human Health Care Business
(3) Reinforce the Chemical Business

As a result, in fiscal 2015 we exceeded our announced forecast and achieved our sixth consecutive fiscal year of increases in consolidated net sales and profits as we continued to set new record highs for both. We also achieved all of the ambitious targets of K15.

In addition to using our fiscal 2015 profits to invest in future growth, we will make returns to our employees, to society and to our shareholders. For returns to our shareholders, we increased annual dividends per share by ¥10 compared with the previous fiscal year to ¥80, thus achieving our 26th consecutive fiscal year of increases in dividends.

We have positioned fiscal 2016 as a year for preparing K20, our next mid-term plan, which we are currently formulating, as we continue to grow. Specifically, we are making full-scale preparations for the businesses that will support our future growth while aiming to achieve our announced forecast for our seventh consecutive fiscal year of increases in consolidated net sales and profits.

Kanebo Cosmetics is continuing to respond seriously with support for the recovery and compensation of customers who have experienced vitiligo-like symptoms after using brightening products containing the ingredient Rhododenol, for which it announced a voluntary recall in July 2013.

The Kao Group aims to become a company with a global presence as it works for both profitable growth and contributions to the sustainability of the world. We will work in unison as we devote ourselves to realizing our ambitious mission to 'strive for the wholehearted satisfaction and enrichment of the lives of people globally and to contribute to the sustainability of the world' as set forth in the Kao Way, our corporate philosophy, as well as our corporate slogan, 'enriching lives, in harmony with nature.'

I look forward to your continuing support of the Kao Group's business and corporate activities.

Kao Corporation issued this content on 25 April 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 25 April 2016 02:17:13 UTC

Original Document: http://www.kao.com/jp/en/corp_ir/message.html