We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our shareholders and investors for their continued support.
The Daicel Group has, since its founding more than 100 years ago, pursued excellence in manufacturing under a spirit of coexistence and mutual prosperity, growing together with our customers and partners. Looking ahead to the next century, we will vigorously drive challenges and transformation together with like-minded partners, centered on our Long-Term Vision of contributing to building a circular society.
As the first phase toward realizing this Long-Term Vision, the Group has been implementing its previous Mid-Term Management Strategy, which concluded in fiscal 2025. During this period, we advanced the “selection and concentration” of our businesses through portfolio management and worked to build a foundation for future growth. In particular, we proactively expanded capacity in our growth businesses, such as the Engineering Plastics and Safety businesses. At the same time, we executed agile structural reforms, including the management integration of Polyplastics, as well as the transfer and withdrawal of unprofitable businesses.
Meanwhile, during the period of the previous Mid-Term Management Strategy, certain challenges that need to be addressed have become apparent, and we have been steadily addressing them. In particular, regarding troubles at our carbon monoxide (CO) plant, we have implemented thorough measures to prevent recurrence and will complete the strengthening of the foundation for safe operations by FY2026. In addition, for the COC plant, we are refining our plans in line with demand trends and will achieve a safe and stable start-up to capture demand growth toward 2030.
Starting in FY2026, having made meaningful progress in addressing these challenges, the Daicel Group is transitioning into a phase of delivering earnings growth from our past initiatives. Under the new Mid-Term Management Strategy “Accelerate 2030,” announced in May 2026, we will build on the management foundation we have established to further enhance profitability and expand our growth domains. In our Engineering Plastics and Safety businesses, which we position as growth businesses, we will firmly translate the results of our past investments into earnings growth as core pillars supporting the Group’s expansion. In our Smart and Life Sciences businesses, which we identify as Next-Generation businesses, we will accelerate business development with a view to future earnings expansion and aim to evolve them into new growth drivers. In addition, we will promote a “super asset-light” approach to maximize capital efficiency, including a significant reduction in inventory turnover days. At the same time, we will reduce environmental impact while enhancing productivity and competitiveness, thereby realizing manufacturing that balances ecology and economy.
Daicel’s unique strength lies in its ability to fundamentally innovate manufacturing. In addition to the Daicel Production Innovation, which visualizes the expertise of skilled operators and incorporates it into operations support systems, we have developed and implemented the AI-driven Autonomous Production System, an evolution of this approach. We are also working toward the social implementation of Microfluidic Device that reproduces conventional large-scale chemical plants in energy-efficient, desktop-sized formats. These technologies have the potential to fundamentally transform the conventional model of large-scale, energy-intensive chemical plants and to establish a new standard for the chemical industry. Furthermore, our Ultra Solar-reduction using nanodiamonds, which converts CO₂ into CO for use as a raw material, has made significant progress toward practical application. In addition, we are taking on initiatives aimed at realizing ambitious initiatives such as the Biomass Value Chain Concept, which aims to circulate Japan’s forests as renewable resources, thereby contributing to the realization of a sustainable society.
In driving both the social implementation of these technologies and the further growth of the Daicel Group, we believe that realizing “OP-III (the New Business Group),” as set out in our Long-Term Vision, is indispensable. This initiative aims to form a group capable of co-creating new value by combining not only vertical collaboration across the supply chain but also horizontal collaboration with industry peers and other partners. By leveraging Daicel’s strengths together with those of external partners, we will create value that could not be generated on our own and translate this into sustainable growth in corporate value. Furthermore, the foundation supporting these initiatives is the "People-centered Management" that our group has cherished for many years, and at its core is the basic philosophy of "The company making lives better by co-creating value." The challenges and growth of each and every employee are the driving force behind value creation, and we will accelerate transformation by maximizing that power.
The Daicel Group will further strengthen management with a clear focus on share price and capital efficiency, thereby enhancing returns to shareholders. Under our new Mid-Term Management Strategy, we have set “DOE of 5% or higher” and a “total payout ratio of 60% or higher” as our basic policy, and aim to achieve stable and progressive dividends on an ongoing basis.
We will continue to strive to meet the expectations of our stakeholders and to sustainably enhance corporate value. We kindly ask for your continued understanding and support.
June 2026
President and CEO
