In the Restaurant Business, the Group implemented measures for upgrading existing restaurant chains, aggressively establishing new outlets, and expanding the business scale through M&A, in the fiscal year under review. As a result, its sales were greater than the previous year. Meanwhile, profits decreased to the previous year because of a fall in sales mainly at existing roadside outlets and an increase in temporary expenses for opening new outlets.

With respect to the Printing and Distribution Business, orders from publishing companies, our major clients, continued to decrease. To cope with this, Group companies carried out such various strategies as follow. Akatsuki Printing Inc. and Worldplanning Inc. were shifted to information processing companies and strengthened their digital businesses. Nihon System Inc. promoted the entertainment business (development of game software and other products), and Pachacom Japan Inc. commercialized its organic delicatessen. Despite these efforts, the Group failed to recover profits substantially. On top of this, the Group booked losses on disposal of fixed assets of Akatsuki Printing, while recognizing impairment losses on undepreciated goodwill of Nihon System, because it conservatively evaluated the possibility of recouping investments in these companies. Besides, the Group decided to withdraw from business fields (such as fitness and organic delicatessen), in which synergy effects cannot be produced even if the Group’s management know-how is combined, at an early date.

As a result, consolidated sales for the fiscal year under review were 35,606 million yen, up 7.5 % from the previous year, but operating income marked a 64.1% year-on-year decline to 411 million yen and ordinary income declined by 74.2 % to 269 million yen. Net loss was 1,465 million yen mainly due to an extraordinary loss including impairment losses and other losses of 1,685 million yen.

The Japanese economy will probably continue to be steady, despite such unfavorable factors as uncertainties about overseas economies and high crude oil prices.

The Group’s Restaurant Business and the Printing and Distribution Business will remain in a harsh environment although we project they will pick up gradually along with a recovery of the overall economy.

Against this backdrop, the Group will continue to focus on expanding existing businesses while developing new businesses, aiming to establish a corporate structure that can expand business performance and earn profits stably.

For the fiscal year ending March 2009, we aim to achieve an operating income of 1,900 million yen, an ordinary income of 1,600 million yen and a net income of 300 million yen on consolidated sales of 49,300 million yen.