Our corporate mission for sustained growth is stated as: "We create excitement the world has never seen before." We have worked toward our vision of becoming a lifelong partner in the motorcycle lifestyle.
In addition to that, we have worked toward establishing a UX (user experience) gross model and have been working on 1. Increasing customer contact point through store development, 2. Build a customer relationship management (CRM) system for marketing activities using data, and 3. Expansion of services and networking maintenance business.

Motorcycle Business
On the procurement front, we continued reviewing the advertising we began in the previous second quarter, and in the first quarter, we improved advertising efficiency mainly by curbing TV commercials.
While we had planned to spend on advertising at roughly the prior-year level, from the second quarter onward, we increased the budget with the aim of strengthening procurement.
In addition, to cover the decrease in the number of units procured with reduced ads and to secure inventory for retail sales, we continued to strengthen storefront procurement (walk-ins and trade-ins) as well as auction procurement.
As a result, while we were able to somewhat curb the decline in the number of units procured, from the second quarter onward the pace of improvement slowed, resulting in ongoing challenges.
On the sales front, for wholesale we secured beginning-of-year inventory and listed them effectively in a robust auction market; as a result, while promoting a retail-first sales strategy and changing the procurement structure had an impact, the number of units sold was slightly above the previous year.
In addition, given that auction prices remained at high levels and we made progress in securing quality vehicles for procurement, the unit selling price per vehicle (sales per unit) was significantly higher compared to the previous year.
On the other hand, as a result of prioritizing securing the number of units procured from the third quarter onward, profit per unit stagnated, and the average gross profit per unit was slightly below the previous year.
In retail, while there were periods in the first half when a temporary decrease in displayed units prevented us from maximizing sales opportunities, steady progress in securing inventory and the implementation of campaigns to increase unit sales resulted in unit sales being slightly higher than the previous year.
The vehicle sales unit price (sales per unit) and the average gross profit (gross profit per unit) were higher than the previous year, driven by steady progress in procuring quality vehicles for retail and by strengthening ancillary revenues in line with diversifying customer needs.
As a result, unit sales in the Motorcycle Business were slightly higher than the previous year, and the vehicle sales unit price (sales per unit) was also significantly higher.
While the average gross profit (gross profit per unit) remained in line with the previous year, increases in unit sales and the vehicle sales unit price led to higher sales, and gross profit also increased.
Other
As part of expanding our business to achieve our vision of "A lifelong partner in the motorcycle lifestyle," we entered into a joint venture agreement with Premium Group Co., Ltd. and decided to establish a joint venture company.
This joint venture aims to promote new businesses by leveraging the strengths of both companies, and going forward we will jointly open multi-concept stores under the Car Premier brand and hold discussions and prepare to launch new services.
In addition, our subsidiary, Toyo Motor International Co., Ltd., has been included in the scope of consolidation from the previous interim consolidated accounting period and transitioned from the conventional unconsolidated accounting to consolidated accounting.

At BIKE O & COMPANY, we believe that dividends are an important way of returning profits to shareholders. We decide on dividend amounts by deliberating factors such as business performance while keeping in mind the need for stable dividend distribution.
In accordance with this basic policy, we will not decrease the year-end dividend for the 28th fiscal year. Our forecast at the beginning of the fiscal year was ¥5.5 per share, and the dividend for the year will be ¥11 per share.