IR Communications

Earnings for the fiscal year ended March 2008

For the fiscal year ended March 2008, the Company posted consolidated net sales of \40,439 million (up 12.6% year-on-year). Sales of domestic and overseas subsidiaries that came under the management of the Company group contributed to increased sales, although the domestic market environment remained harsh, as it had been in the previous fiscal year.

Operating income soared 88.7% year-on-year to \1,587 million thanks to rationalization and other factors. However, ordinary income declined 37.7% from the previous fiscal year to \1,833 million owing to a decrease in financial income, which had grown significantly during the previous fiscal year. Net income amounted to \584 million, against a net loss of \2,033 million in the previous fiscal year.

With regard to dividend payments for the fiscal year ending March 2009, we plan to disburse \15 per share to our shareholders as both interim and year-end dividends, unchanged from the current fiscal year.

Reinforcement of overseas operations and promotion of new businesses

The Company has implemented the following measures in the past two years by focusing on the reinforcement of overseas operations and the promotion of new businesses, as well as enhancing existing businesses, amid radical changes in the business environment.

The Company purchased Corona Medical S.A.S., a French manufacturer of medical beds, in December 2006, securing a manufacturing and sales base in Europe. To mutually supplement products with Hill-Rom, Inc., the largest manufacturer of medical beds in the U.S., we started importing and marketing high-performance beds from Hill-Rom in September 2007. Currently, preparations are under way for the marketing of our beds for nursing care at home or in facilities for the elderly in the U.S.

With regard to new businesses, the Company made Sunnetwork Corporation, engaged in rental service and wholesale of welfare devices, its subsidiary in October 2007. We will strive to raise earnings by pursuing synergy between manufacturers and distributors. We also inaugurated a new organization to enhance the business for general consumers, with the Intime brand as its core.

We will endeavor to steadily advance these measures and produce results in and after the next fiscal year.

Enhanced competitiveness by restructuring plants

The Company has been pressing ahead with a plan to reorganize domestic plants since fiscal 2006. An integrated production line based on the synchronous/tuned production method, which raises productivity dramatically, was completed at the Chiba Plant and came on stream in May 2008.

The new production line has not only realized higher efficiency but is also environmentally friendly, with a 60% reduction in industrial waste and a 30% cut in electricity consumed by painting equipment.

The Chiba Plant will play the role of a "mother plant" for overseas production bases in Indonesia, China, and France, as well as those in Japan.