Message from the CEO

I would like to express our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to everyone who has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, I have been appointed as President to succeed former President Jun Sawada. I will continue on the path of NTT Group's transformation that we have worked towards thus far. As the future economic situation and business environment remain unclear, we hope to create a path forward by responding to changes, or ,at times, by pre-empting changes and transforming ourselves.

NTT Group, which continues to dynamically transform itself, will work to its utmost ability to provide its customers with new experiences and excitement.

Financial Results for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2022, and Forecast for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2023

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, both revenues and income increased compared to the prior fiscal year. Operating revenues, operating income and profit each reached new record-high levels, due in part to increased SI revenues both domestically and abroad at NTT DATA, which has captured increased demand for digitalization, and profit exceeded ¥1.0 trillion for the first time. Our main financial indicator, EPS (earnings per share), was ¥329, achieving our initial pre-revision target (¥320 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024) two years ahead of schedule. Operating revenues increased by ¥212.5 billion (1.8%) year-on-year to ¥12,156.4 billion, operating income increased by ¥97.2 billion (5.8%) year-on-year to ¥1,768.6 billion, and profit increased by ¥264.9 billion (28.9%) year-on-year to ¥1,181.1 billion.

With respect to the forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, we anticipate increases in both revenues and income compared to the prior fiscal year, with operating revenues (¥12,600.0 billion), operating income (¥1,820.0 billion) and profit (¥1,190.0 billion) each reaching record-high levels, and with EPS reaching ¥340. In order to achieve our medium-term financial target of an EPS of ¥370 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, which we revised last October, we will work to increase synergies in the new NTT DOCOMO Group, grow our overseas business and further promote digital transformation (DX).

Primary Initiatives for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31 ,2023

For our specific initiatives for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, we will steadily advance initiatives based on our revised Medium-Term Management Strategy, which we announced last October.

We have recently made significantly changes to our personnel and systems, due to our establishment of a new management style and our further enhancements of governance. We have increased the number of Members of the Board from the previous eight members to 10 members, and increased the number of Audit & Supervisory Board Members from the previous five members to six members (adding one outside full-time Audit & Supervisory Board Member). We have also increased the ratio of women who are Members of the Board, Audit & Supervisory Board Members and executive officers to over 30% in each category. Furthermore, we have undertaken organizational changes, such as establishing the Internal Audit Office as an organization that reports directly to the President, and establishing an office in charge of economic security.

In order to strengthen our domestic and global businesses, we are expecting to benefit from synergies from the integration and strengthening of our enterprise business capabilities in the newly formed NTT DOCOMO Group (NTT DOCOMO, NTT Communications and NTT Comware), and from the enhancement of video services through the integration of NTT Plala. In addition, in order to further expand our global business, in May, we announced the combination of NTT DATA's global business with NTT Ltd. Through this, we aim to strengthen both our global governance and our global business capabilities for business users. Furthermore, in order to further accelerate the commercialization of IOWN, we established the IOWN Product Design Center, which will promote the introduction of businesses and development of services for IOWN technology through the formulation of development and introduction strategies and strengthening systems for execution.

With respect to our initiatives to achieve carbon neutrality, we have decided to introduce an “internal carbon pricing system” at each NTT Group company, which is a method to promote the reduction of our environmental burden by hypothetically calculating CO2 emissions as costs. We also undertake initiatives to achieve our own carbon neutrality, such as through the development and expansion of the IOWN business and the development of renewable energy sources, while concurrently requiring our suppliers to also take responsible corporate actions, thereby aiming to contribute to the reduction of the environmental burden of society.

Shareholder Returns

As for shareholder returns, our basic policy is to pursue ongoing increases in dividends, and we flexibly conduct share buybacks to improve capital efficiency. For our dividends for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, we are expecting the annual dividend to be ¥120 per share (an increase of ¥5 yen per share from the previous fiscal year), marking the 12th consecutive year of dividend increases. With respect to share buybacks, in May 2022, our Board of Directors authorized share buybacks in an aggregate amount of up to ¥400.0 billion and up to 110 million shares, and we plan to conduct the buybacks by the end of March 2023.

We hope to receive the continued understanding and support of all of our shareholders.

2022 June

President and Chief Executive Officer,
Representative Member of the Board
Akira Shimada