Suzuki 2014 Annual Report Download - page 4

2 SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION
A Message from the Management
Management results of this scal year
The management environment of the Group for FY2013 in over-
seas economy mainly in developed countries is showing positive
trend toward recovery, despite inuence by tapering of monetary
easing in the US, nancial problem in Europe and unpredictable
economic outlook for emerging countries such as India and Indo-
nesia. Japanese economy also continues to be on recovery trend.
On the other hand, there is a concern about the impact of recoil
reduction of last-minute demand due to increase in consumption
tax rate.
Under these circumstances, the consolidated net sales of this
scal year (April 2013 to March 2014) increased by ¥360.0 billion
(14.0%) to ¥2,938.3 billion compared to the previous scal year,
owing to increase in Japan, Asia, and Europe. The Japanese do-
mestic net sales increased by ¥91.8 billion (8.8%) to ¥1,132.7 bil-
lion year-on-year, by covering the decrease in OEM sales with the
sales of Suzuki brand vehicles. The overseas net sales increased
by ¥268.2 billion (17.4%) to ¥1,805.6 billion year-on-year.
In terms of the consolidated income, the operating income in-
creased by ¥43.1 billion (29.9%) to ¥187.7 billion year-on-year,
and the net income increased by ¥27.1 billion (33.7%) to ¥107.5
billion year-on-year. The operating income increased mainly ow-
ing to improvement in export prot from Japan by the impact of
the exchange rate and increase in income in Asia.
The Company has decided to distribute year-end dividends
amounting to ¥14.00 per share for this fiscal year (¥10.00 per
share for the previous scal year). As a result, the annual divi-
dends including interim dividends were ¥24.00 per share and up
by ¥6.00 per share from the previous scal year.
Outstanding issues
The Group set a basic policy of “Think smarter, work harder and
unite as a Suzuki group; overcome our challenges and navigate
our way to a brighter future” and will tackle following issues amid
challenging condition.
-Strengthening and expansion of sales network
To respond to intensifying competition at various regions and
products, the Group will be expanding and strengthening its sales
network both in Japan and overseas, and execute marketing ac-
tivities in a close contact with the market.
-Product development and strengthening of research and devel-
opment
The Group will make eort to strengthen its ability of research
and development such as environment technology, fuel ecient
technology, weight reduction technology, safety technology, infor-
mation and communications technology and product designing
ability. Also, the Group will make eort to manufacture cars with
lower cost by improving eciency of development by integrating
engine, powertrain and platform, and cost reduction.
-Strengthening of manufacturing capability
Based on the concept of “local production for local consump-
tion,” the Group will continue to strengthen manufacturing out-
side Japan. Especially in Asia, which has a growing demand for
automobiles, the Group will strive to increase the ratio of in-
house manufacturing, expand global procurement and enhance
production capability at respective local markets. Moreover, along
with the advancement of economic cooperation among dierent
regions through FTA and the trend of the foreign currency market,
the Group will also work to optimize the balance of manufacturing
activities in and outside Japan.
-Reconstruction of motorcycle business
As for the Motorcycle business, although business as a whole
slightly turned into the black mainly owing to improvement in
income of large-displacement motorcycles, compact motorcycle
business mainly in Asia is still in the middle of reform. The Group
will continuously be aiming at recovering its presence in the
motorcycle market by uniting the planning, technology and sales
functions and by developing new products that suit the market
needs further. The Group will particularly be focusing on compact
motorcycle business in Asia where growth potential is high, and at
the same time, the Group will also be strengthening its lineup of
middle and large-sized motorcycles
-Commitment to global environmental problem
Concerning the environmental issues, the Group has been oer-
ing minivehicles in Japan and many types of compact vehicles
that are highly fuel-ecient in places like India and other Asian
countries. The Group believes that a spread of such compact ve-
hicles would be one of the best ways to contribute to solving the
environmental issues. In addition to enhancement of next genera-
tion environmental technology in “SUZUKI GREEN Technology”, the
Group will continue to tackle global environmental problem based
on “Suzuki Environmental Plan 2015” and “Suzuki Biodiversity
Protection Guideline”.
A Message from the Management