The Company has been making strenuous efforts to encourage globalization of management concept, development and strengthening of the group companies with top-importance attached to consolidated management, reductions on interest-bearing debts, revitalization of organizations and perfection in practice of safety in navigation. All are based on the Company’s five-year management plan named “the New "K"LINE Spirit for 21(New K-21)” starting from April 1998.
As you are well aware the ocean-going shipping business, our core business has been in a sea of so harsh international competition on the non-regulated single market. Under such adverse circumstances, however, we are poised high-spiritedly to meet the shareholders’ requirements by token of improving efficiency in consolidated management practices and upgrading corporation’s value.
Kobe, target corporation of TOB is a subsidiary company of "K"LINE holding 51.25% of total stock of the target company. The core business of Kobe is composed of shipowner’s business, ship management/administration business. It is virtually indispensable that we should analyze and clarify cost performance by the group companies of the same business item which importantly share a part of costs with us, ceaselessly pursuing perfection in safety of ship navigation with deep consideration to the environmental preservations.
Self-evidently, we are confident that such challenge will earn us the benefit of increasing further cost-based competitiveness on the extremely stormy market. We have chosen such capital policy that would not conflict with the directions of the company management and operations. In this manner we have been determined to exercise TOB in an aim to retransform Kobe into a perfect subsidiary and to practice an overall management of the group companies and to rearrange its business composition.