MOL PRESIDENT SUZUKI TAKES STOCK OF PROGRESS

MOL PRESIDENT SUZUKI TAKES STOCK OF PROGRESS    Mitsui O.S.K. Lines will soon announce the best annual results in the company’s history and is well positioned for future growth, said Kunio Suzuki, president of the MOL group.
   In a message to employees, Suzuki said that the group is projecting results for the fiscal year ended March 31 showing a consolidated revenue of 890 billion yen ($7.65 billion) and consolidated ordinary income of Yen46 billion ($395 million). He attributed the results partly to “favorable business conditions in most divisions, including liners, car carriers, dry bulk, and tankers.” But Suzuki added that the results are also the payoff of long-term, group-wide programs to restructure the company.
   MOL has completed a program called MOL’s Creative and Aggressive Redesigning Project a year ahead of schedule. The plan concentrated on improving business performance, and achieved results including cost reduction, Suzuki said.
   MOL is now working on a new three-year business plan called Mitsui O.S.K. Lines’ New Expansion Target, to drive the group’s growth.
   Suzuki said that the 21st century will be the era of information technology and MOL must “take the lead in both service quality and cost competitiveness, making full use of IT.”
   As an advanced economic nation, Japan has a mature market, and cargo traffic growth will remain slow, he predicted. “On a global scale, however, we can expect increasing traffic in step with population growth and economic development,” Suzuki added.
   The president of MOL also said that his group has “liquidated most of our non-performing assets” and he believes that the group we can make sufficient investments to ensure strong future growth.