IR and Financial information.

Revenue was impacted by a decline in lease transaction volume. The leasing industry has remained sluggish as companies curb capital expenditure, but we managed to limit the decline by employing unique sales strategies centered on sales-support vender leases. Bad debt expenses rose 1.4 billion yen as a result of the downturn in the business climate, but we achieved a 1.3 billion yen increase in operating income to 11.5 billion yen (up 12.9% year on year) with efforts to reduce overhead and cut interest expenses.

While the business environment remains tight, we have avidly implemented measures to set the stage for the next period of growth, including "Increase transaction volume for the leasing and installment business," "Step up activities to realize a highly efficient and high-earning business structure," "Expand the financial services business," and "Develop human resources."

In the leasing and installment business, we are working to establish a stable business foundation by further strengthening our relationships with leading vendors in such fields as office equipment, IT equipment and medical equipment. We have also revised our organizational structure to increase points of contact with preferential customers such as major corporations and government agencies. Through these measures we are steadily and efficiently building up our performance record, while working to maintain and expand high-quality operating assets.

In the financial services business, we have set a target to increase the proportion of operating income from financial services to 20% over the medium to long term. To achieve this we will continue to focus on expanding support of health business financing services and fee-based businesses such as collection services, as well as on developing and offering new types of services.

Alongside these sales activities, we also consider measures to enhance efficiency and profitability as essential to strengthening our business foundation. These include reducing bad debt expenses with tighter screening and rigorous risk management, as well as enhancing the strength of the organizational framework through continual reform of business processes.

We will continue to provide disclosure as quickly as possible, and to maintain active communication with shareholders and investors. Thank you for your continued support of Ricoh Leasing.