A message to shareholders and investors from Kenji Yoshida, Representative Director, President and COO of Oriental Land Co., Ltd.

Biography

During the fiscal year ended March 2024, our external environment took a turn for the better due to factors such as the downgrading of COVID-19 to a Class 5 infectious disease and an increase in the number of inbound tourists to Japan. At Tokyo Disney Resort, we hosted Tokyo Disney Resort 40th Anniversary events and other special events at a restored scale, allowing us to offer a wide range of enriched contents. Consequently, attendance reached 27.51 million, exceeding both the level recorded in the previous fiscal year and our projection.

 

We have also been able to maintain net sales per guest at high levels despite growing attendance. This is primarily attributable to strong demand for merchandise and menu offerings related to the 40th Anniversary events and Disney Premier Access, as well as our flexible ticket price-setting.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted us to reconsider in depth our purpose as a company as well as our business structure. The Group made all-out, unified and tireless efforts to generate imaginative and innovative ideas with the aim of creating happiness for our guests. As a result, our net sales and operating profit for the fiscal year ended March 2024 hit record highs, a tremendously delightful outcome that has provided a great boost to our self-confidence. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of the stakeholders who have been sustaining the Group, including our guests, shareholders and investors, for their support, without which we could never have achieved this successful outcome.
 

At the time we announced 2024 Medium-term Plan in April 2022, we designated the period covered by the plan as a time to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to take on new challenges. Accordingly, we have been making efforts to enhance guests’ experience value and restore our financial performance.

 

As part of our endeavors to increase guests’ experience value, we have started offering Disney Premier Access and the Tokyo Disney Resort 40th Anniversary Priority Pass with the aim of allowing each guest to enjoy our Parks in their own way while easing the limits on daily attendance.

 

Up until the fiscal year ended March 2024, we took cautious steps to relax the limits on attendance in consideration of the Park environment and guests’ experience value. Going forward, if we are to push up annual attendance figures and financial performance, it will be imperative to further even out attendance. We intend to continue with our endeavors to level out attendance through flexible ticket price-setting based on variable pricing and various special events and other contents.

 

With regard to our financial performance, we were able to achieve ahead of schedule our financial targets for the fiscal year ending March 2025, which were set at the time the 2024 Medium-term Plan was initially presented. We therefore updated our targets for the fiscal year ending March 2025 to: a record high consolidated operating profit at the \160 billion level; consolidated operating cash flow at the \180 billion level; and ROE on the level of 11%. Our results for the fiscal year ended March 2024 having been robust enough to exceed our targets, we will be seeking to achieve an even higher level in the fiscal year that follows. Given the diminished effect of Tokyo Disney Resort 40th Anniversary events, it will by no means be easy to set new record highs, but we are determined to make unified efforts to accomplish the revised targets.

 

The fiscal year ending March 2025 will be the final year under 2024 Medium-term Plan. We will avidly pursue challenges for the future while pushing forward the measures we have been preparing to implement.

Fantasy Springs, Tokyo DisneySea’s new themed port, will open on June 6, 2024 at long last. Comprised of three areas inspired by Disney films and our sixth Disney Hotel offering guest rooms of the highest grade, Fantasy Springs is our star of hope, a creation that draws on the experience and wisdom long acquired by Oriental Land and The Walt Disney Company.

 

Following the opening, we will initially control the capacity of the themed port with the aim of offering high-level experience value to guests visiting the section, but we will work to improve our operations so that the new offering can be enjoyed by as many guests as possible.

 

We are convinced that the addition of Fantasy Springs to the one-and-only Tokyo DisneySea will further enhance its brand value. We will continue to deliver the greatest happiness to our guests by maximizing what Fantasy Springs has to offer.
 

April 2024

Kenji Yoshida, President and COO