I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Hokkoku Financial Holdings and other Group companies for their special support.

We would also like to express our deepest condolences to those who lost their lives in the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake, and our heartfelt sympathy to all those affected by the disaster.

For future reconstruction, the Group will make concerted efforts to advance initiatives aimed at further evolving Noto and Ishikawa in an effort to support the creation of more attractive communities.

Despite the impact of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, the economy is expected to benefit from after the pandemic and demand for tourism by extending the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga. Under such an environment, we recorded 9.0billion yen in consolidated profit after tax and were able to distribute cash dividends of 110yen per share, in the fiscal year ended March 31,2024. We owe these results to the long-standing trust extended by our customers, shareholders，employees，and many other stakeholders, and would like to express our sincere gratitude.

Under the medium-to long-term business strategy 2024, which we have updated recently, we will work to enhancement our corporate value with Achieve PBR ratio of 1x or more as soon as possible by enhancement ROE and controlling cost of capital.

For shareholder returns, we plan to achieve a total return ratio of 50% or higher by conducting share repurchases at a scale of 3.0billion yen and increasing the dividend per share by 10yen, for a dividend of 120yen.

In the promotion of priority businesses, we will execute strategies for each of our brushed-up business ,including efforts to further improve regional productivity through the popularization of the deposit-type stable coin "TOCHIKA" and the "Hokkoku Digital Banking" Internet banking for corporations, which were launched in April 2024. In addition, we will strive to improve the quality of profits generated by our customer-oriented and sustainable business model by expanding into other industries through establishment of a new advanced company, selling various systems developed in-house,and advancing new business concepts for advanced and distinctive quality regions.

In the area of human capital, we will actively utilize AI and further strengthen our investment in human resource development to boost each employee's ability to create added value and contribute to the further development of the region.

We will continue our activities to make everyone's lifestyles better and to create a better society under the slogan of "Quality Company, Good Company." We look forward to your continued support in these endeavors.