4544.T

• Leadership Transition: Takeo Ishikawa will assume the role of Representative Executive Officer President and Group CEO effective April 1, 2026. He acknowledges the strong foundation built by outgoing CEO Takeuchi, who unified previously fragmented business units under a single group identity and completed infrastructure development for the LTS and IVD business segments.
• Incoming CEO Background: Ishikawa joined the company (then Miraca Holdings, now H.U. Group Holdings) in 2012. He spent his first two years as General Manager of Strategic Planning at SRL, working on mid-term management plan execution with frequent visits to frontline operations including sales, testing, and logistics. In 2014 he transferred to Fujirebio, leading the push for global expansion, and became Fujirebio President in 2018, shifting the business from an overseas strategy centered on the in-house reagent Lumipulse to one centered on CDMO and partnerships. He implemented a global management structure with development and manufacturing across Japan, the U.S. and Europe, and included non-Japanese members in leadership.
• Key Past Milestones: In 2020, Fujirebio was one of the first companies globally to successfully develop a COVID-19 antigen test kit and began supplying it domestically and internationally. H.U. Group collaborated across SRL and Fujirebio to support national projects including airport quarantine testing and Olympic testing, which Ishikawa cites as a formative experience. Most recently, the group advanced global expansion of an Alzheimer's disease-related test reagent, gaining FDA approval in May of the previous year, a long-held goal that opens a new testing market for the company. The product is being commercialized globally via CDMO and partnerships, contributing to improved diagnosis and treatment for patients worldwide.
• Core Company Strength: H.U. Group's greatest competitive advantage is its technology-driven operations: it holds unique technology to develop new products and services, and maintains stable reagent manufacturing and testing operations that can be reliably supplied to the public, per Ishikawa.
• Core Strategic Goals: 1) Build strong, technology-backed businesses across all group subsidiaries (including SRL, Fujirebio, Nihon Steri) where each segment delivers technology-driven added value to meet customer needs; 2) Execute business strategy with a global outlook, maintaining a diverse and flexible approach to business models while working to establish a clear global position for H.U. Group Holdings as a leading Japanese healthcare company; 3) Achieve sustainable growth and social contribution by strengthening financial standing, talent development, and infrastructure to enable long-term stable supply of products and services. Full strategic details will be announced in May.

No specific forward-looking financial guidance (including upward/downward revisions or maintenance of prior targets) is provided in the available transcript. A full update to the mid-term management plan, incorporating recent changes to the market and technological landscape, will be released publicly in May.

No specific segment financial performance data (absolute revenue figures or revenue contribution percentages) is provided in the available transcript.

No specific discussion of operational risks or operational failures is provided in the available transcript. External market challenges are referenced during questioning, including: continued harsh business conditions for the domestic Japanese market (which still represents a large portion of the group's revenue, despite ongoing global expansion), ongoing changes to the competitive landscape, and continued pressure from medical fee revisions for hospital services.

Q: With many priorities for your tenure, what is the most fundamental core challenge facing H.U. Group today, and what are the highest-priority areas for change or investment over the short to medium term of 2 to 3 years?

A: Full details will be shared in May. For the near term, the key priority is to steadily advance the initiatives outlined in the mid-term management plan released last year, ensuring proper return on investments and reliable execution of all already approved plans. Fundamentally, the most important long-term focus is expanding new technology-backed products and services to address needs 2 to 3 years in the future, and we are steadily advancing work toward this goal.

Q: The succession plan was announced alongside the prior mid-term management plan, and management innovation initiatives were discussed in parallel with this transition. What is the current progress of these initiatives, and what can we expect to be shared at the May announcement?

A: We have held internal discussions on the company's future strategy and direction consistently since last May, and we will announce the finalized outcomes in May. No additional details can be shared at this time.

Q: From the stock market perspective, H.U. Group operates a broad range of businesses, and still relies heavily on the Japanese domestic market which faces challenging market conditions. Compared to global peer companies, the group lags slightly on ROIC and ROE metrics. While the domestic medical fee revision has had a slightly more positive impact recently, the operating environment remains difficult and the competitive landscape is shifting significantly. Much has changed in the market (including in China) since the prior mid-term management plan was released, even 8 months ago. Can you please include an updated market assessment and revised strategic direction that reflects current conditions in the May announcement, even if you do not revise the full mid-term plan?

A: You are correct that technology has advanced substantially and the market environment has changed significantly even compared to 8 months ago. It is important to incorporate these changes when evaluating how each business can build its own competitiveness, and we have held extensive internal discussions on this topic. We will reflect these considerations in the updated strategy we announce in May.

Q: Beyond formal company strategy, what core management priorities do you personally focus on as the incoming CEO, for example in terms of revenue growth, improving profitability, strengthening the balance sheet, or managing free cash flow?

A: It is absolutely critical for the company to build a stable foundation by delivering solid results for revenue, profit, and cash flow, and I will prioritize work in this direction. At the same time, we need to build mid-term competitiveness across all our business segments. Our industry requires us to address not just short-term results, but also mid-term market changes, so we need to conduct strategic reviews and portfolio adjustments that account for these longer-term time horizons. We will share the full structured approach to these priorities when we announce our updated strategy in May.