I would like to express my deepest apologies for the fire incident that occurred at the Yokohama Works on Monday, February 12, 2018, which claimed the precious life of one person from our partner company. I would like to extend my profound condolences to the family of the deceased. Considering the seriousness of the incident, we have set up an accident investigation committee made up of externally invited persons of academic standing and experts to undertake a detailed factual investigation and a thorough investigation, in order to determine the cause of the accident and to develop measures and their execution plan designed to prevent a recurrence of such an accident.

At SDS Biotech, we're conducting business activities under a management philosophy of contribution to society through providing products that reflect our consideration to food safety and environmental protection, with our R&D serving as the foundation. As a company acting as the core of the agricultural chemical business of the Idemitsu Kosan Group, we serve to achieve the same goals in relation to the keywords of "food safety and security" and "expanding food demand", and feel that it's our mission to acknowledge our social responsibility and subsequently contribute to society.

To give an overview of the Company's recent efforts, we are accelerating the expansion of our overseas business and moving forward with the overseas deployment of our proprietary products, centering on paddy herbicides. We expect an increase in overseas sales volumes following the overseas registration of benzobicyclon in the US and Columbia in 2017. We are conducting overseas tests and are undertaking procedures for local registration with the aim of further expanding sales areas.
Daconil 1000, our flagship fungicide product, marked the 30th anniversary of its product launch in Japan last year, and we are grateful that the 30th anniversary campaign was concluded with great success. Daconil has been enjoying growing demand globally, and we will make efforts to resume production at the Yokohama Works at an early stage for farmers who need Daconil.

At SDS Biotech, we'll continue to look at things from a global perspective and aim for sustainable corporate growth through hands-on activities geared toward growth for the areas of market-oriented product development and sales.
Thus, we would like to humbly ask for your continued support in the future.

　April 2018

Junichi Takahashi
President & Representative Director