Deteriorating Business Environment Due to Rising Fuel Costs and Sharp Foreign Exchange Fluctuations

「Higher fuel prices since February 2026, against the backdrop of heightened tensions in the Middle East, could affect airlines’ profitability, and developments will need to be monitored.」

「Manufacturing issues at aircraft manufacturers, delays in the supply of parts, chronic labor shortages, and higher operating costs associated with interest-rate and foreign-exchange movements and geopolitical risks remain unresolved business challenges.」

「For JOL products, investor decision-making continued to take time because foreign-exchange volatility was extremely high and the yen remained weaker than initially assumed. As a result, the sales plan fell behind schedule and actual sales were below the initial forecast.」

「Economic and financial conditions changed significantly as the Bank of Japan raised its policy rate, concerns grew about a slowdown in the U.S. economy, and the yen rapidly corrected its previous depreciation against the U.S. dollar.」

「The economic environment surrounding our group remains uncertain, owing to the slowdown in the Chinese economy, worldwide increases in prices and interest rates, and the continuing historically weak yen.」

「In product sales, there were periods of significant foreign-exchange volatility, as in the previous year.」

「Passenger demand in the aviation industry has recovered to levels close to those before the COVID-19 pandemic, and recovery in the performance of airlines has been confirmed from time to time. However, costs continue to rise because of higher wages and fuel expenses, so developments must be monitored in light of global conditions.」

「Although the domestic economy showed a gradual recovery in socioeconomic activity as the effects of COVID-19 subsided, uncertainty about the outlook continued because of concerns about an economic slowdown caused by global monetary tightening and higher import prices due to yen depreciation.」

「In product sales, in response to cooling investor sentiment toward dollar-denominated JOLCO products caused by sharp foreign-exchange movements, we worked to promote sales through measures including higher investor-referral fees for partners and discounted sales.」

「Sales of JOLCO products remained sluggish, partly because investor appetite weakened as the yen rapidly strengthened from levels in the ¥150 range, the first such level in 32 years.」

「In the aviation and shipping industries in which our group operates, the operating environment has become increasingly challenging because of higher fuel costs, sharp foreign-exchange movements and other factors.」