OREANDA-NEWS. The Kobe Steel Group launched KOBELCO VISION “G” in 2010 to actively undertake business development overseas. In the previous business plan covering fiscal 2010-2012, the business environment worsened considerably beyond original assumptions. Kobe Steel's machinery-related businesses were relatively strong, but its materials business, in particular the steel business, faced a considerable decline in business performance. As a result, Kobe Steel posted a consolidated ordinary loss in fiscal 2012.

Under this situation, to achieve the future vision of the Kobe Steel Group under KOBELCO VISION “G,” Kobe Steel positions the Fiscal 2013-2015 Medium-Term Business Plan to rebuild the Group's business foundation over the next three years. The plan aims to strengthen profitability primarily in the steel business and improve the financial performance of the Group.

At the same time, the next three years are seen as the time to steadily lay the foundation for stable profits and business growth, looking ahead to the medium- to long-term future of fiscal 2016 and beyond. Kobe Steel will begin by reforming the structure of its steel business, strategically expanding the machinery business and expanding the power supply business.

Through these measures, Kobe Steel intends to strengthen the Group's diversified business operations, expanding the power supply business, in addition to its current two pillars of the materials business and the machinery business, in order to build a stable profit base.