I would like to wish everyone a good year ahead this new year. We have recently crossed the third quarter of the current financial year and I am heartened to announce that through the collective effort of JEL’s management and staff, we are on track to achieve the targeted sales and profit for FY2017. I know that many of you have worked very hard to bring the Group forward to what it is today and I would like to thank you.
In the recent years, the energy market has changed rapidly. The landscape for power projects, which is our core market, has become more competitive due to environmental awareness such as global warming and increased competition from competitors. There is now less reliance on traditional power generation sources such as coal and gas and I foresee that there will be a transition towards renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power generation as the technology improves and become more cost efficient. In fact, Governments around the world have started to make regulatory policy changes and have embraced technological advancements by subsidizing the development of renewable energy and introducing new emission controls, leaning towards more varieties of renewable energy.
How do we adapt to the shift in the energy markets driven by the promotion of environmental protection and climate change? We should position ourselves well to effectively respond to changes in the energy markets and our immediate challenge is to overcome the “imminent crisis” and its impact to our businesses. The three key measures that will steer us through the challenges are firstly, diversification and expansion of our engineering capabilities and establishing effective project management. At the same time, we must proactively invest in strategic areas which are critical to our survival in the energy as well as other industrial plant business. Through our development programs, we will create an environment for our people to develop multi skills, to be able to perform multi tasks and strive. This in turn will give us the flexibility to more effectively deploy and assign our resources to various projects. Over the years, we have been a trusted partner to our business associates and clients. The confidence our partners have in us is of utmost importance. It is built on effective project management skills and our ability to deliver projects with quality, on schedule, within budget and to customer’s satisfaction. We will work towards replicating our success in building the “JEL” brand in existing and new markets and businesses.
Secondly, it is essential to renew our organization and businesses structure to be lean, flexible and effective. As we face more challenging business conditions, we expect additional pressure on both our revenue and profits. I am pleased that staff from all levels have taken the effort and contributed significantly towards costs containment. We have to continue to manage expenses prudently and further reduce our operational costs to maintain our profit margin to be able to stay financially strong.
Thirdly, with the five core values which underpin the culture of the JEL Group, we want to establish a firm position in the project value chain in all our three core business segments: Construction, EPC as well as Maintenance Solutions which focuses on the repair and rehabilitation services after project delivery. And we believe this can be achieved through efficient utilization of resources across JEL group of companies, with the goal to further cement our pronounced strengths in the construction field.
Our management policy 2014 – 2018 has resulted in positive business developments and growth of JEL Group of Companies. Moving forward, we will further refine the initiatives under the current management policy to bring our business to new heights.
The Group will focus on its core businesses, and key markets will be expanded upon and tapped on to harness the potential from upcoming power development projects. Concurrently, we will expand and diversify our capabilities to enable us to seek and optimize global opportunities.
We should not be contented with past successes. But with the measures I have mentioned, we will stamp our mark as Asia’s best, and to be recognised as “Asia’s No. 1 Engineering and Construction Service Provider” as we approach our 50th anniversary and beyond.
I look forward to meeting you – both our local and overseas staff at our annual dinner and dance which will be held on 23 February 2018.
I wish you and your family good health and a happy new year.
Masao Akamatsu
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
January 2018