JAPANESE giant Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) has announced a change in president.
Tadaaki Naito’s tenure has come to an end after four years, being replaced by Hitoshi Nagasawa.
Mr Naito becomes company chairman, a role some have said is largely ceremonial in Japanese corporate culture.
In justifying the change, the company noted recent losses recorded by the company during its NYK Group Medium-Term Management Plan.
“The consolidated results for the first year of the plan were recurring loss of US$2bn and loss attributable to owners of parent of US$44.5bn,” the company stated.
“These losses were recorded mainly due to the negative impact as well as extraordinary losses of the liner trade and air cargo transportation segment and due to related expenses for structural reforms of the dry bulk business. We are viewing the results of this year seriously.”
According to NYK, they had been implementing measures to improve financial results and also to strengthen NYK group’s corporate governance since last year.
“Additionally, the extraordinary losses including the expenses for structural reforms result in strengthening our business structure and performance,” the company stated.
