Message from the President

Founded in 1896 as Mizuno-gumi in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Penta-Ocean Construction (POC) celebrated the 128th anniversary of the company’s founding. Over the decades, we expanded our business areas from initial marine civil engineering to land civil engineering and building construction. Starting with the Suez Canal Widening Project in 1961, we have been involved in many memorable projects overseas, mostly based in Singapore, since our first entry to the market in 1964. At present, our three business units of domestic civil engineering, domestic building construction and overseas, have roughly the same output in terms of net sales. We have developed into a company where these three business units contribute to profits in a balanced manner.

Penta-Ocean Construction group aims to become a “genuine global general contractor” who practices sustainability management. A “genuine global general contractor” is a company that has no barriers between Business Units (Civil engineering/Building Construction, Domestic/International). It is an advanced company in inter-departmental collaboration and DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion), where diverse employees, regardless of gender or nationality, can thrive. Penta-Ocean Construction Group undertakes construction business activities under the policy of "the greatest contribution to society is the construction of high-quality infrastructure." By delivering reliable safety and quality backed by advanced technologies in our construction business activities and tackling all sustainability issues from an ESG (Environment, Society and Governance) perspective, we make continued commitment to sustainable social development, as a genuine global general contractor with distinctive strengths in port, coastal and waterfront areas and overseas.

In order to drive sustainable corporate growth, we must, above all else, reaffirm our full commitment to tackling “Sustainability” issues from a global perspective, in all our business and corporate activities. Under the new Medium-term Management Plan (2023-2025), which was launched in May 2023, we have designated our new corporate vision, which outlines our aspiration of becoming a “Genuine global general contractor” who practices sustainability management. To this end, we have been undertaking various initiatives to promote sustainability management, including development of frameworks to tackle specific issues, such as identification of the Materiality issues, embracing respect for humanity and building sustainable supply chains, etc. In FY 3/25, our target is to roll out sustainability management practices across all our branch offices and construction sites, both at home and abroad.

In exploring sustainability management, integrity in corporate activities is paramount, and all executives and employees must uphold high ethical standards and the spirit of compliance. In May 2023, we revised and released the Code of Conduct. It outlines the standard behavior requirements as a member of society and defines the compliance framework to abide by for each executive and employee of POC Group. We will pursue fair and honest corporate activities by exerting further efforts to ensure strict compliance with laws and regulations, fair competition, management transparency and accountability.

Another key pillar of sustainability management is respect for humanity. While making further efforts to ensure occupational health and safety with safety as the top priority, we also started incorporating specific measures to work on one of the aforementioned Materiality issues of "Respecting human rights and building sustainable supply chain". In FY 3/24, we established the Human Rights Committee, formulated and released the Human Rights Policy, and started the human rights due diligence initiatives primarily targeted for POC Group. From FY 3/25 onwards, we will implement specific measures to cope with individual issues identified through the above human rights due diligence processes, followed by their continuous monitoring. In an effort to develop sustainable supply chains, we strive to disseminate the "Sustainable Supply Chain Policy" and the "Sustainable Supply Chain Guidelines", which were formulated and disclosed in November 2023, widely among all POC officers and employees and across our business partners. As a first step to develop sustainable supply chains in tandem with our business partners, we requested our main business partners to fill out a self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ). It is our responsibility to ensure proper contract pricing which reflects rising labor and material costs when engaging subcontractors or business partners.
We will undertake the above initiatives so we can build rapport with our subcontractors and business partners to practice sustainable construction business activities.

Furthermore, to foster a society where people with diverse backgrounds can thrive, we promote DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) initiatives. We endeavor to create a workplace where employees with diverse backgrounds, regardless of gender or nationality, can work together with mutual respect and enthusiasm, and promote Work Style Reform. As we view the improvement in productivity to be the key component in successful Work Style Reform, we strive to encourage technological innovation and management reform by way of Digital Transformation (DX). Amid the increasing business volume, we endeavor to help our employees adapt to the new overtime cap regulations enforced in April 2024, by encouraging acquisition of two days off per week and by keeping overtime work within 45 hours per month bimonthly. To this end, we strive to incorporate organizational strategies to implement rotational working hours, timely provision of manpower and sufficient on-site support, without relinquishing overtime management responsibilities to individual worker or construction site.

As for coping with climate change issues, we are promoting Green Transformation (GX) with a pioneering spirit, which is part of our corporate DNA. By making continuous efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions in construction activities and advancing the construction of offshore wind farms and net zero energy buildings (ZEB), we will contribute to the achievement of carbon neutrality.

By placing sustainability management at the heart of our corporate management, and by ensuring close corporation with all our officers, employees as well as our subcontractors, Penta-Ocean Construction Group will strive to promote sustainable construction business activities from an ESG perspective. We would appreciate your continuous guidance and support.