ÆON MALL is pushing ahead with the opening of new shopping malls and the development of a new mall format. At the same time, the Company seeks to strengthen initiatives that will accelerate the pace of openings and the development of sites for new malls.

ÆON MALL’s capacity to open new shopping malls in Japan is formidable. This is reflected in the frequency with which local governments from around the country approach the Company regarding mall development potential. It is also reflected in the strong reputation that ÆON MALL commands among many specialty store companies, who frequently name its malls as desired locations for opening new stores. We intend to open two to three malls per year in the near future, with a quickening of pace planned from fiscal 2013 to four to six per year.

Going forward, we will aggressively expand openings of urban shopping malls in the Greater Tokyo region, and the conurbations centered on Nagoya and Osaka. Our plans also include expansion in government-ordinance-designated cities, and cities with populations of 500,000 or more. Central to these efforts will be a new format for urban shopping malls tailored for small-scale commercial areas.

At existing shopping malls, ÆON MALL is speeding up renovation initiatives in order to boost earnings and attain sustainable growth by enhancing the ability of these facilities to attract customers.

Sales at the average shopping mall start to soften 5 to 6 years after its opening. With this in mind, we will make constant adjustments to maintain the attractiveness of our malls to customers. For example, along with systematic floor space expansion, when our tenant’s 6-year leases expire, we look to bring in exciting new tenants, and make major changes to the location or format of existing tenants. On average, we will renovate 40 to 60% of the tenants in a given mall in pursuit of increased revenues.

ÆON MALL intends to promote its property management business in order to secure new sources of revenue and expand its business bases in Japan.

Our PM business provides a stable stream of income for two reasons: the complete lack of investment risk, and strong incentives to foster increased sales. In a business climate marked by an increasing disparity between successful and unsuccessful shopping malls, there is healthy demand for our services as a specialist renovator of commercial facilities. Our medium-term goals are to secure two PM contracts per year, in addition to the several projects we are already currently involved in.

Another area of interest for us is the potential for revenue growth in our mall media business. The combination of available space and customer attraction makes our shopping malls prime tools for advertising and other media-related activities.

Strong economic growth in China and its ASEAN neighbors to the south has sparked two trends–suburbanization and widespread car ownership– that, to us, indicate the dawn of the age of the shopping mall. Taking this cue, we intend to further expand our shopping mall development business in Asia and thereby enhance corporate value.

We see a real market opportunity for the mall business in China. The rate of car ownership is skyrocketing, and yet there are no shopping centers tailored to the growing suburban areas of major cities.

Our policy in China, going forward, is primarily to gain a dominant position in the key markets of Beijing and Tianjin, while at the same time pursuing development in other regions. We will also focus on developing new malls in the ASEAN region. We are aiming to increase the number of our facilities overseas by double-digit figures, or more, each year from fiscal 2014.