Materiality

The H.U. Group’s definition of materiality covers, as the elements that impact the creation of corporate value in the medium term, general intangible assets including customer assets, intellectual property, and the brand, going beyond the standpoint of environment, society, and governance (ESG).

Each year, the H.U. Group Sustainability Committee will determine whether the materiality cycle needs to be updated in response to changes in the external environment, and the H.U. Group will operate the updated cycle.

Based on the materiality established in fiscal 2018, and mainly taking into account ISO 26000 and GRI Standards, we identified issues from the perspective of our stakeholders in accordance with our new medium-term plan, which addresses changes in the business environment. Our management engaged in discussions accordingly and, following approval by the President and Group CEO, we disclosed our new materiality in the integrated report 2020.

In order to upgrade the issues identified, the H.U. Group Sustainability Committee created a materiality aligned with our Mission and Vision that are particularly important in terms of “importance to the H.U. Group” and “importance to long-term investors” such as financial reporting, innovation opportunities, and the impact of regulations and industry norms (supporting double materiality *1).

The Board of Directors of H.U. Group Holdings discussed and coordinated the Group's material issues and approved them for the first time.

We will review and update the materiality once a year, taking into account progress in addressing the issues and changes in the business environment. (supporting dynamic materiality *2).

In April 2023, we revised our material issues, adding human resource development. This reflects our determination that it will be important for us to focus more than ever on human resource development to achieve sustainable growth.