We will now begin the briefing on the Medium-term Management Plan for 2026 by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us today. There are some housekeeping announcements. We will take on a hybrid format today with participants joining us from their venue, Zoom webinar, and online. CEO Hori is going to give a presentation for about 25 minutes using the presentation material shown on the screen. Following the presentation, we will entertain your questions. Before we begin, we would like to inform you that copyright of today's audio belongs to us and our management company. Please refrain from reproducing or diverting all or part of the audio without permission for any purpose. Today's meeting will be recorded and will be available on demand on Mitsui's website at a later date.
Let me now introduce you to the presenters, CEO Hori. CFO Shigeta. Global Controller Kurihara. I'll be moderating this session today from IR. My name is Konishi. Now we'd like to begin the briefing. Thank you.
Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. I'm Kenichi Hori, CEO. I'd like to present the details of our Medium-term Management Plan 2026. Today, I will begin with a review of the previous Medium-term Management Plan and then address the new Medium-term Management Plan with the theme of Creating Sustainable Futures. We'll go over what we are aiming to achieve over the three-year term, as well as the strategies regarding this. The period covered by the previous Medium-term Management Plan, or MTMP, was a period in which the company's ability to respond to significant changes in the environment was tested. Under these conditions, Mitsui posted Core Operating Cash Flow of JPY 1,205.5 billion, and a profit of JPY 1,130.6 billion, both hitting record levels, while ROE reached 18.9%.
Shareholder returns as a percentage of core operating cash flow over the three year period was 34.4%, exceeding our target of 33%. When calculated against profit, the total payout ratio was 43.6%. I will now reflect on Mitsui's earnings power over the last 15 years, starting from fiscal year March 2009, when the global financial crisis occurred. In fiscal year March 2016, commodity prices plunged. I think you can see that we have been able to stably generate core operating cash flow, which forms the base for future growth investments and shareholder returns, even in situations such as these. Furthermore, by reducing costs in each business and making rearrangements in our portfolio, we have been able to build a strong business portfolio that can securely capture the upside of the changing business environment.
This led to increases in Core Operating Cash Flow and profit, both of which reached over JPY 1 trillion in fiscal year March 2023. Mitsui has expanded shareholder returns by increasing dividends in line with the continuous increase in cash flow and increasing capital efficiency through share repurchases since fiscal year March 2014. As a result, shareholder returns as a percentage of Core Operating Cash Flow over the three years of the previous MTMP was 34%, cumulative total payout exceeded JPY 1 trillion, and dividend per share increased by 12% annually over the past 15 years, reaching JPY 140 per share in fiscal year March 2023, JPY 5 raise from previous forecast.
When we look at the previous MTMP from a qualitative perspective, Mitsui has increased its ability to generate cash and shareholder returns, as mentioned earlier, by steadily promoting transform and grow through the execution of our corporate strategy, as shown here. I will now outline our new MTMP. The theme of the new MTMP is Creating Sustainable Futures. Mitsui aims to create strong business clusters and new industries by placing sustainability at the center of management, unearthing social challenges in all industries from the perspective of global sustainability, and using that as a foundation for creating new business innovation. The theme of Creating Sustainable Futures was established based on key environmental recognition on the largest of scales, our planet. We will raise the stakes of our achievements in the previous MTMP and press ahead with further transformation and growth.
Next, I will explain our quantitative or quantitative targets of the new MTMP. The Core Operating Cash Flow and profit illustrated here are the quantitative targets for fiscal year March 2026, which is the final year of the new MTMP. We will aim for JPY 1 trillion in Core Operating Cash Flow and JPY 920 billion in profit. In addition, we'll aim for ROE averaging over 12% for the three years of the MTMP. To further expand shareholder returns, we will target raising the level of shareholder returns as a percentage of Core Operating Cash Flow to around 37% for the three cumulative years over the MTMP. We will newly introduce a progressive dividend with a minimum annual dividend of JPY 150 per share in fiscal year March 2024, JPY 10 increase from fiscal year March 2023.
This graph shows the cash flow trend of adjusted Core Operating Cash Flow based on commodity prices and foreign exchange assumptions for fiscal year March 2026. Through continuous transformation of the business portfolio, we have shown resilience to downward pressure in our ability to generate cash flow, even in the COVID-19 environment, have also captured pent-up demand in the recovery period from COVID-19 to achieving significant growth. You should be able to see that our business portfolio has both downside resilience and the ability to capture upside potential depending on the business environment. From fiscal year March 2024, we have assumed that commodity prices will revert, even in such an environment, we are projecting a stable Core Operating Cash Flow of around JPY 1 trillion in fiscal year March 2026 onwards. It is possible that we will capture further upside depending on the business environment.
This graph shows a base profit that excludes one-time factors and adjusts for commodity prices and foreign exchange set at the levels we expect them to be in fiscal year March 2026. With these assumptions, base profit in fiscal year March 2020 and fiscal year March 2023 are calculated as JPY 560 billion and JPY 750 billion respectively. In the previous MTMP, we have enhanced our base profit through our stable supply function, including trading and expansion of business clusters in adjacent areas. Our intention is to increase the base profit by JPY 170 billion to JPY 920 billion in fiscal year March 2026 by accelerating the initiatives that showed material achievements in the previous MTMP.
I will explain the strategies we will employ to address our theme of Creating Sustainable Futures laid out in the new MTMP. We have newly established five company-wide corporate strategies and three Key Strategic Initiatives for the allocation of management resources with priority. The first corporate strategy is enhancement of the ability to make global cross-industry proposals. Cross-industry approach in a global scale is essential in providing solutions to increasing complex global issues. Mitsui's business unit system and global metrics system has the strength of low barriers between business units and regions, enabling flexible and dynamic coordination. By utilizing this, it is possible to combine Mitsui's functional strengths globally and across industries to enhance the ability to offer the most optimal solution at the time in response to increasingly complex social issues. I will explain our approach in the domestic business.
We view the structural changes in Japanese industry to be business opportunity and will contribute to the sustained growth of Japan as a global company with our roots here by creating cross-industry businesses together with diverse stakeholders. The second corporate strategy is a promotion of our business model. Our intention is to drive forward our business model of Create, Grow, and Extend, which is unique to Mitsui, and form cross-industry business clusters by combining our core and the adjacent businesses. By strengthening business and forming business clusters in these familiar areas where Mitsui has knowledge of this business, we aim to increase the probability of success and achieve growth. One of the foundations for Create in our business model is a Moon Creative Lab that became operational in 2019.
Moon is a platform that handles the R&D functions of Mitsui, forming new businesses and accelerating challenges to address new businesses. The third corporate strategy is further deepening of sustainability management. In order to realize the theme of the new MTMP, Creating Sustainable Futures, we are driving responses to social issues such as climate change, natural capital, and business and human rights throughout the entire supply chain. We provide optimal solutions to these issues through business and seek for both sustainability and profitability. In our responses to climate change, we will continue to transform our business portfolio for the realization of a decarbonized society. Mitsui's target for 2030 is to halve the GHG impact compared to fiscal year March 2020, and achieve a renewable energy ratio of over 30% in our power generation portfolio.
In fiscal year March 2026, which is the final year of the new MTMP, we expect to reduce the GHG impact down to 27 million tons and increase our renewable energy ratio to 27%. The next corporate strategy is strengthening of group management capability. It is necessary to increase productivity per person in order to continuously drive the transformation of Mitsui's business portfolio. We will efficiently and effectively implement great achievements with the same number of personnel through both data-driven management and full utilization of group assets.
The fifth corporate strategy is the promotion of globally diverse individuals. We will further accelerate investing in our people in order to promote autonomous career development. The three pronged human resources strategy of developing capable individuals, inclusion, and strategic assignment of personnel remains unchanged from the previous MTMP. Furthermore, we will support the transformation of the business portfolio by improving the productivity of each employee and seeking value-added work. I will now explain the Key Strategic Initiatives in our new MTMP. Based on the deepening of the strategic focus initiatives of the previous MTMP and key changes in the environment occurring in recent years, we have established the three Key Strategic Initiatives as areas where Mitsui can demonstrate its strengths. The first Key Strategic Initiative is Industrial Business Solutions. This diagram shows our strategy and path to profit enhancement through the creation and growth of business clusters in adjacent business areas.
In Industrial Business Solutions, we provide advanced schemes contributing to stable supply through our globally extended business portfolio. This is an initiative related to resource development, materials and food, etc, essential for the advancement of society, and the mobility and infrastructure, including digital, etc, supporting industry. I will introduce our efforts in the mobility area as a specific example. By utilizing our business portfolio spanning globally by region and function, we plan to form mobility business clusters supporting industry. For example, in North America, we'll seek synergies with existing businesses such as Penske Group and develop businesses in adjacent areas. In Asia, we will form business clusters capturing the economic growth of each country. Through these initiatives, we'll increase the number of business clusters in the mobility area from three in fiscal year March 2023 to nine in fiscal year March 2026.
The second Key Strategic Initiative is Global Energy Transition. We will provide the latest available optimum solutions through business from the perspective of both stable energy supply and climate change in order to transition into a decarbonized society in a sustainable manner. Our path to create and grow businesses by providing various solutions to achieve a decarbonized society while fulfilling the responsibility for stable energy supply is shown on this slide. This is the overview of projects worldwide that Mitsui is working on. Projects that are under operation and fulfilling the responsibility of stable supply, such as LNG, are plotted in the map. In addition, we have plotted many businesses that are expected to reach a turning point, such as final investment decisions or commencement of operation during the new MTMP.
We will carefully select the opportunities from our pipeline and promote those businesses in order to realize a decarbonized society. As a result, we expect a new increase in invested capital in this area of approximately JPY 1 trillion over the three years of new MTMP and aim for ROIC to be over 5% in fiscal year March 2026 and over 9% in fiscal year March 2030. This is the value chain we intend to realize through Mitsui's Global Energy Transition. In addition to existing businesses such as natural gas, LNG, copper, and renewable energy, we'll actively engage in the business development of areas such as next-generation fuels and direct reduced iron and strive to create new value chains during the period covered by the new MTMP. The third Key Strategic Initiative is Wellness Ecosystem Creation.
In addition to healthcare and prevention, we'll contribute to improvement in quality of life through the provision of healthy food and nutrition. This is the food and nutrition value chain realized through Wellness Ecosystem Creation. We'll create much added value along the value chain, such as stable supply of food, reduction of environmental impact, and the provision of food in response to diverse needs. In the wellness business cluster, we'll contribute to health through nutrition and food and provide efficient and effective healthcare and prevention through accelerated coordination of healthcare-related businesses by data utilization.
As I have explained to this point, we will promote the expansion of business along each Key Strategic Initiative, but each initiative is also closely linked to one another. Therefore, we can create new value chains and ecosystems by combining these initiatives. For example, in the fusion of Global Energy Transition and Industrial Business Solutions, the energy solutions business unit is serving as a hub to amass knowledge from inside and outside the company and accelerate cross-industry initiatives. As a result, we have been able to concurrently promote numerous and various projects as indicated in this diagram. In another example, by combining Industrial Business Solutions and Wellness Ecosystem Creation, we will support stable supply of food from further upstream in the value chain such as seeds, fertilizer, and crops, and make the Wellness Ecosystem Creation devised by Mitsui much stronger.
As a result, we expect net invested capital in this area to be approximately JPY 350 billion over the three years covered by the new MTMP, and aim for ROIC to be over 5% in fiscal year March 2026. From here, I will explain the allocation of management resources and the shareholder returns policy. We have worked on ROIC-based management and enhancement of shareholder returns during the previous MTMP. We will further deepen this approach in the new MTMP and promote earnings improvement, enhanced shareholder returns, and optimal capital structure. Based on these initiatives, Mitsui has established a three year average ROE of over 12% as a KPI for the new MTMP, and aims for sustained improvement of ROE that exceeds the cost of equity.
In terms of our ROIC management, since the previous MTMP, we have been establishing ROIC targets for different businesses and monitoring the progress of achieving those targets, as well as coming up with ways for improvement. To use our lifestyle segment as an example on the left, we will optimize the amount of invested capital by reducing working capital, reducing low profitability assets, and making strategic asset recycling, while at the same time making gross investments in areas expected to make early contribution to profit. Our target is to improve ROIC in this segment by 2% in fiscal year March 2026. I will explain cash flow allocation. Under the new MTMP, we will thoroughly enhance cash management, a feature of Mitsui.
We forecast cash in of JPY 3.62 trillion, comprising core operating cash flow of JPY 2.75 trillion and asset recycling of JPY 870 billion. As for cash out, we forecast JPY 570 billion for sustaining our existing businesses and JPY 1.17 trillion in post FID and policy-confirmed growth investments. This includes large-scale investments such as making Aim Services our wholly owned subsidiary and the tender offer and business integration of Relia. Including these, there are approximately JPY 400 billion worth of investments which were intended during the previous MTMP but did not reach execution. In addition, there are pipeline projects for which negotiations are currently ongoing and probability of execution is considerably heightened.
As for shareholder returns, the remaining amount of ongoing share repurchase, announced in February 2023 is JPY 70 billion, and the total minimum dividend is expected to be JPY 680 billion. Based on these cash in, out projections, our Management Allocation is expected to be JPY 1.13 trillion. Through the Management Allocation framework, we will continue strategic cash allocation aimed at balancing carefully selected growth investment and enhancement of additional shareholder returns while maintaining our basic policy of positive cash flow after shareholder returns. This slide shows the expected timing of profit contribution by investments made during the previous MTMP and growth investments scheduled to be executed during the new MTMP. You can see that we expect steady expansion of profits along each Key Strategic Initiative during the period covered by the new MTMP. Moving on to shareholder returns.
We will stably and flexibly enhance shareholder returns in line with the expansion of cash flow. Specifically, as explained earlier, we will increase the annual dividend from the previous forecast by JPY 5 to JPY 140. We will further increase the dividend by JPY 10 to JPY 150 per share from the previous period in fiscal year March 2024, ensure stability through the introduction of a progressive dividend, and also continue to flexibly make share repurchases as we have done in the past. We will continue with our challenge and innovation concept to solve issues and aim to be the partner of choice among various stakeholders, doing so through Creating Sustainable Futures, the theme of our new MTMP. That concludes my presentation. Thank you very much.
Now we'd like to begin Q&A session. Those of you who have questions, in the venue, please raise your hands. The microphone will be brought to you, so please identify yourself and your affiliation before you ask questions. If you are participating on Zoom, if you have questions, please use Raise Hand function on the screen. When your turn is coming, your name will be called, and please identify yourself and your affiliation first before you ask questions. Please ask questions two questions at a time, and please state all the questions at a time. You can ask many, as many questions as you like, but, we may limit the number of questions, in the interest of time. Now I would like to open the floor for questions. Thank you very much for the presentation. There are two questions.
It's a qualitative question. In the Medium-term Management Plan, this time, the overall concept is what I'd like to ask. In terms of tactics in the previous MTMP was not wrong, and you are just following the same path based on that assumption, and there is no major change in overall concept. As you promote the new MTMP and them after that MTMP, what would be the most important point that you would like to emphasize and appeal to the investors as President? For example, differentiation from other trading houses or positioning of Mitsui & Co. on a global positioning. What would be the point that you would like to appeal and emphasize most? Maybe the partner of choice, aiming for that, may be your answer, but that's my first question.
The second question, on page 33, the optimum capital structure. The KPI, as are all mentioned, what will be the balance sheet in three years' time? That is not clear to me. After the March 2023, 0.5 times of is the starting point and that on FDR is going to be reduced. How did you discuss this optimal capital structure? What would be the optimal structure in three years' time? In the previous MTMP, JPY 1.2 trillion in cash on hand is still unused. How are you going to go about utilizing that in the balance sheet during the new MTMP? The optimum balance of capital structure is something that I'd like to ask about.
Thank you for the questions. President Hori will answer the question. Thank you for the questions. First, on the first question. Well, the, including geopolitics, the global volatility has been heightened as much as you have seen, and there are so many issues that are facing the world. Creating Sustainable Futures is the theme that we have come up with that in mind. In order to realize that, we are rooted in this, in Japan, as a global company. We see ourselves as such, and global and intercompany consortium can be formed. We have to have a track record and capability to be able to do that, in order to survive as an excellent global company.
Through this new MTMP, various initiatives, will have to be realized to become companies like that. That's what we are aiming for. What characterizes the trading houses as a whole is that there are so many different business units and departments, and as you saw in the slide today, we have lowered the barriers through across the business units significantly. You have to also be quite well-versed in each country in order to respond to global situation. We will be deepening our footprint in the countries that we have businesses in, and we have to utilize our knowledge.
After that, only after that, we can form the consortium, and we can function as a corporation that can realize that, and that is something that we should be mindful of. Fortunately for us, not just for Japan, obviously, but in the U.S. or in Asia and the, in Americas, Asia, and in the southern hemisphere-derived businesses are done, and we are also taking on new challenges in Europe and China also obviously has the potential as a market. We are doing various activities on a global scale, and we have to hit the right balance in, on a global basis.
There are several cases that you've seen, and we have to strengthen them further so that we have a history of cluster of businesses and then we have to strengthen that further, and we have to get united to work on that. To answer your second question, ROE or balance sheet, as we said, but there is an ever-changing business environment. We have to be well prepared. That's how I feel as CEO of the company, and how we can actually deploy that build and actually look at the projects in person and explore various projects with various multiple people. That's what we have done.
There are several times more in terms of the number in the pipeline than the ones that we already have as projects. In the second half of the pandemic period, including those who are in the front line, globally, we have been able to move functionally. There are some projects that have been formed at earlier stage. It was not in the including the cash out in the previous MTMP, but that will be included in the cash out in the new MTMP. These are all excellent projects, so we will give priority to those in terms of execution. Among those rich list of pipelines, higher profitability will be looked at, and also capital, cost of capital is now on the increase as in other companies.
Furthermore, there's inflationary economy in place. We have to be able to form prices in businesses, and we have to select those business that allow us to do that. We have to be very selective, you know, to do that. Selectivity of projects and enhancement of quality of the projects and control of timetable of the projects, those are things that we have to do. There might be some good performing projects that may come out. The preparations that we've done in the previous MTMP will bear fruit in the new MTMP.
In the model, the present model for cash allocation for the three year period, the investment activities that have been selected carefully and also returns that we like to give back to shareholders, and also financial position that can be resilient in the downside, and also resilience in the very challenging environment. Those are all taken into account. D/E ratio has been quite low, very low, and comfortably low. As a company, we have to be able to agile, and we do have room to allow us to do that. Based on that, we would like to proceed. ROE is important, and we have to enhance capital efficiency, and returns have to be done on a certain level.
Increasing capital efficiency, and we have to turn the cap equity at a certain cycle, so plan. It's not that we are sticking with a single index. We have to look at the future business environment, and there could be various moves that are potentially done. We have to be broad enough to cover that. Also, we also have to take into account various KPIs. Does that answer your question? Thank you.
I would like to ask two questions. The first question, JPY 920 billion of net profit, which is a target this time, I do not know the specifics, it depends on the launching pad. The actual ability, maybe the recycling is an ability that is included. I think excluding the one-time figures, it will be about JPY 900 billion. In the three years, it will be up JPY 220 billion. Of course, you talked about the Key Strategic Initiatives. Energy Transition may be the area in which is going to be producing a lot of profit. How are you going to grow? On page 35, you talk about the starting point of the profit contribution from the past pipelines.
What is the return you expect from each of the project? That is not visible from the outside, the possibility of successes. In the past, you were able to cut the loss projects, and you were able to move on to profit-making initiatives, and it was quite easy to see. However, you are looking at the new investments and also profit contribution for each one of the initiatives you're going to start. Maybe, I'm asking for you to explain page 35 in detail, but can you talk about the possibility of success of the different projects outlined on page 35, please? My second question. As for the 37% of the total shareholder returns, I think it's been heightened, so which was good. Originally, we have COCF of JPY 1 trillion.
It was originally about JPY 500 billion. The period around JPY 500 billion has been quite some time. Depending on the environment, maybe there will be a downward pressure. I think that was what you explained. 37% was the figure given. On the other hand, you also want to make investments. Free cash flow may go into the red, but, do you still want to keep with this figure? Or with the profit level, with the pool of the capital available, is it not a question? What does this 37% include or mean? I believe the volatility is going to be higher going forward. Is it okay to reach 45% or 50% going forward? Can you talk about how you will be managing this going forward?
Thank you very much for your question.
In the new MTMP, the base profit that we have shown you for March 2026, we are looking at the commodity prices assumptions and Forex assumptions, and that is what we have come up with. From March 24th, we have made the calculation. Using this as a base, I'd like to give you my explanation. About JPY 170 billion plus in base profit is shown, as you can see here. I think by explaining this slide, I think I'll be able to answer your first question. Please give me some time. When we made the alignment of the business plans with different business heads, these are the cumulative figure that we have reached. In the previous MTMP, we have looked at the commodity market.
Of course, because of the market volatility, of course, we had to create opportunities through such businesses. We are looking at standardization going forward. Against our volatility, there will be more opportunities for making profit as the track record shows. This is not something that we have incorporated. Therefore, we are going to see a stabilization when it comes to commodity market going forward. There may be a rebound going forward. Excluding that, we are looking to achieve JPY 170 billion increase in base profit. In the new contribution of the different pipelines, and on page 35, you can see the profit contributions of different projects. Many of the projects have already been announced and disclosed already, and may...
You may know of them already. It will be about JPY 60 billion. We may divide them by three Key Strategic Initiatives. We will have 1/3 each for Global Energy Transition, Wellness Ecosystem, and Industrial Business Solutions. With that, we'll be able to complete the fiscal year March 2026. There are a number of projects without a proper name. For example, in nutrition and wellness, food science area is something that we are working on as one of the projects. There's another project related to proteins as well. A name has not been given yet on this chart, but these are some of the projects that we are working on.
We have a new project such as that, and also we have a project which is coming from organic growth, which is about JPY 110 billion. Dividing them by Key Strategic Initiatives, of course, we can align them to different businesses. In Industrial Business Solutions, it will be about JPY 30 billion or more that we'll be allocating. What is very strong is we are creating clusters of mobility, and new clusters are going to be quite big. In Asia, we are working on automobile business in Asia. There are other machinery related business which are global operation. In chemicals, methanol, ammonia products, not new energy ammonia, but in the existing energy, we will be working on ammonia going forward as well.
We have logistic businesses such as tanks. These are organic growth projects that we can expect. Here, material energy and also in metals, we are looking at qualitative expansion as well. Quantitative expansion is something that we're looking for. With the neutral projects, we are looking for JPY 30 billion. In ecosystems, organic JPY 10 billion growth is expected. Proteins and wellness businesses that we have on hand, these organic growth will come to about JPY 10 billion, we expect. As for business efficiency and turnaround or loss-making projects, we may withdraw from or turning them into profit, all these combined will come to about JPY 40 billion. March 2023, the numbers were not granular, and there were some trading areas as well, including coffee business.
Up to March 2023, all the business were doing well, but the coffee business in that fiscal year, the profit was weak. We believe that it will become normal, and we believe we'll be able to show good results going forward. With efficiency and also turnaround, we are looking for about JPY 40 billion in total. In energy transition from early investments, we are looking at some projects that will move to the transformation period in which they will now start showing profit, and that will come to about JPY 20 billion. We have JPY 60 billion in total and JPY 110 billion added. We believe these figures will give us the revenue that we are forecasting at the moment.
That is all for the explanation about the base profit. I'm talking about the base profit so far. We'll be heightening the base profit, and this will allow the company to level up the cash flow generation, and that is going to be the basis of the answer for my second question. In other words, looking at the market commodity and neutralizing that in your assumption, and of course there will be volatility in the energy area as well. Calculating the base profits forecast, then we can come to the capital allocation, which is going to lead to shareholder returns. That will be the answer to your second question. Of course, from 2014, we have been working on the cash flow efficiency, share repurchases per share. We believe we have reached a certain level.
We will of course continue to consider as our shareholder returns going forward and also share repurchases. We believe that, through such initiatives, we are close to realization of our objectives. Minimum dividend per share has been set from the model that I have just explained. With our shareholders, we hope to continue to have dialogue. In the previous MTMP, the Management Allocation is one of the buffer to the volatility in the new MTMP. That is how we are welcoming the MTMP, as you touched on in your question. With the combination of all these, we can look at the capital allocation that we have structured for this new MTMP. I think that would be a good way of looking at our new MTMP.
As we have just said, as for the shareholder returns, of course, dividend and share repurchases, which is more important, was discussed before. From your explanation, I think more weight is on payment of dividend. Is that correct? Of course, how to utilize share repurchase, our thinking has not changed. If there is an upside phases going forward, or if the commodity market goes up more than we had expected, and if there is a large cash flow more than what we expect, then we will put that into share repurchases, and that is a thinking that we still hold. If there is a large asset recycling, maybe there will be a one-time cash need, therefore, we will respond with share repurchases.
Like in the past, three years, we want to have good dialogue with our shareholders in shaping our thinking. The stock price level at the moment, over the time will be monitored, and of course, against the management environment, whether the balance sheet is optimal is something that we will also look at. Different factors will be analyzed, to look at, decisions of share repurchases. I think these are the benchmarks that we will incorporate in making the decisions. Debt level, after shareholder returns, we want to make it neutral. Dependent on the different phases, we would like to make other responses against our balance sheet. We want to be disciplined in conducting and implementing initiatives, but we also want to be flexible.
We want to secure flexibility so that we'll be able to expand the options going forward. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much for the presentation. There are two questions. Firstly, as you explained, JPY 170 billion growth model and cash flow allocation, the relationship between these two is my question. On page 34, cash flow allocation plan is shown, management allocation is JPY 1.13 trillion, either for growth investment or shareholder returns allocated. Total shareholder return as percentage core cash Operating Cash Flow is 37%. JPY 750 billion is allocated, JPY 1 trillion is used, and JPY 250 billion is in returns. You can also do the investment yen in increase in profit.
Post FID and confirmation, policy confirmation made based on those plans, assume that some allocation will be made from the growth investment budget as well to achieve that JPY 170 billion increase in profit. Is that your only question? The second question. There is the second question. For the company-wide capital structure was asked about, and I also would like to ask follow-up question on that. Shareholders' equity has been accumulating, it seems, and probably the number of employees is based on the selective headcounts has not been increased. You have said that productivity per person will be enhanced. Compared to the number of employees, shareholders' equity seems to be increasing.
ROE being 12% in plan, JPY 520 billion in the last MP, MTMP, probably that would be the natural level that you will achieve. What are we going to do beyond that? If you continue with this, then the shareholders' equity will be accumulating continuously, and also the assets will be increased with the leverage. The investment per person will have to be increased, otherwise you cannot maintain ROE on a long-term basis. To your company, what would be the most optimum asset scale as you see it? In your investment plan presently in the energy transition, JPY 1 trillion increase in net increase is planned.
From JPY 15 trillion in assets, which is the present value, it seems that you're going to increase furthermore, what would be your optimum total assets, scale that you have in mind? Thank you for the questions. First, for the Management Allocation. In the new investment, JPY 170 billion, and part of that, will be shown. The post FID, policy confirmation, I think there's more for that, but partially there will be allocation from Management Allocation to fund that investment. I think the answer will be both. As I said, there is a significant pipeline in place, and those that are matching the current times and exceeding our bar for the management, how many, will come out that will pass that criteria is something that we have to judge.
For the second question. As planned, obviously, if we can produce robust results, the shareholders' equity is going to accumulate. Shareholder returns is another factor that will be taken into account. Capital structure is something that we always have it at the back of the mind. Another thing is that how many projects, as I said in the answer to the first question, at the higher level with a global consortium, how many managers we can secure that are capable of running the global consortium to achieve the projects. That could be a limiting factor as in any company. Our capability to hire talent and develop people internally, that's the question.
Also, those who are in the projects management in headquarters, and there are also many good talents in affiliate, group affiliates that are being developed. We could have a more agile team comprising all these. That's what we're exploring continuously. That would be the most important discussion point. If there is a limitation there, then we will not be able to proceed with more of a project. We would like to get rid of those barriers. With the absolute amount of assets that we can handle, there is no limitation that we have set for ourselves for the moment. There are many global companies that have more assets in scale and doing performing well.
How many good talents that we can secure is something that we have to work on, and we have to enhance the level of frontline capabilities to do that. In a short-term basis, by using new tools, we can waste a lot of waste. We can save hanging fruit, so to speak. Innovation and projects, when you look at them, of course, middle game, but we can create more time to spend in those projects, and we would fully utilize DX and other tools so that we can enhance the productivity of our employees. That's one of our targets as well. Thank you. In your answer, you said JPY 170 billion in increased profit. What would be dependent on the three year investment?
Part of that is, has been already determined, but, partially coming from the Management Allocation. That's what you said. In your second, answer to your second question to, from, President Hori, the long list of projects that you have is certainly attractive, and the Management Allocation could be used to fund them. You also would like to collect people to do that, you also have to enhance the efficiency of investment so you can have such a beautiful picture already in mind as a president. Is that correct? We have gone through intensive discussions to come up with this new MTMP, and there is a good response on that point.
If you take an example of energy transition, there is a supply chain table. Can you show that? I'm talking about supply chain. For example, this is what we see as for as our world. There are several departments or business units collaborating with each other and also working with the companies outside that are representative in those industries. Chemicals and energy have to master their knowledge to do that, or in the mobility, the ships, vessels and automotives. We have a connection with those networks and in the mining sites, carbon dioxide control. There are a lot of different types of tasks and jobs, and there are many group of projects that are composed of those.
High inflation and high interest rates, business environment is what we are in. In order to have enough return in this environment, a significant amount of combination is necessary. Also in the peripheral adjacent trading or finance, has to be also added. Only after that can we enjoy extra profits. In order to follow through on that, you have to be well prepared, and we have to enhance the utility of the employees and talents, and we have to confirm that one at a time. We will be more proactive in supporting those with Management Allocation. It's not just blindly spending money alone. We can combine our trading capability well to secure profitability. There is a possibility for that.
In that sense, investments and trading network function that we have will be combined to enhance profitability in some cases. It's just the conceptual image that we have, and that's how we are looking at the projects. Thank you. Understood very well. Thank you.
Thank you very much for taking my question. My first question, the three Key Strategic Initiatives which were called strategic focuses before, they have been developed in advance to be called Key Strategic Initiatives. What is the probability of success? The Market Asia you talked about in the previous MTMP, how will they be transformed and incorporated in the new MTMP, is my question? When it comes to Industrial Business Solutions, I think this is a wide-ranging area. In that, you need to allocate them accordingly. What is a business model that you want to grow in this area? It is quite difficult to see.
Of course, you talked about core business enhancement of adjacent businesses, but what are the business areas that you want to grow in Industrial Business Solutions and how? My question. My second question, you talked about different factors that comprise the increases in the net profit. In the new MTMP, within the returns, you talk about capital gains, which are the positive factors coming from capital gains. There may be pipeline projects that were late in being implemented, and there may be projects that you have already invested but are not really achieving the profits. You talked about JPY 40 billion earlier, but what are the downside management that you're going to control going forward in the new MTMP?
That is my second question.
Thank you very much for your question. In the previous MTMP, the strategic focuses, that is what we called and how we are going to transform them. As for Market Asia that you referred to, CT Corp of Indonesia, we have this capital alignment, and this is taking form.
In the new MTMP, we are seeing purchasing flow already. In the new MTMP or the one after, we believe that there will be quite a significant profit contribution that we can expect. In the Philippines, as we announced earlier, the high railway, and Metro Pacific is a company working on this high-speed railway, etc, and we have made the investment into that company. This is a good quality business group in Philippines. The infra businesses that is going to grow in Philippines is something that we want to coordinate in. CT Corp is also capturing that movement of infrastructure. It's a conglomerate organization. Of course in Metro Pacific is and is what we are going to work on.
IHH is something that we are investing as well. What part of it may be a part of Wellness Ecosystem Creation. A part of it may belong to Industrial Business Solutions. These are the ideas that we have is to grow these projects further. As for the two strategic focuses, the name has not have that a lot of meaning. I believe we are able to deepen and also expand them further in the new MTMP. I hope you'll be able to see it that way. Also in the Industrial Business Solutions, to give you a more detailed picture, of course, mobility I have explained in detail during the presentation. What about our chemicals?
For example, in chemicals, in trading, we were able to show successes in March 2023. However, when it comes to logistics and trading activities, we were able to complement assets that support these areas. This is what we want to focus on. Of course, we want to be able to risk manage, and also we want to contribute to cyclic environment as well. Of course, fuel, fossils and bio derived energy, these belong to Industrial Business Solutions. We hope that we'll be able to support them and focus on them going forward. They are very regional and also they are cross-industry as well. We believe that they will expand with these two axes going forward.
When it comes to materials, of course, we have to look at the direct reduced iron. How we can grow that is something that we are focusing on. CO2 emission and intensity should be reduced going forward. Metals businesses we are conducting, these become very important. How we can implement them going forward is also going to be very important for us. We have given you concrete examples before, but I think this may be one pillar going forward that we can focus on. Industrial Business Solutions, as I mentioned earlier, this is a familiar field for us, we can add functions to that. For example, in carbon intensity and for improving people's quality of lives, there may be issues related to them.
We want to be able to add functions to contribute and also be profitable. That is the perspective that we have. I hope you can understand. When it comes to risk management, how to manage the timeline of the project is also very important. Under the inflationary economy, the cost of projects may go up. How we can manage increases in cost and how we can negotiate each of the projects, these are something that we need to respond to with resolve. We hope that each of the projects that we are involved in will bear the results that we foresee for ourselves, and we'll make efforts towards that end.
You talked about the positive factors, and as a trading company, of course, there may be negative risks as a trading house. How are the risk factors being incorporated in the plan? That is my question. Yes, of course. In business results presentations, if there are anything that should be recorded in the accounting reports, they are incorporated. Nothing that should be incorporated or recorded as accounting matter at the moment. We are not factoring them in the budget, I hope you can understand. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Next person in the middle, please. I have two questions. Page 27, the Global Energy Transition investment and shareholder return, the balance between these two is something that I'd like to ask about. The CCS and hydrogen and ammonia, for these there's no immediate profit that you can generate, and there are business risks, and the scales could go up, in my understanding. These Global Energy Transition investment for the mid to long term, this could limit the shareholder returns or lead to review the shareholder returns in some companies in recent years. As you proceed with Global Energy Transition, you're also enhancing shareholder returns. How have you got to this conclusion? As you proceed with Global Energy Transition, is there any limitation in the shareholder returns or not?
That's my first question. Page 26 is the next question. There are investment pipeline in each region, has been explained in this slide. Especially the LNG investment is something that I'd like to ask about. LNG does have price risks associated with it, and ROIC 5% or 9%, if you stick with those targets, then the pricing risk and policy risks could become concerned, and you may not be able to proceed with the investments. LNG is quite. How you can be consistent with ROIC target and engage in those projects continuously. Can you explain more on that with your thoughts? Thank you. Thank you for your questions. First of all, energy transition projects with profitability.
How many we can do that is the question. If you look at capital allocation with the shareholder return included, how much projects is there is shown here. With this present model that we have, the investment that we want to do will probably be able to be done. That's our baseline. There is no hesitation there or reservation there. On the other hand, the one of the thoughts that has led us to this conclusion, because then if you would like to cover all, then that would cost us too much money. That is a totally different dimension.
If you look at the environment, the projects that can generate profit, that is if there is such a criteria set or bar set on that, then the head of business units are well understanding that and executing the projects. The investment assets that we have, we have the path to the profitability more clearly. The amount in the Management Allocation could be invested in the projects that we see good potential. That's what we are going to do more aggressively. In terms of timeline, there are very support system in each country, and we like to take advantage of those, of course. Basically, we have to have a business viability of the projects on a standalone basis.
How you can share the risks in terms of that, partner selection is important. Commercial flow of finance and other traditional assets, by combining all these, the new businesses for low carbon society will have to be led to profitability. There is such combination necessary. We can combine lower marginal profit projects included. We have to have combination of those, all these types of projects in order to achieve this target. If we have that thought and concept, then we can limit our budget within a certain level. In a larger scale of projects, we are overwhelmingly convinced by looking at the projects proactively. If that's the conclusion, then we have to be quite aggressive.
We have to take a look at the balance sheet and having dialogue with stakeholders and may choose to proceed with that project. We do believe that MTMP budget will allow us to do all this. For ROIC, we are talking about ROIC in each projects. We are adding all these up here, but this total math or addition will not distort the ROIC in each of the projects, so please feel assured. For LNG, in all the LNG that we're engaged in presently, even if all these are executed in energy transition, in our mid-to-long-term analysis, the mid-to-long-term supply of LNG will be in shortage. That's our conclusion.
Because of that reality of LNG, there is a certain level of contribution, and also we can realize a certain level of value. The present LNG, we can calculate a ROIC for LNG with a certain timetable. With the ROIC target will not limit LNG.
That is not going to happen. On page 26, March 2026, 6% target for ROIC and 30, March 2030, 9% target. This is addition, a result of addition. If new energy projects are started up, then that will catch up with the conventional energy projects and in 9% into March 2030 is something that we can achieve. That's how we have reached this target, and that is what is shown here. Thank you. I'd like to ask two questions. My first question is related to ROIC about the invested capital. Of course, lifestyle, you are talking about JPY 100 billion. As a company as a whole, the profitable asset, how much of it do you have on hand? That is my first question.
The second question, the Moon Creative Lab that you refer to in your presentation, what is the impact it will bring? What is your expectation towards this Moon Creative Lab? That is my question. Thank you. Thank you very much for your question. As a whole company, we are accumulating and we have assets and the denominator of the ROIC, the macro part, has not been created. Each one of the projects or each one of the businesses, we want to make sure that we do it correctly. We don't have what you have asked here for, but we have different plans for different businesses. As for lifestyle, this is close to food. I have given you the figure of JPY 100 billion earlier.
In all of the business areas, of course, we will be able to find projects that are in the scale of JPY 1 billion, and that is how we see them as clusters. With those unit, the denominator of the ROIC has been seen and making them efficient is something that we are evaluating throughout the company. The second question about the Moon Creative Lab, you want to know about the impact it will bring, I believe. The Moon Creative Lab, we are talking about creating this value from zero- one through innovation. The knowledge or know-how that we will get from this lab is going to be considered so that we can lead them to new businesses or new opportunities. This is a lab for making that possible.
This is a strategic design-oriented initiative. In order to reach a more wider market, we need to change our ideas, and maybe we may need to change the composition of the consortium. This is like throwing the ball against each other so that we will can see results come out from such efforts. There is one DX project that was born out of this lab. This Moon Creative Lab, for example, is thinking about gold and using gold, maybe we can link them to a new business that is related to virtual currencies. Maybe we can work on derivative businesses. This may be also involved. Moon is like an incubator in its function to bring impact.
We hope that we can strengthen this platform going forward to create new ideas going forward. Thank you.
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