I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for our shareholders' continued support. In addition, to express our heartfelt sympathy to everyone who has suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake. I offer my prayers for the earliest recovery from this tragedy.
I hereby present the settlement of accounts for the period ending March 2011. VERISERVE's sales performance increased 6.4% to 5,490 million yen over the previous year. In addition, both revenue and profit with operating income grew 73% year-on-year to 340 million yen and net income increasing 77.6% to 172 million yen. These figures demonstrate that government stimulus measures such as the eco-point system, eco-car tax break have eased the decline in corporate sentiment in the manufacturing industry, which had fallen significantly after the Lehman Brothers' collapse the year before the last. They also show that a recovery is beginning to emerge by the virtue of the fact that the market of emerging countries is further rising and that the development cycle for new products is gradually recovering. Moreover, we continue to be committed to hiring and training very capable engineers, the source of our strength. During the period, we conducted a review of non-urgent selling, general and administrative expenses as well as prime costs. This resulted in a significant improvement in income over the preceding term.
Nevertheless, we believe that we will face harsher operating environment as the repercussions of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which struck in March 2011, and the accompanying power issues become fully evident.
In April of last year, we set up a subsidiary in China in order to meet the needs of customers who are increasingly conducing global business activities. Previously, I believe "Do in Rome as the Romans do." Approaches to quality vary by country and region. It is imperative that we better tailor our verification services to meet the needs of customers in each area as we gain greater insight into the local perspectives. Unfortunately we think this will take some time to achieve.
In the meantime, cultivating new customers and expanding our range of services are also important issues to be addressed. In our verification service for smart phones and other devices forecast to increase in popularity, we have started to provide verification services for its software as well. In addition, we are offering corporate information system and other systems with a focus on security. We have also started to furnish operating status monitoring and other such services, areas in which we intend to strengthen our capabilities.
Japan's economy is now at a challenging juncture. However, I see this as a chance for us to grow as we overcome the difficulties ahead. In facing this task, I humbly ask for your continued support.
We have increased the initially projected annual dividend by 500 yen to 1,500 yen per share. To conclude, I would be very grateful if you, our shareholders, continue to extend your support to VERISERVE throughout the coming year as well.
President & CEO
Kiyotaka Asai