Top Management Message May 23, 2003

On May 22, I reported to you about a breach of the JAS Law concerning standards and proper quality labeling of processed foods in the Miyagi and Yamagata regions. I would like to update you on what the effect of that incident has been on sales and actions we have taken since.

1.Sales and Sales Campaign

(Region Concerned)
As of Friday, May 23, there was no major effect apparent on sales of main dishes or other products at Lawson stores.
However, we have decided to launch a rice ball campaign over a 10-day period from Sunday, May 25, as a way of expressing our apologies to customers and to support franchise owners. (Nationwide)
As of Friday, May 23, there had been no visible impact on sales of main dishes or other products. But we intend to closely monitor the situation going forward and respond as necessary.

2.Measures

Reflecting our concern over this incident and desire to improve, today we established an emergency action committee to handle matters relating to rice ball mislabeling in the Miyagi and Yamagata regions. I will head this committee, which will carry out detailed inspections of the manufacturing vendor involved. The committee's brief is twofold:

  • 1) Find the cause of the mislabeling problem that occurred at the Sendai First Sales Office of Sundelica Co., Ltd.
  • 2) Formulate measures to prevent the reoccurrence of such a problem

On May 24 and 25, executives from Lawson's head office and management of Sundelica will visit franchise owners in the regions affected by the mislabeling to express their apologies and report on the incident. We hope that this will go some way toward regaining the trust of franchise owners.

Let me apologize again to shareholders and other investors for any trouble caused by this incident.

May 23, 2003

Takeshi Niinami
President and CEO

Archives(Back Numbers)

PAGE TOP