Kao Selected to Receive the Award for Excellence in Corporate Disclosure in the Cosmetics and Personal Care Industry from the Securities Analysts Association of Japan for the Second Consecutive Year

The review criteria cover five areas: 1) management's involvement in investor relations (IR), the functions of the IR department, and the company's basic stance on IR; 2) disclosure in briefings, interviews, presentation materials, etc.; 3) efforts toward fair disclosure; 4) disclosure related to corporate governance; and 5) voluntary disclosure conforming to industry circumstances.

Kao received a high evaluation for items including its management team's communication of meaningful messages to investors on matters such as current and future management strategy, and its proactive efforts to disclose non-financial information, including information on ESG and its integrated report.

Responding to Kao's selection for the award, Michitaka Sawada, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kao Corporation, stated "I feel both great pride and the weight of responsibility in receiving this award for the second consecutive year. We believe that improving the quality of disclosure will earn stakeholder trust, which in turn will lead to an increase in Kao's corporate value. We will continue to conduct accessible and proactive activities with even greater transparency."

The Kao Group is making a major shift to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance)-driven management as a new challenge to build a foundation enabling sustainable growth in 2025, 2030, and beyond. Kao has already begun full-scale implementation of the Kirei Lifestyle Plan, its ESG strategy announced in April 2019.

The Kao Group will continue striving to realize even more in-depth stakeholder engagement through fair, proactive communication, with the goal of fostering understanding and consensus among all its stakeholders regarding Kao's ESG activities and other initiatives.