With regards to the earthquake that hit the northern part of Japan on 11 March, AGC (Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.) announces the following impacts of the earthquake on operations. AGC is currently in the process of confirming the safety of its Group members. It has reported that several employees have been slightly injured & the following facilities have been heavily affected by the earthquakes & tsunamis. The damage situation in the Tohoku area (northern part of Japan) is very serious & diverse operations may be affected depending on the electrical power supply & lifeline utilities in the region. AGC Asahi Glass Kashima Plant (Kamisu, Ibaraki prefecture) float glass facility for architectural flat glass has been partially damaged. Production operations have been suspended & it is expected to take around a month to restart production. The loading berth used for the shipments of architectural float flat glass & the receiving of raw materials has been damaged & it is expected to take time to restore the facility. AGC Asahi Glass Chiba Plant (Ichihara, Chiba prefecture): access restriction was imposed in the area due to a fire & AGC is working on the confirmation of the status of the plant facilities. AGC Display Glass Yonezawa (Yonezawa, Yamagata prefecture) has not suffered critical damage to the building facilities & processes have resumed. Meanwhile, among the company's outsourcers that handle a part of its processing operations, some building facilities have been severely damaged & urgent restoration work is underway. AGC Electronics Koriyama Plant (Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture) has been partially damaged & restoration work is currently underway. Other than the above locations, production has been suspended at some of the plants for architectural processed glass in Tohoku/North Kanto region due to the damage to facilities or raw materials (i.e. flat glass), or employees not being able to go to the plant. Until the operations of AGC Kashima plant resume, AGC will allocate existing inventories & shipments from other AGC Group's plants in & outside the country & make the utmost effort to prevent a supply shortage of architectural glass. The impacts of the earthquakes & tsunamis have been limited to small/mid-sized LCD glass substrates & it is considered that impacts on AGC Group's overall flat panel display (FPD) business will be limited. The loading berth at AGC Kashima plant has been damaged & it is not clear when production will resume. Regarding AGC Chiba plant, AGC is in the process of confirming the status of the facilities, but the restart of the plant operations from the annual shutdown is expected to be delayed. At this moment, estimated damage regarding the AGC Group's business performance is not yet known. In consideration of the ongoing serious electricity shortage, the AGC Group will cooperate in the nationwide electricity-saving efforts by reducing electricity use & implementing operation adjustment at Group's plants.
