Ricoh's board resolved on 6 October 2026 to run a "strategic review" led by independent outside directors, and told investors the options it will weigh include a Ricoh "that is not an extension of the current state". The notice says no specific measures or direction have been decided.
The problems the board names
The notice lists what the board regards as its most important issues. They are continued misses of financial targets in its mid-term plans, including the main targets of the 21st mid-term strategy; price-to-book ratio below 1x for a long period; return on equity persistently below the cost of capital shareholders expect; low profitability in growth areas such as workplace services; and weaker earning power in office printing, which the notice calls the current main source of profit.
Ricoh says that since April it has already overhauled its management structure, executive system and executive officer framework, tightened evaluation of executive officers including the president and CEO, and introduced pay incentives linked to ROE. The board's own effectiveness assessment, quoted in the notice, called for "deeper discussion and decisions" on a defined timeline and for a root-cause analysis of current profitability.
Who runs it
The review will be carried out by a Strategic Review Project Team made up of all of Ricoh's outside officers: five independent outside directors and three outside corporate auditors. At its first meeting on 6 October the independent directors chose the lead outside director, who also chairs the nomination committee, as chair. The outside auditors are to check that the directors are acting to raise medium- and long-term corporate value, and to advise. The corporate secretary oversees overall operations and the board office acts as secretariat.
The team's membership may be changed or added to depending on how the review proceeds. The president and CEO will join when the team asks, and other executives will take part by topic. Management is to supply the information needed and has committed to carry out whatever strategy the team recommends and the board decides. The team may also bring in outside advisers, though the notice names none.
Scope and timetable
The team is to sort the key issues, rank them and examine them quickly. For now it plans to review profit structure, management strategy, business portfolio, capital policy, capital allocation and the equity story, meaning how Ricoh explains its growth strategy and value creation to the capital markets.
The team reports to the board, which deliberates and decides on measures and then monitors execution. The review is therefore advisory: the board, not the project team, makes the decisions.
Ricoh says it will concentrate on the review in the second half of the fiscal year, with shareholder and investor dialogue as it progresses, and will disclose further matters in a timely way. Separately, it plans to disclose its analysis of, and response to, voting results at the 126th annual shareholders' meeting in June by the end of October. The notice states no end date for the review.