On September 1, 2023, our newest factory, Plant 5C in Mojokerto, East Java, was inaugurated by the Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, Admiral Yudo Margono, in an event also attended by officials from the regional governments of the Province of East Java and the Regency of Mojokerto. In his remarks, Admiral Yudo Margono stated that Indonesia’s resilience amid the global economic challenges has been contributed by all Indonesians, including companies like Arwana Ceramics, and that Indonesians should be proud of having factories that can compete on the international stage.

Certainly a proud recognition for us, we have again been included on Forbes Asia’s Best Under A Billion list of companies for this year. This latest list was published on August 7, 2023, and the inclusion itself is our second consecutively and fifth overall (2006, 2014, 2020, 2022, and 2023).

As our CEO Mr. Tandean Rustandy is very passionate about furthering education for everyone, including through his alma mater, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth), we hosted a Full-time MBA Info-session event from the school on July 25, 2023, at our Arwana Ceramics Showroom in Jakarta. The event had an officer from Chicago Booth’s Admission Office and two alumni sharing information and experience, as well as responding to questions from prospective students.

On July 28, 2023, our Plant V in Mojokerto, East Java, hosted a visit from a community of property sector business practitioners called Synergy Developer Indonesia. Led by our COO Mr. Edy Suyanto, the dozens of participants were treated to a string of activities, including a presentation session, a factory tour, and a lunch session.

It has been a busy semester and our enthusiasm has not waned as we believe in serving our best to drive mutual growth with our customers. This event is our newest effort, a 2-day customer gathering event held at Plant V, Mojokerto, East Java, on May 15-16, 2023. The event, which was designed to introduce Plant V and its special product, the ARNA Solitaire product line, featured opening remarks from COO Mr. Edy Suyanto, presentation about Plant 5B and 5C, product launch of ARNA Solitaire, tour of the factory, and finally dinner and hotel stay in East Java’s capital city of Surabaya. The first and second day of the event had identical activities, but different sets of participants as the number of invitees were quite large.

As part of our continuous effort in strengthening relations with our stakeholders, we held a gathering event with our suppliers on May 4, 2023, at Plant V, Mojokerto, East Java. The event’s main activities include speeches from CEO Mr. Tandean Rustandy, CFO Mr. Rudy Sujanto, Vice President of Procurement Mr. Agustinus Kusnadi, and an awarding ceremony for appreciating our best-performing suppliers.

CEO Mr. Tandean Rustandy in his speech especially expressed appreciation on behalf of himself and the company to our suppliers for taking the time to attend the event amid their busy schedules. He also emphasized on the Arwana Ceramics vision, super-team spirit, commitment to sustainability, and the relations without ‘fences’ with the local community.

As for our best-performing suppliers, awardees include PT Torrecid Indonesia, PT System Indonesia, PT Nittindo Inti Cemerlang, Greatcare Glaze, and nine other local and international suppliers. This event also succeeded in gathering approximately IDR1 billion in donations to be used for community assistance and empowerment programs.

On March 13-15, 2023, we held the 2023 Sub-distributor Work Meeting at Plant V, Mojokerto, East Java. This annual event for work coordination and strengthening the synergy between our marketing team and our sub-distributors comprised activities which include presentations by CEO Mr. Tandean Rustandy and COO Mr. Edy Suyanto, and by COO of PT Catur Sentosa Adiprana Tbk Ms. Yuliana Totong, the 2023 Arwana Ceramics Awards, product launch, factory tour, performance review, as well as some fun and leisure activities.

Capping off a satisfactory business year, we held the 2022 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on March 9, 2023, at the Puri Indah Financial Tower in Jakarta. With the conclusion of the meeting, the shareholders have decided upon items which include approving the company’s annual report and financial statements; paying out a dividend of Rp55 per share; appointing public accounting firm Purwantono, Sungkoro and Surja as auditor of the company’s annual financial statements for the 2023 financial year, and reappointing the current members of the company’s Board of Commissioners and Board of Directors, with the addition of a new member as Independent Director, for a term ending in 2028.