'Quantamental' Japan Specialist, LightStream Research

Campbell Gunn

'Quantamental' Japan Specialist

ja research

ja research is an independent research platform focused exclusively on Japanese equities. Leveraging data and graphic analysis provided by Japan Analytics, we provide insights on small and medium-sized companies that have been ignored by the sell-side as well as challenging conventional wisdom on larger companies. We also offer analyst and corporate access, the latter with translation if required. 

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/123/035/original/2020-03-15_07-07-04.png?1584223644" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="123035"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • Japan Analytics</div>RELATIVE VALUE - Since the recent peak of December 17th, the TOPIX Index has fallen by 28% in 56 trading days. The -0.57% daily average rate of decline over the last three months has only been exceeded on 32 of the 10,142 days since March 1979, eight of which occurred in 1990, with the balance in 2008. From the January 23rd 2018 peak of 1,911, the index has fallen by 34% and is within 3% of our target (expressed in terms of Total Market Value ex REITs) outlined in our <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-market-update-opportunity-knocks" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:37049" rel="noopener">Opportunity Knocks?</a> Insight published on 1st March. The market is also within 5% of the TOPIX low of 1,196 of 12th February 2016, which we expect will provide some short-term support. Although Japan and many other developed world economies are now in recession, markets do not fall in a straight line forever. Japanese equities now offer attractive relative value and should outperform over the coming months.<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/123/034/original/2020-03-15_06-53-01.png?1584222882" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="123034"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/123/036/original/2020-03-15_07-18-49.png?1584224347" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="123036"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/123/037/original/2020-03-15_07-23-55.png?1584224666" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="123037"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • Japan Analytics</div>IT'S DIFFERENT THIS TIME - Most bear markets in Japan have coincided with periods of Yen strength, including the 29% 2015/16 decline when the currency strengthened by 19%. Repeating the rate of decline analysis above, in US dollar terms there have only been four days in the last twenty-eight years with worse 56-day rates of decline - all in October 2008. All four days provided fearless investors with excellent medium-term gains. Although this increase in market volatility may be less welcome for international investors in Japanese equities, the impact of the Covid-19 recession on the Japanese economy will be more muted. Also, the 48% collapse in the oil price year-to-date will help offset the negative impact of the October 2019 increase in the consumption tax and the decline in export sales in Europe. Lastly, we would suggest that the much-derided net cash that Japanese corporates 'hoard' for rainy days such as these, should delay the need for increases in credit lines. Our recent series of Insights on<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-who-s-swimming-naked-part-2-altman-z-score" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:37316" rel="noopener"> Who’s Swimming Naked?</a> cover those companies to which this does not apply. Overall, for Japan at least, it is different this time.<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/123/039/original/File%202020-03-15%203%2024%2020.jpeg?1584225464" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="123039"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/123/040/original/File%202020-03-15%203%2026%2031.jpeg?1584225508" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="123040"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/123/041/original/File%202020-03-15%207%2044%2021.jpeg?1584225894" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="123041"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • Max Roser, Hannah Ritchie and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina (2020) - "Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) – Research and Statistics". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus' [Online Resource]</div>CONTAINING COVID - According to <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the peerless Global Change Data Lab at Oxford University, Japan has, (except for the unfortunate passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess cruise ship), managed to contain Covid-19 better than any other large nation. While, there is some scepticism that this outcome could be a result of under-testing to avoid cancellation of the Olympic Games; nevertheless, the recorded cases fatality rate in a country with an above-average age profile is surprisingly low.  Currently, the daily increase in active Covid-19 cases in Japan is less than one hundred and was only seventeen on March 15th. The cumulative number of confirmed Covid-19 fatalities is 24, of which two occurred yesterday. The confirmed number of cases per 100,000 population is 0.65, which compares with 19.5 in South Korea, 16.5 in Italy and 12 in Iran. <figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/123/038/original/2020-03-15_07-34-05.png?1584225268" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="123038"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • oann.com</div>KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON - Last night's press conference by Prime Minister Abe was in stark contrast to the sombre tone to those of Prime Minister Johnson of the United Kingdom and the tragicomic ramblings of the US President. Having received the legislative powers to declare a state of emergency, Abe declined at this stage to invoke any social restrictions beyond the already-announced school closures. As in the UK, sporting authorities are cancelling events or holding them sine populo. Japan's long obsession with cleanliness, the culture of bowing as a greeting and readiness to conform have served to 'flatten the curve'. The increased focus on such practices has also resulted in a very low incidence of seasonal influenza this year. Japan also has significantly lower levels of air pollution compared to China, Iran and northern Italy, a  factor that has become a factor in fatality rates, especially amongst the elderly. Although internal travel and restaurant patronage have sharply declined in Japan, shops are open and are well-stocked (except for now-rationed paper products) and 'free movement' with slightly-greater-than-normal social distancing is the norm. Whatever the motivations may be regarding the Olympics and Abe's legacy, Japan is unwilling to force the economy into the economic depression that would be the result of prolonged lockdown. A COVID-19 WORLD - This 'keep-calm-carry-on' model of a Covid-19-prevalent world (as is also seen in Singapore and Taiwan) will eventually have to be applied globally. These countries rapid transition to the new 'Covid-19 world' should result in better short-term outcomes for these economies.  The UK is currently being criticised for attempting to follow a version of this model, and may eventually have to go against the advice of its epidemiologists. Fortunately, for now, the general public are giving the UK government the benefit of the doubt. There will be a sharp divergence in the medium-term economic outlooks for countries taking these two 'paths' with those that are over-reacting paying a heavy price. While this does not bode well for the Eurozone, East Asia, including Japan, should emerge in better shape in this new 'viral' world.      <div class="content-highlight">In the DETAIL section below, we shall review a number of our favourite market indicators, recent sector performance and make some recommendations as to how to harness this once-in-a-decade opportunity to buy high-quality Japanese companies at attractive prices.</div>

Source • Japan AnalyticsRELATIVE VALUE - Since the recent peak of December 17th, the TOPIX Index has fallen by 28% in 56 trading days. The -0.57% daily average rate of decline over the last three months has only been exceeded on 32 of the 10,142 days since March 1979, eight of which occurred in 1990, with the balance in 2008. From the January 23rd 2018 peak of 1,911, the index has fallen by 34% and is within 3% of our target (expressed in terms of Total Market Value ex REITs) outlined in our Opportunity Knocks? Insight published on 1st March. The market is also within 5% of the TOPIX low of 1,196 of 12th February 2016, which we expect will provide some short-term support. Although Japan and many other developed world economies are now in recession, markets do not fall in a straight line forever. Japanese equities now offer attractive relative value and should outperform over the coming months.Source • Japan AnalyticsIT'S DIFFERENT THIS TIME - Most bear markets in Japan have coincided with periods of Yen strength, including the 29% 2015/16 decline when the currency strengthened by 19%. Repeating the rate of decline analysis above, in US dollar terms there have only been four days in the last twenty-eight years with worse 56-day rates of decline - all in October 2008. All four days provided fearless investors with excellent medium-term gains. Although this increase in market volatility may be less welcome for international investors in Japanese equities, the impact of the Covid-19 recession on the Japanese economy will be more muted. Also, the 48% collapse in the oil price year-to-date will help offset the negative impact of the October 2019 increase in the consumption tax and the decline in export sales in Europe. Lastly, we would suggest that the much-derided net cash that Japanese corporates 'hoard' for rainy days such as these, should delay the need for increases in credit lines. Our recent series of Insights on Who’s Swimming Naked? cover those companies to which this does not apply. Overall, for Japan at least, it is different this time.Source • Max Roser, Hannah Ritchie and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina (2020) - "Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) – Research and Statistics". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus' [Online Resource]CONTAINING COVID - According to data from the peerless Global Change Data Lab at Oxford University, Japan has, (except for the unfortunate passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess cruise ship), managed to contain Covid-19 better than any other large nation. While, there is some scepticism that this outcome could be a result of under-testing to avoid cancellation of the Olympic Games; nevertheless, the recorded cases fatality rate in a country with an above-average age profile is surprisingly low.  Currently, the daily increase in active Covid-19 cases in Japan is less than one hundred and was only seventeen on March 15th. The cumulative number of confirmed Covid-19 fatalities is 24, of which two occurred yesterday. The confirmed number of cases per 100,000 population is 0.65, which compares with 19.5 in South Korea, 16.5 in Italy and 12 in Iran. Source • oann.comKEEP CALM AND CARRY ON - Last night's press conference by Prime Minister Abe was in stark contrast to the sombre tone to those of Prime Minister Johnson of the United Kingdom and the tragicomic ramblings of the US President. Having received the legislative powers to declare a state of emergency, Abe declined at this stage to invoke any social restrictions beyond the already-announced school closures. As in the UK, sporting authorities are cancelling events or holding them sine populo. Japan's long obsession with cleanliness, the culture of bowing as a greeting and readiness to conform have served to 'flatten the curve'. The increased focus on such practices has also resulted in a very low incidence of seasonal influenza this year. Japan also has significantly lower levels of air pollution compared to China, Iran and northern Italy, a  factor that has become a factor in fatality rates, especially amongst the elderly. Although internal travel and restaurant patronage have sharply declined in Japan, shops are open and are well-stocked (except for now-rationed paper products) and 'free movement' with slightly-greater-than-normal social distancing is the norm. Whatever the motivations may be regarding the Olympics and Abe's legacy, Japan is unwilling to force the economy into the economic depression that would be the result of prolonged lockdown. A COVID-19 WORLD - This 'keep-calm-carry-on' model of a Covid-19-prevalent world (as is also seen in Singapore and Taiwan) will eventually have to be applied globally. These countries rapid transition to the new 'Covid-19 world' should result in better short-term outcomes for these economies.  The UK is currently being criticised for attempting to follow a version of this model, and may eventually have to go against the advice of its epidemiologists. Fortunately, for now, the general public are giving the UK government the benefit of the doubt. There will be a sharp divergence in the medium-term economic outlooks for countries taking these two 'paths' with those that are over-reacting paying a heavy price. While this does not bode well for the Eurozone, East Asia, including Japan, should emerge in better shape in this new 'viral' world.      In the DETAIL section below, we shall review a number of our favourite market indicators, recent sector performance and make some recommendations as to how to harness this once-in-a-decade opportunity to buy high-quality Japanese companies at attractive prices.

🇯🇵 JAPAN MARKET UPDATE • Relative Value: Short-Term Buy On Japanese Equities

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

As discussed in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/oriental-land-buyback-tender-offer" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:36204" rel="noopener">Oriental Land Buyback Tender Offer</a>, on 30 January this year when they announced Q3 results, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/oriental-land-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13517:1" rel="noopener">Oriental Land (4661 JP)</a> also launched a buyback tender offer which was designed to buy back shares from one of its large cross-holders, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsui-fudosan-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:565:1" rel="noopener">Mitsui Fudosan (8801 JP)</a>. It did so using the format of an Own Share Tender Offer, which creates strange issues around how much money actually comes out of it for most shareholders. It was launched at a price (¥13830) which was below the market and that was, itself, a reason why most people would not have wanted to sell shares into the Tender Offer. <figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/121/167/original/Screenshot%202020-03-03%20at%204.09.48%20PM.png?1583223014" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="121167"></figure>It looked like the Partial Tender would go fine. It was below market, and there was friction in the thing (for more on the friction, which is real for all except for a small minority of market participants, please read the details in the original piece <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/oriental-land-buyback-tender-offer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>).Shares traded above ¥14000 for almost all of the next two weeks. Then coronavirus fears started, then people in the west started getting more worried. There were fears of large crowds and rumors that Tokyo Disneyland might close temporarily. In the US, Donald Trump told everyone not to worry, which of course made fears worse. Shares dropped sharply in the last week of February. This presented an opportunity for some market participants (I noted the put option in the previous insight, and only a few people contacted me to discuss).The share price fall led to possibilities, and with the results out now, leads to potential issues, discussed below.And it turns out that Tokyo Disneyland <a href="http://www.olc.co.jp/ja/news/news_olc/20200228_1/main/0/link/0228.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a temporary closure, from 29 February to 16 March, on the 28th of February.

As discussed in Oriental Land Buyback Tender Offer, on 30 January this year when they announced Q3 results, Oriental Land (4661 JP) also launched a buyback tender offer which was designed to buy back shares from one of its large cross-holders, Mitsui Fudosan (8801 JP). It did so using the format of an Own Share Tender Offer, which creates strange issues around how much money actually comes out of it for most shareholders. It was launched at a price (¥13830) which was below the market and that was, itself, a reason why most people would not have wanted to sell shares into the Tender Offer. It looked like the Partial Tender would go fine. It was below market, and there was friction in the thing (for more on the friction, which is real for all except for a small minority of market participants, please read the details in the original piece here).Shares traded above ¥14000 for almost all of the next two weeks. Then coronavirus fears started, then people in the west started getting more worried. There were fears of large crowds and rumors that Tokyo Disneyland might close temporarily. In the US, Donald Trump told everyone not to worry, which of course made fears worse. Shares dropped sharply in the last week of February. This presented an opportunity for some market participants (I noted the put option in the previous insight, and only a few people contacted me to discuss).The share price fall led to possibilities, and with the results out now, leads to potential issues, discussed below.And it turns out that Tokyo Disneyland announced a temporary closure, from 29 February to 16 March, on the 28th of February.

Oriental Land - Buyback Interrupted, and an Overhang?

Equity Analyst, LightStream Research

Oshadhi Kumarasiri

Equity Analyst

Long-Short Analysis on Japan, Asia and the World

LightStream Research

LightStream conducts quantitatively rigorous and data-driven analysis with a focus on Japan and Asia.

We consistently cover the Tech, Consumer and Industrial sectors, and provide ECM and Events coverage more broadly.

We supplement traditional qualitative insights from company relationships with a robust quantitative foundation that examines as much historical data as is available.
We further refine the accuracy of our insights and calls through the use of alternative data to flesh out current trends, and through a valuation framework that emphasises non-superficial peer group selection and a proper attempt to understand the metrics and changes that have driven security valuations in the past.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/oriental-land-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13517:1" rel="noopener">Oriental Land (4661 JP)</a>, the operator of the Tokyo Disney Resorts said on Friday 28th Feb 2020, that the Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea will be closed till 15th March 2020 to limit the spread of the coronavirus.</li>
<li>It is the first extended closure for the Tokyo Disney Resorts since March 2011. (Previously, Tokyo Disney Resorts were closed for an extended time period shortly after a massive earthquake and a Tsunami off the coast of Tōhoku)</li>
<li>Although the company plans to reopen the parks on 16th March 2020 the exact reopening date will be decided upon consultations with government agencies. Hence, we believe the exact date of reopening will be dependent upon the severity of the coronavirus epidemic.</li>
<li>It is also said that the shopping and entertainment complex (Ikspiari) situated adjacent to the Tokyo Disney Resorts will also be closed during this period. However, the hotels and the monorail are expected to remain open.</li>
<li>Furthermore, tickets sold will either receive a refund or an extension to the expiry period while the measures for annual passport holders are yet to be decided.</li>
</ul>



Oriental Land (4661 JP), the operator of the Tokyo Disney Resorts said on Friday 28th Feb 2020, that the Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea will be closed till 15th March 2020 to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
It is the first extended closure for the Tokyo Disney Resorts since March 2011. (Previously, Tokyo Disney Resorts were closed for an extended time period shortly after a massive earthquake and a Tsunami off the coast of Tōhoku)
Although the company plans to reopen the parks on 16th March 2020 the exact reopening date will be decided upon consultations with government agencies. Hence, we believe the exact date of reopening will be dependent upon the severity of the coronavirus epidemic.
It is also said that the shopping and entertainment complex (Ikspiari) situated adjacent to the Tokyo Disney Resorts will also be closed during this period. However, the hotels and the monorail are expected to remain open.
Furthermore, tickets sold will either receive a refund or an extension to the expiry period while the measures for annual passport holders are yet to be decided.


Oriental Land: Tokyo Disney Resorts Closed, The Tender Buyback Could Be Preventing a Further Decline

<div>• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE •</div><div>RELATIVE PRICE SCORE OUTLIERS - The Relative Price Score (RPS) is a measure of price performance relative to TOPIX calculated by comparing the current deviation with the mean absolute deviation of monthly and daily relative share prices over the last 28 years and 24 months, respectively. As all companies are put on a comparable scale, 'Overbought' and 'Oversold' outliers and short-term changes in scoring can offer interesting trading opportunities.</div>The data for all 3,871 currently-listed Companies is cap-weight-aggregated into Relative Price Scores for our 328 Peer Groups and 30 Sectors. The Overbought and Oversold outlier 'thresholds are set' at +4 &amp; -2 for Companies, +3 &amp; -1.5 for Peer Groups and +2 and -1 for Sectors, respectively. These thresholds equate with the top and bottom percentiles of over one million historical observations.<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/120/245/original/2020-02-27_08-50-00.png?1582762915" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="120245"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • Japan Analytics</div>With a few exceptions, mean reversion from these extreme outlying states occurs typically in weeks or months. The twenty-eight-year history of Sector Relative Price Scores illustrates the ebbs and flows of investment themes in the market, from the 2000 Technology 'bubble' to the REIT and Real Estate peak of 2013/14, the Healthcare and FB&amp;T market of 2016/17. On the downside, there is greater 'persistence' in the Oversold zone, particularly recently for Energy, Banks and Utilities Sectors.<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/120/400/original/2020-02-28_07-33-54.png?1582842856" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="120400"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/120/402/original/2020-02-28_07-34-58.png?1582842919" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="120402"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • Japan Analytics</div>CONSUMER SERVICES - The most recent case of Sector mean reversion is in Consumer Services, driven primarily by the performance of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/oriental-land-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13517:1" rel="noopener">Oriental Land (4661 JP)</a>, a business that is now seeing a direct impact from Covid-19 with the closure of Tokyo Disneyland until March 15th announced today. This news is prompting some short-covering in the Friday afternoon session; however, at 31X EV/OP, there is still 63% downside to a residual income-based no-growth valuation. We expect both the Sector's and company's RPS to retrace the gains of the last two years.  <div>In the DETAIL section below, we provide an update on  Sector and Peer Group trends, over the last three months and adds some stock-specific comments. A separate Insight to follow in the next few days will cover the Relative Price Scores for individual companies.</div>

• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE •RELATIVE PRICE SCORE OUTLIERS - The Relative Price Score (RPS) is a measure of price performance relative to TOPIX calculated by comparing the current deviation with the mean absolute deviation of monthly and daily relative share prices over the last 28 years and 24 months, respectively. As all companies are put on a comparable scale, 'Overbought' and 'Oversold' outliers and short-term changes in scoring can offer interesting trading opportunities.The data for all 3,871 currently-listed Companies is cap-weight-aggregated into Relative Price Scores for our 328 Peer Groups and 30 Sectors. The Overbought and Oversold outlier 'thresholds are set' at +4 &amp; -2 for Companies, +3 &amp; -1.5 for Peer Groups and +2 and -1 for Sectors, respectively. These thresholds equate with the top and bottom percentiles of over one million historical observations.Source • Japan AnalyticsWith a few exceptions, mean reversion from these extreme outlying states occurs typically in weeks or months. The twenty-eight-year history of Sector Relative Price Scores illustrates the ebbs and flows of investment themes in the market, from the 2000 Technology 'bubble' to the REIT and Real Estate peak of 2013/14, the Healthcare and FB&amp;T market of 2016/17. On the downside, there is greater 'persistence' in the Oversold zone, particularly recently for Energy, Banks and Utilities Sectors.Source • Japan AnalyticsCONSUMER SERVICES - The most recent case of Sector mean reversion is in Consumer Services, driven primarily by the performance of Oriental Land (4661 JP), a business that is now seeing a direct impact from Covid-19 with the closure of Tokyo Disneyland until March 15th announced today. This news is prompting some short-covering in the Friday afternoon session; however, at 31X EV/OP, there is still 63% downside to a residual income-based no-growth valuation. We expect both the Sector's and company's RPS to retrace the gains of the last two years.  In the DETAIL section below, we provide an update on  Sector and Peer Group trends, over the last three months and adds some stock-specific comments. A separate Insight to follow in the next few days will cover the Relative Price Scores for individual companies.

🇯🇵 JAPAN • March Sector & Peer Group Relative Price Scores -

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bank-of-nagoya-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6348:1" rel="noopener">Bank Of Nagoya (8522 JP)</a>, regionally and colloquially known as "Meigin", is a regional bank with a low ROE (3.3%) and a low PBR (0.3x) and a JPY 60bn market cap, which puts it squarely in the "too-small-to-be-a-big-regional-but-not-actually-really-small" category.Like other regional banks, revenues, recurring profits, and net profits will be down this year. The recent Q3 report on 5 February provided for no change to full year forecasts. Today, the company <a href="https://www.meigin.com/release/files/b284147a79df1aab93252a8e8205854973a13b72.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> (Japanese) that it would move to a corporate system of Board and Audit &amp; Supervisory Committee. The Audit and Supervisory Committee will have a majority of outside directors. This is aimed at improving governance, and speeding up business decision-making at the board level. To make the change (which would generally be seen as a positive in governance terms) will require a change to the bank's Articles of Incorporation. That will require approval at the AGM in June, after which the change would become effective. <h2>The OTHER NEW News</h2>Today the bank also announced (<a href="https://www.meigin.com/release/files/31f87542b89834e51b752e8e37b6187d17c32cb2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japanese</a>) that it would buy back up to 700,000 shares for up to JPY 2.5bn. That is 3.72% of shares outstanding (less treasury shares). The period of the buyback is from 27 February to 27 March and it expects to buy back on-market, including through ToSTNeT-3 transactions. To be able to buy back all 700,000 shares would require that the purchase price be less than ¥3571/share (vs last traded price of ¥3285). The accompanying information is that the bank will cancel 1.5mm shares (Meigin already has 946,687 shares as treasury shares). Both bits - the buyback and the cancellation - tell you something.This is worth a look for short-term traders.

Bank Of Nagoya (8522 JP), regionally and colloquially known as "Meigin", is a regional bank with a low ROE (3.3%) and a low PBR (0.3x) and a JPY 60bn market cap, which puts it squarely in the "too-small-to-be-a-big-regional-but-not-actually-really-small" category.Like other regional banks, revenues, recurring profits, and net profits will be down this year. The recent Q3 report on 5 February provided for no change to full year forecasts. Today, the company announced (Japanese) that it would move to a corporate system of Board and Audit &amp; Supervisory Committee. The Audit and Supervisory Committee will have a majority of outside directors. This is aimed at improving governance, and speeding up business decision-making at the board level. To make the change (which would generally be seen as a positive in governance terms) will require a change to the bank's Articles of Incorporation. That will require approval at the AGM in June, after which the change would become effective. The OTHER NEW NewsToday the bank also announced (Japanese) that it would buy back up to 700,000 shares for up to JPY 2.5bn. That is 3.72% of shares outstanding (less treasury shares). The period of the buyback is from 27 February to 27 March and it expects to buy back on-market, including through ToSTNeT-3 transactions. To be able to buy back all 700,000 shares would require that the purchase price be less than ¥3571/share (vs last traded price of ¥3285). The accompanying information is that the bank will cancel 1.5mm shares (Meigin already has 946,687 shares as treasury shares). Both bits - the buyback and the cancellation - tell you something.This is worth a look for short-term traders.

Japan

ORIENTAL LAND CO., LTD. operates Tokyo Disney Resort.  The Company also operates restaurants within the complex and sells Disney merchandise.

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Oriental Land (4661 JP)

🇯🇵 JAPAN MARKET UPDATE • Relative Value: Short-Term Buy On Japanese Equities

RELATIVE VALUE - Since the recent peak of December 17th, the TOPIX Index has fallen by 28% in 56 trading days. The -0.57% daily average rate of...

Campbell Gunn

Oriental Land - Buyback Interrupted, and an Overhang?

As discussed in Oriental Land Buyback Tender Offer, on 30 January this year when they announced Q3 results, Oriental Land (4661 JP) also launched a...

Travis Lundy

Oriental Land: Tokyo Disney Resorts Closed, The Tender Buyback Could Be Preventing a Further Decline

Oriental Land (4661 JP), the operator of the Tokyo Disney Resorts said on Friday 28th Feb 2020, that the Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea...

Oshadhi Kumarasiri

🇯🇵 JAPAN • March Sector & Peer Group Relative Price Scores -

• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE •RELATIVE PRICE SCORE OUTLIERS - The Relative Price Score (RPS) is a measure of price performance relative to TOPIX...

Campbell Gunn

Nagoya Bank's Biggish Buyback

Bank Of Nagoya (8522 JP), regionally and colloquially known as "Meigin", is a regional bank with a low ROE (3.3%) and a low PBR (0.3x) and a JPY...

Travis Lundy

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

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Dividend (Yield)