In today’s briefing:
- Kyocera (6971) And Their $10bn KDDI Stake – Did They Get CorpGov Religion?
- Keisei Electric: Results Unimpressive, Yet Investor Activism Appeal Remains
- CyberAgent: Gaming Shows Some Recovery but New Releases Yet to Shift Momentum for Games
- What Is the Path for Resolving the Challenges of Life Insurance Companies’ Policy Shareholdings?
- Japan REITs: Long Japan Hotel REIT and Short Nippon Building Fund on Industry Fundamentals
Kyocera (6971) And Their $10bn KDDI Stake – Did They Get CorpGov Religion?
- Yesterday, Kyocera Corp (6971 JP) announced Q2 results and lowered its full-year forecast. Then the CEO said it was “reconsidering” what to do with KDDI shares (after an AGM disaster).
- The company had already planned to borrow ¥500bn against the KDDI stake to return capital to shareholders. That was in the price 5+ months ago.
- The new hope is that Kyocera just got Corporate Governance Religion. I have my doubts, and even if it did, you have to look carefully at their ambitious plans.
Keisei Electric: Results Unimpressive, Yet Investor Activism Appeal Remains
- Keisei Electric Railway Co (9009 JP)‘s FQ2 earnings, released on October-31st, surpassed revenue and OP expectations, yet the company revised down its revenue and OP guidance by ¥8.8bn and ¥200m.
- Despite this, the share price has surged over 10% in recent days, likely influenced by activist investor Palliser Capital’s interest and a significant 30% increase in annual dividend guidance.
- However, during earnings, the company remained silent about the activist investor’s proposal to reduce its Oriental Land (4661 JP) ownership below 15%.
CyberAgent: Gaming Shows Some Recovery but New Releases Yet to Shift Momentum for Games
- CA reported 4Q and full-year FY09/2023 results today. 4Q revenue increased 5% YoY while OP dropped more than 50% during the quarter. Revenues beat consensus while OP fell behind.
- Games revenues further decreased YoY during the quarter (improved QoQ) while it managed to report an OP which was possible due to UMA MUSUME’s game anniversary.
- Though CA released a new game in September and few lined-up for release, until the company releases a hit title like UMA MUSUME, we expect the recovery to be slow.
What Is the Path for Resolving the Challenges of Life Insurance Companies’ Policy Shareholdings?
- It should be noted that some companies that state that they do not possess takeover defenses also indicate that they will take “appropriate measures.”
- Addition of ROE and % of independent directors to the approval/disapproval of takeover defense agenda is likely an afterthought to add these conditions to favor the introduction of takeover defense.
- It’ll take several years before life insurance companies show signs of change in voting. It’ll be interesting to see how they come to terms with their corporate clients and stewardship.
Japan REITs: Long Japan Hotel REIT and Short Nippon Building Fund on Industry Fundamentals
- In this insight, among the J-REIT universe, we explore the pair trade idea of LONG Japan Hotel REIT and SHORT Nippon Building Fund
- Among the real estate subsectors, we expect hotels continue to see superior performance on the back of tourism recovery, while office market will continue to be weak
- Both JHR and NBF are large caps with good trading liquidity. In terms of valuation, we see more upside in JHR (20%) than NBF (0%)
💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma
Sign Up for Free
The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network
- ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
- ✓ Personalised Alerts
- ✓ Custom Watchlists
- ✓ Company Data and News
- ✓ Events & Webinars
