Shareholder return strategy: No. 1<3562> changed its shareholder return policy along with the publication of the new mid-term management plan "Evolution 2027" and showed the direction of significantly strengthening shareholder return. So far, we have aimed for stable dividends (30% dividend payout ratio as a guide), but in the future, we plan to implement stable and continuous shareholder dividends based on a policy of aiming for a 30% dividend payout ratio, regardless of changes in annual performance. A notable feature is that we have set a minimum dividend of the previous year's annual dividend per share and will continue to increase dividends, which is a significant enhancement of shareholder return and can also be evaluated as a expression of confidence in profit growth. Moreover, we have a policy of "flexibly implementing under financial discipline" for acquiring our own shares, showing a more proactive stance.* *Considering the gap between our own perception of the stock price and the market evaluation, ROE, capital efficiency, and CF level, we have a policy of implementing it flexibly. Dividends for the fiscal year ending February 2024 will increase by 1 yen from the previous year, as expected at the beginning of the period, to 33 yen per share (mid-term dividend of 16.5 yen and year-end dividend of 16.5 yen). We also acquired 340,000 shares of our own stock (with a purchase price of 397 million yen). Despite the anticipated decline in profits for the fiscal year ending February 2025, we are expected to follow the policy of increasing dividends every period and issue a dividend of 1 yen per share (a commemorative dividend for the 35th anniversary of our founding), with an expected increase of 2 yen from the previous year to 35 yen per share (mid-term dividend of 17.5 yen and year-end dividend of 17.5 yen).

Lacto Japan <3139> positions the return of profits to shareholders as the most important management issue, aiming to increase dividends and improve the dividend payout ratio on the basis of stable dividends while balancing investment for growth, such as the Asia cheese manufacturing and sales business, and strengthening financial stability to achieve medium- to long-term growth. While it had been the basic policy to pay dividends once a year at the end of each fiscal year until the fiscal year ending November 2022, it has been decided to pay dividends twice a year from the fiscal year ending November 2023 in order to enhance opportunities to return profits to shareholders in response to management performance. The dividend for the fiscal year ending November 2024 is planned to be ¥76.0 per share (¥31.0 as interim dividend and ¥45.0 as year-end dividend). Due to the upward revision of the net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company based on the earnings forecast, the previous year's interim dividend of ¥14.0 per share, which had been forecast at the beginning of the period, was revised upward to ¥28.0 per share. The dividend payout ratio is expected to exceed the previous year's figure by 2.0 percentage points to 25.2%. In addition to dividends, shareholder benefits are also provided, with QUO cards or catalog gifts given once a year depending on the length of time shares are held.

(Author: FISCO Guest Analyst Shuji Matsumoto)