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).

Ito Corporation <6038> has strengthened its financial foundation in recent years due to revenue expansion. As a result, starting from the fiscal year ending June 2023, it began distributing dividends to shareholders, with a dividend of 14.0 yen in the fiscal year ending June 2024 (DOE 1.7%). The dividend policy up to the fiscal year ending June 2024 has targeted a DOE of 1.5%, but it has been decided to raise the target to 2.0% from the fiscal year ending June 2025 onwards. Based on this policy, the dividend per share for the fiscal year ending June 2025 is planned to be 16.0 yen, an increase of 2.0 yen compared to the previous period (DOE 1.8%). Additionally, depending on the stock price level, the company intends to consider share buybacks and other measures to raise the enterprise value to a Price-to-Book Ratio (PBR) of 1 or higher, which is one of the management challenges (the net asset value per share at the end of the fiscal year ending June 2024 is 856.25 yen).

(Written by FISCO guest analyst, Jo Sato)