Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets, JapanConsuming

Michael Causton

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets

Real Insight on Japanese Consumer Markets

JapanConsuming

JapanConsuming is a specialist research firm producing intelligence on Japanese retail and consumer markets. Founded in 2000, JapanConsuming has become the leading provider of insights on Japanese retailers and consumer trends to retailers, brands, government agencies and investors. As well as a highly regarded monthly report on the market, JapanConsuming produces in-depth reports on retail sectors, seminars on key trends and telephone consulting to investors on trends and retailers.

JapanConsuming was founded by Michael Causton and Roy Larke. 

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<p><em><strong>The following is an in-depth review of Japanese retail in the last 18 months covering all the main formats and categories, providing a quick way to see an overview of all the key trends and winners and losers in Japanese retailing now and going forward.</strong></em></p><p>FY2020 was an anomaly and one that businesses everywhere will want to forget and never repeat. There was more than enough pain among Japan’s top retailers last year, but equally some formats did surprisingly well given the circumstances.</p><p>For most, work-from-home was the single most important factor in determining a chain’s fortunes. City-centre stores and shopping centres offering mostly discretionary shopping have been hit hard, as have convenience stores.</p><p>But those chains selling essentials, healthcare, electronics and, most importantly, food, all saw their fortunes improve. The pandemic has also revealed the strong, dynamic players and exposed the weaker ones. Oh, and everyone needs to be online.</p>

The following is an in-depth review of Japanese retail in the last 18 months covering all the main formats and categories, providing a quick way to see an overview of all the key trends and winners and losers in Japanese retailing now and going forward.FY2020 was an anomaly and one that businesses everywhere will want to forget and never repeat. There was more than enough pain among Japan’s top retailers last year, but equally some formats did surprisingly well given the circumstances.For most, work-from-home was the single most important factor in determining a chain’s fortunes. City-centre stores and shopping centres offering mostly discretionary shopping have been hit hard, as have convenience stores.But those chains selling essentials, healthcare, electronics and, most importantly, food, all saw their fortunes improve. The pandemic has also revealed the strong, dynamic players and exposed the weaker ones. Oh, and everyone needs to be online.

The Polarising Pandemic in Japanese Retail

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

Simplex Holdings / Equity Capital Markets

<p>Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company in its Japan IPO. Simplex has consistently been ranked among the top companies in IDC Fintech rankings over the past nine years.</p><p>Simplex provides consulting, system development, maintenance and operations to banks, asset managers and insurance companies in Asia</p><p>Simplex was established in Sep 97. It was listed on JASDAQ in Feb 2002 and progressed to the First Section in Sep 2005. The company undertook an MBO, in Apr 2013 and was delisted in Oct 2013.</p><p>Since delisting, Simplex has expanded its product offering further to cover life insurance and non-life insurance companies as well, along with crypto exchanges. It has been reporting steady revenue growth over the past few years, although its margins have been volatile. </p><p>Its performance prior to delisting wasn’t great, as it missed its medium term targets, and it now appears to be at peak margins.</p>

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company in its Japan IPO. Simplex has consistently been ranked among the top companies in IDC Fintech rankings over the past nine years.Simplex provides consulting, system development, maintenance and operations to banks, asset managers and insurance companies in AsiaSimplex was established in Sep 97. It was listed on JASDAQ in Feb 2002 and progressed to the First Section in Sep 2005. The company undertook an MBO, in Apr 2013 and was delisted in Oct 2013.Since delisting, Simplex has expanded its product offering further to cover life insurance and non-life insurance companies as well, along with crypto exchanges. It has been reporting steady revenue growth over the past few years, although its margins have been volatile. Its performance prior to delisting wasn’t great, as it missed its medium term targets, and it now appears to be at peak margins.

Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Steady Topline Growth but Appears to Be at Peak Margins

Activia Properties / Equity Capital Markets

<div><p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/9498" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:9498:1" rel="noopener">Activia Properties Inc (3279 JP)</a>(API) plans to raise around US$200m/JPY22bn to fund the acquisition of three assets worth JPY44bn.</p></div><div>
<p>We have previously covered four other deals in the name: </p>
<ul><li>US$220m in Dec 2018, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/activia-properties-placement-time-for-the-annual-fund-raise-dpu-accretive-past-deals-did-well" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activia Properties Placement - Time for the Annual Fund Raise, DPU Accretive, past Deals Did Well</a>
</li></ul>
</div><div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>US$130m in Dec 2017, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/activia-properties-placement-back-again-in-just-over-a-year-past-deals-have-done-well" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activia Properties Placement - Back Again in Just over a Year, past Deals Have Done Well</a>
</li>
<li>US$270m in Nov 2016,  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/activia-properties-back-for-the-annual-capital-raise-but-macro-might-not-be-supportive-this-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activia Properties - Back for the Annual Capital Raise but Macro Might Not Be Supportive This</a>, and</li>
<li>US$161m in Dec 2015,  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/activia-properties-accretive-acquisition-should-add-to-the-previous-deals-record" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activia Properties - Accretive Acquisition Should Add to the Previous Deals Record</a>.</li>
</ul></div><div><p>All the prior deals have done well over the short-term. In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about the deal dynamics.</p></div>

Activia Properties Inc (3279 JP)(API) plans to raise around US$200m/JPY22bn to fund the acquisition of three assets worth JPY44bn.
We have previously covered four other deals in the name: 
US$220m in Dec 2018, Activia Properties Placement - Time for the Annual Fund Raise, DPU Accretive, past Deals Did Well


US$130m in Dec 2017, Activia Properties Placement - Back Again in Just over a Year, past Deals Have Done Well

US$270m in Nov 2016,  Activia Properties - Back for the Annual Capital Raise but Macro Might Not Be Supportive This, and
US$161m in Dec 2015,  Activia Properties - Accretive Acquisition Should Add to the Previous Deals Record.
All the prior deals have done well over the short-term. In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about the deal dynamics.

Activia Properties Placement - Accretive Deal but Comes with a Weak Backdrop

Resonac Holdings  / Equity Capital Markets

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/showa-denko-k-k" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1496:1" rel="noopener">Showa Denko K.K. (4004 JP)</a> aims to raise around US$745m via a global follow-on offering. Proceeds from the placement will be used to finance its planned capex across its different business segments.</p><p>In this note, we will talk about the deal dynamics and run the deal through our ECM framework.</p>

Showa Denko K.K. (4004 JP) aims to raise around US$745m via a global follow-on offering. Proceeds from the placement will be used to finance its planned capex across its different business segments.In this note, we will talk about the deal dynamics and run the deal through our ECM framework.

Showa Denko Placement - Relatively Large Deal, past Deal Didn’t Do Well

Telco/Internet specialist

Kirk Boodry

Redex Research

Equity Bottom-Up

<p>Rakuten Q2 21 results were mixed with better revenue as core businesses did well but steeper losses as mobile spending grew. The company has not changed broad guidance that peak losses will come in FY21 but roaming costs appear to be a larger issue than we thought with an impact on both margins and the timing of new user acquisition. That makes slippage in network deployment targets slightly more problematic although there should also be some offset from good results in eCommerce which grew YoY despite lapping the very strong lockdown quarter.</p>

Rakuten Q2 21 results were mixed with better revenue as core businesses did well but steeper losses as mobile spending grew. The company has not changed broad guidance that peak losses will come in FY21 but roaming costs appear to be a larger issue than we thought with an impact on both margins and the timing of new user acquisition. That makes slippage in network deployment targets slightly more problematic although there should also be some offset from good results in eCommerce which grew YoY despite lapping the very strong lockdown quarter.

Rakuten (Neutral) - Q2 21 Results Reaction: Roaming Costs Have Become a Big Deal

Japan

Rakuten Group, Inc. provides Internet services. The Company offers Internet finance services which including "Rakuten Card" and "Rakuten Bank". Rakuten Group also provides digital content services including electronic book services.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Rakuten (4755 JP)

The Polarising Pandemic in Japanese Retail

A complete review of the Japanese retail sector in the last 18 months, format by format, category by category, providing key trends and winners &...

Michael Causton

Simplex Holdings Pre-IPO - Steady Topline Growth but Appears to Be at Peak Margins

Simplex Holding’s shareholders aim to raise around US$300m via selling some of their stake in the company in its Japan IPO.

Sumeet Singh

Activia Properties Placement - Accretive Deal but Comes with a Weak Backdrop

Activia Properties Inc (3279 JP) plans to raise around US$200m/JPY22bn to fund the acquisition of three assets worth JPY44bn.

Sumeet Singh

Showa Denko Placement - Relatively Large Deal, past Deal Didn’t Do Well

Showa Denko K.K. (4004 JP) aims to raise around US$745m via a global follow-on offering. Proceeds from the placement will be used to finance its...

Sumeet Singh

Rakuten (Neutral) - Q2 21 Results Reaction: Roaming Costs Have Become a Big Deal

Rakuten posted solid eCommerce/Fintech results but these are overshadowed by mobile operating losses. The good news is peak losses should fall in...

Kirk Boodry

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)