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Smartkarma AI Primers

Smartkarma

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<ul>
  <li>
<a href="https://smartkarma.com/entities/maeda-corp">Maeda Corp</a>oration is strategically shifting from a traditional construction contractor to a comprehensive infrastructure services company, emphasizing higher-margin 'de-contracting' businesses like renewable energy and public-private partnership concessions.</li>
  <li>The company possesses a strong heritage and technical expertise in large-scale civil engineering projects, particularly dams and tunnels, which provides a stable foundation for its traditional contracting business.</li>
  <li>Operating within the mature and highly competitive Japanese construction market, Maeda faces significant headwinds from rising material costs, labor shortages, and a reliance on domestic public works spending.</li>
</ul><p><em>This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.</em></p>


  
Maeda Corporation is strategically shifting from a traditional construction contractor to a comprehensive infrastructure services company, emphasizing higher-margin 'de-contracting' businesses like renewable energy and public-private partnership concessions.
  The company possesses a strong heritage and technical expertise in large-scale civil engineering projects, particularly dams and tunnels, which provides a stable foundation for its traditional contracting business.
  Operating within the mature and highly competitive Japanese construction market, Maeda faces significant headwinds from rising material costs, labor shortages, and a reliance on domestic public works spending.
This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

<p>Shareholder proposals for AGMs in Japan are somewhat rare. Activist proposals rarer still. They only affect roughly 2% of companies with June AGMs and shareholder proposals are rarely passed, but they may reflect the pressure on a company, and when something has enough support, management may end up agreeing to it if not outright supporting it later on.</p><p>Activist fund Strategic Capital has made shareholder proposals to 6 companies (that we know of) in the past month or so, starting with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/wakita-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11924:1" rel="noopener">Wakita &amp; Co Ltd (8125 JP)</a> which has a May AGM, as discussed in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-activism-a-look-into-wakita-8125-jp-potential-pre-event" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:50034" rel="noopener">Japan Activism: A Look into Wakita (8125 JP) Potential Pre-Event</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/wakita-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11924:1" rel="noopener">Wakita &amp; Co Ltd (8125 JP)</a> at the beginning of the month, and five more names announced on the 28th of April. </p><p>Those five names are <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/asanuma-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:19612:1" rel="noopener">Asanuma Corp (1852 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/seikitokyu-kogyo-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:7819:1" rel="noopener">Seikitokyu Kogyo (1898 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/arisawa-mfg-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18028:1" rel="noopener">Arisawa Mfg (5208 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bunka-shutter-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5903:1" rel="noopener">Bunka Shutter (5930 JP)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kyokuto-boeki-kaisha-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:12884:1" rel="noopener">Kyokuto Boeki Kaisha (8093 JP)</a>.</p><p>This eclectic group is unified by balance sheet excess. In this case, net cash and securities of about 50% of market cap, a lack of borrowing, a lack of destination for the accumulated capital, BUT this case has its Very Interesting Aspects. </p><h2>So... <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/seikitokyu-kogyo-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:7819:1" rel="noopener">Seikitokyu Kogyo (1898 JP)</a> </h2><hr><p><em>Activist AGM Proposals so far this year are as follows (🤖 is Japanese language, 👹 is English):</em></p><table class="table table-striped"><tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">Date<br>Anncd</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">Ticker</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Company</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">AGM</td>
<td style="width: 48px;">Proposal</td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">Proposer</td>
<td style="width: 128px;">Smartkarma Insights</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">15 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">8918</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Land</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">27 May</td>
<td style="width: 48px;"><a href="http://www.land.jp/pdf/20210415154419_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">🤖</a></td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">An individual</td>
<td style="width: 128px;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">23 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">8125</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Wakita</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">27 May</td>
<td style="width: 48px;">
<a href="https://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/81250/a6125b97/fbfe/4961/baac/116bc18b2917/140120210423498992.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">🤖</a> , <a href="https://stracap.jp/english/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/To-Shareholder-of-WAKITA-CO.-LTD..pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👹</a>
</td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">Strategic Capital</td>
<td style="width: 128px;">
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-activism-a-look-into-wakita-8125-jp-potential-pre-event" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insight 1</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/wakita-rejects-stracap-s-shareholder-proposals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insight 2</a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">27 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">6815</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Uniden</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">June</td>
<td style="width: 48px;"><a href="http://www.uniden.co.jp/ir/news/dat/2021/information_20210427.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">🤖</a></td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">LIM Japan Event Master Fd</td>
<td style="width: 128px;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">28 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">.1852</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Asanuma</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">June</td>
<td style="width: 48px;">
<a href="https://www.asanuma.co.jp/ir/pdf/etc/20210428k.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">🤖</a> , <a href="https://stracap.jp/english/proposal/2021_asanuma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👹</a>
</td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">Strategic Capital</td>
<td style="width: 128px;"><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/2021-japan-agm-activism-stracap-proposals-for-asanuma-corp-1852" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insight</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">28 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">8093</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Kyokuto Boeki Kaisha</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">June</td>
<td style="width: 48px;">
<a href="https://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/AS01655/21124bce/241c/4a3a/8482/00305b8413e6/140120210428402431.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">🤖</a> , <a href="https://stracap.jp/english/proposal/2021_kbk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👹</a>
</td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">Strategic Capital</td>
<td style="width: 128px;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">28 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">1898</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Seikitokyu Kogyo</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">June</td>
<td style="width: 48px;">
<a href="https://www.seikitokyu.co.jp/dev/wp-content/themes/twentysixteen/pdf/info/20210428.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">🤖</a> , <a href="https://stracap.jp/english/proposal/2021_seikitokyu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👹</a>
</td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">Strategic Capital</td>
<td style="width: 128px;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">28 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">5208</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Arisawa Mfg</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">June</td>
<td style="width: 48px;"><a href="https://stracap.jp/english/proposal/2021_arisawa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👹</a></td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">Strategic Capital</td>
<td style="width: 128px;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">28 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">5930</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Bunka Shutter</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">June</td>
<td style="width: 48px;"><a href="https://stracap.jp/english/proposal/2021_bunkasutter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">👹</a></td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">Strategic Capital</td>
<td style="width: 128px;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">28 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">2327</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">NS Solutions</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">June</td>
<td style="width: 48px;">
<a href="https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/2327/tdnet/1958513/00.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">🤖</a> , </td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">AVI Japan Opportunity Trust PLC</td>
<td style="width: 128px;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 36px;">30 Apr</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 33.6px;">4295</td>
<td style="width: 122.4px;">Faith</td>
<td style="width: 41.6px;">June</td>
<td style="width: 48px;"><a href="https://www.faith.co.jp/ir/pdf/20210430_ir.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">🤖</a></td>
<td style="width: 187.2px;">RMB Capital Japan Oppty Fd</td>
<td style="width: 128px;"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>

Shareholder proposals for AGMs in Japan are somewhat rare. Activist proposals rarer still. They only affect roughly 2% of companies with June AGMs and shareholder proposals are rarely passed, but they may reflect the pressure on a company, and when something has enough support, management may end up agreeing to it if not outright supporting it later on.Activist fund Strategic Capital has made shareholder proposals to 6 companies (that we know of) in the past month or so, starting with Wakita &amp; Co Ltd (8125 JP) which has a May AGM, as discussed in Japan Activism: A Look into Wakita (8125 JP) Potential Pre-Event and Wakita &amp; Co Ltd (8125 JP) at the beginning of the month, and five more names announced on the 28th of April. Those five names are Asanuma Corp (1852 JP), Seikitokyu Kogyo (1898 JP), Arisawa Mfg (5208 JP), Bunka Shutter (5930 JP), and Kyokuto Boeki Kaisha (8093 JP).This eclectic group is unified by balance sheet excess. In this case, net cash and securities of about 50% of market cap, a lack of borrowing, a lack of destination for the accumulated capital, BUT this case has its Very Interesting Aspects. So... Seikitokyu Kogyo (1898 JP) Activist AGM Proposals so far this year are as follows (🤖 is Japanese language, 👹 is English):

Date Anncd
Ticker
Company
AGM
Proposal
Proposer
Smartkarma Insights


15 Apr
8918
Land
27 May
🤖
An individual



23 Apr
8125
Wakita
27 May

🤖 , 👹

Strategic Capital

insight 1, insight 2



27 Apr
6815
Uniden
June
🤖
LIM Japan Event Master Fd



28 Apr
.1852
Asanuma
June

🤖 , 👹

Strategic Capital
insight


28 Apr
8093
Kyokuto Boeki Kaisha
June

🤖 , 👹

Strategic Capital



28 Apr
1898
Seikitokyu Kogyo
June

🤖 , 👹

Strategic Capital



28 Apr
5208
Arisawa Mfg
June
👹
Strategic Capital



28 Apr
5930
Bunka Shutter
June
👹
Strategic Capital



28 Apr
2327
NS Solutions
June

🤖 , 
AVI Japan Opportunity Trust PLC



30 Apr
4295
Faith
June
🤖
RMB Capital Japan Oppty Fd




2021 Japan AGM Activism - StraCap Proposals for Seikitokyu Kogyo (1898) - A REALLY Cheap Company

Doing bespoke work since 2002....., Custom Products Group

Patrick Hansen

Doing bespoke work since 2002.....

Custom Products Group

Custom Products was started 14 years ago at Lehman Brothers by current co-founder Patrick Hansen, CFA. After 3 years at Lehman, Patrick moved the team to Macquarie Securities where Simon Rigney (co-founder) joined. 3 years ago we took Custom Products independent. 

Our core strength can be summed up three words. 1- Customization - we have very little off the shelf products and most work is done on a one on one bespoke basis. 2- Speed - We pride ourselves in our ability to get requests back to the client very quickly. 3- Confidentiality - We do not redistribute. There is no grace period where we wait a week and then mass blast. Any request stops with that client.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<p>We know that historically there has been a lot of leakage leading into Earnings Season. In a different life, I remember Fuji Photo calling me in and given me a preview of the earnings results 2 weeks before the actual announcement. It may not happen as much now in the large-cap space, so we took a look at the small-cap space with very little coverage to see if there are movements in consensus.</p>

We know that historically there has been a lot of leakage leading into Earnings Season. In a different life, I remember Fuji Photo calling me in and given me a preview of the earnings results 2 weeks before the actual announcement. It may not happen as much now in the large-cap space, so we took a look at the small-cap space with very little coverage to see if there are movements in consensus.

Japanese Small-Cap Names with Consensus Changes Leading into Earning Season....

<p>It has been a while since we updated the "Hated by the Street" screen. So we thought it would be good to see which names made the list. Usually we only screen for names where the % of BUY recommendations to Total is less than 20%. However, 126 names made that list. We therefore further limited the screen by adding % of SELL recommendations greater than 30% of total recommendations. 26 names met both criteria. </p><p>At the top of the list is <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/391" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:391:1">Sharp Corp (6753 JP)</a> with 0 BUY recommendations and 8 SELL…</p>

It has been a while since we updated the "Hated by the Street" screen. So we thought it would be good to see which names made the list. Usually we only screen for names where the % of BUY recommendations to Total is less than 20%. However, 126 names made that list. We therefore further limited the screen by adding % of SELL recommendations greater than 30% of total recommendations. 26 names met both criteria. At the top of the list is Sharp Corp (6753 JP) with 0 BUY recommendations and 8 SELL…

Names that Are Hated and Loved by the Street in Japan....

Macroeconomics

<p>Japan's aggregate Net Income margin increased from 2.7% in 2012 to 4.6% in 2016. While this margin expansion is a great thing, asset efficiency (asset turns) is basically flat over the same period.  </p><p>We went back and compared average net income margins in 2011 - 2013 to 2016 and found that only 4 out of 19 sectors saw a decline in net income margins. For TOPIX 500, aggregate average net income margin from 2011-2013 was 3.2% compared to 4.6% in 2016. At the company level, 74% of TOPIX 500 saw an…</p>

Japan's aggregate Net Income margin increased from 2.7% in 2012 to 4.6% in 2016. While this margin expansion is a great thing, asset efficiency (asset turns) is basically flat over the same period.  We went back and compared average net income margins in 2011 - 2013 to 2016 and found that only 4 out of 19 sectors saw a decline in net income margins. For TOPIX 500, aggregate average net income margin from 2011-2013 was 3.2% compared to 4.6% in 2016. At the company level, 74% of TOPIX 500 saw an…

Margins Expanding in Japan but Asset Efficiency Is Not Improving....

Japan

Maeda Corporation is a general contractor specializing in large scale civil engineering works for dams and landscaping.  The Company also constructs various infrastructure such as roads, tunnels, and flood control facilities. Additionally, Maeda builds commercial, institutional, and residential buildings such as sports, medical, and welfare facilities.

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Maeda Corp (1824 JP)

Primer: Maeda Corp (1824 JP) - Aug 2026

Maeda Corporation is strategically shifting from a traditional construction contractor to a comprehensive infrastructure services company,...

αSK Primers

2021 Japan AGM Activism - StraCap Proposals for Seikitokyu Kogyo (1898) - A REALLY Cheap Company

StraCap has now made the same Shareholder Proposals on Seikitokyu Kogyo for 3 straight years. They make sense, but are likely to be rebuffed. But...

Travis Lundy

Japanese Small-Cap Names with Consensus Changes Leading into Earning Season....

We know that historically there has been a lot of leakage leading into Earnings Season. In a different life, I remember Fuji Photo calling me in...

Custom Products Group

Names that Are Hated and Loved by the Street in Japan....

It has been a while since we updated the "Hated by the Street" screen. So we thought it would be good to see which names made the list. Usually we...

Custom Products Group

Margins Expanding in Japan but Asset Efficiency Is Not Improving....

Japan's aggregate Net Income margin increased from 2.7% in 2012 to 4.6% in 2016. While this margin expansion is a great thing, asset efficiency...

Custom Products Group

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