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. 

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>When just viewed as a shop building operator, Marui is a mid-sized property firm with a dependence on the Tokyo market. </li>
<li>Its consumer credit business has always been larger and transactions exceeded ¥3 trillion for the first time last year and should hit ¥5 trillion in  FY2025.</li>
<li>Marui also wants to leverage that data to better manage its buildings and identify fast growing businesses to invest in, resulting in more cross-use and growth businesses.</li>
</ul>


When just viewed as a shop building operator, Marui is a mid-sized property firm with a dependence on the Tokyo market. 
Its consumer credit business has always been larger and transactions exceeded ¥3 trillion for the first time last year and should hit ¥5 trillion in  FY2025.
Marui also wants to leverage that data to better manage its buildings and identify fast growing businesses to invest in, resulting in more cross-use and growth businesses.


Marui: Already a ¥3 Trillion Business but Aiming for ¥5 Trillion

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/marui-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13604:1" rel="noopener">Marui Group (8252 JP)</a> was a long-suffering Japanese retailer with generally sub-standard locations and "different" customer base, and much of its income came from consumer credit. </li>
<li>Since a decade ago, helped by the rise of foreign tourism income, Marui has been redeveloping itself. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/profiles/michael-causton" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="accounts:2415" rel="noopener">Michael Causton</a>'s insights are a great help to understanding the background. </li>
<li>They are aiming at non-stuff retailing. Friday saw earnings, cancellation of the yutai program, a slight div hike, and an increase in the already large buyback program. It's interesting!</li>
</ul>



Marui Group (8252 JP) was a long-suffering Japanese retailer with generally sub-standard locations and "different" customer base, and much of its income came from consumer credit. 
Since a decade ago, helped by the rise of foreign tourism income, Marui has been redeveloping itself. Michael Causton's insights are a great help to understanding the background. 
They are aiming at non-stuff retailing. Friday saw earnings, cancellation of the yutai program, a slight div hike, and an increase in the already large buyback program. It's interesting!


Marui (8252 JP) - Increases Size of Delayed-Start Buyback, Cuts Yutai

Japan Specialist

Mark Chadwick

<ul>
<li>J-Front Retailing, a Japanese department store operator, will announce full-year results on April 11.</li>
<li>We expect FY2/23 guidance to be more optimistic as Japan normalises post COVID. </li>
<li>Pent up demand for luxury goods to drive recovery of department stores. J-Front is still trading below book value.</li>
</ul>


J-Front Retailing, a Japanese department store operator, will announce full-year results on April 11.
We expect FY2/23 guidance to be more optimistic as Japan normalises post COVID. 
Pent up demand for luxury goods to drive recovery of department stores. J-Front is still trading below book value.


J-Front (3086) | Recent Datapoints Point to High-End Shoppers Loosening the Purse Strings

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/marui-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13604:1" rel="noopener">Marui Group (8252 JP)</a> is increasingly ethereal, shifting further away from selling merchandise through tenants. </li>
<li>While seen as a shop building operator, Marui is still true to its service origins as a consumer finance business.</li>
<li>Now even its shop buildings are increasingly devoted to non-stuff with the company aiming for 70% of tenancies to be selling things other than merchandise by 2025.</li>
</ul>



Marui Group (8252 JP) is increasingly ethereal, shifting further away from selling merchandise through tenants. 
While seen as a shop building operator, Marui is still true to its service origins as a consumer finance business.
Now even its shop buildings are increasingly devoted to non-stuff with the company aiming for 70% of tenancies to be selling things other than merchandise by 2025.


Marui: 70% of Tenants to Be Non-Merchandise

NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone) / Event-Driven

NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone) (9432 JP)

<ul>
<li>NTT sees a US$1 billion selldown of shares on Wednesday 29 December. </li>
<li>This is due to a weird quirk in the way TOPIX and JPX Nikkei 400 are constructed and managed - a quirk not generally seen in other major index families.</li>
<li>NTT is cheap to peers, and NTT / Peer EPSe Ratios continue to grow, up and to the right.</li>
</ul>


NTT sees a US$1 billion selldown of shares on Wednesday 29 December. 
This is due to a weird quirk in the way TOPIX and JPX Nikkei 400 are constructed and managed - a quirk not generally seen in other major index families.
NTT is cheap to peers, and NTT / Peer EPSe Ratios continue to grow, up and to the right.


Watch the $1bn Sell-On-Close on NTT (9432) Wednesday

Japan

MARUI GROUP CO., LTD. operates department stores which sell clothing, accessories, home appliances, and food stuffs.  The Company also provides consumer loan services.  Marui Group operates in the Tokyo area.

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Marui Group (8252 JP)

Marui: Already a ¥3 Trillion Business but Aiming for ¥5 Trillion

Marui is one of the few really solid bets in Japanese consumer/retail thanks to its mix of a leading consumer finance business and fast evolving...

Michael Causton

Marui (8252 JP) - Increases Size of Delayed-Start Buyback, Cuts Yutai

Marui Group (8252) had a 2.5month delay to the start of its buyback program, but announced a revision in size (upward) Friday with earnings. It...

Travis Lundy

J-Front (3086) | Recent Datapoints Point to High-End Shoppers Loosening the Purse Strings

J-Front Retailing is a beneficiary of COVID normalisation and eventual resumption of inbound tourism. The restructuring and cost cuts bode well for...

Mark Chadwick

Marui: 70% of Tenants to Be Non-Merchandise

Marui gets negative press for being a mall operator in an e-commerce age but as well as a great finance business, it is making its buildings into...

Michael Causton

Watch the $1bn Sell-On-Close on NTT (9432) Wednesday

NTT cancelled shares in November. That leads to a TOPIX event selldown at end-December. For NTT it is US$1bn. But NTT remains undeservedly cheap to...

Travis Lundy

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