In today’s briefing:
- Monday Delight: 21/09/2026
- Problems Won’t Be Solved if a Company Gets Caught up in Debates over the Means to an End
Monday Delight: 21/09/2026
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Crops Corporation (9428) is a Nagoya-based conglomerate best known as KDDI’s largest au/UQ Mobile retail agency in the Chubu region, but the segment that actually drives profit is a restaurant-property sub-leasing arbitrage business (Innovation Holdings/Tempo Innovation), generating 43% of operating profit from just 26% of revenue.
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KDDI itself holds a 20.32% equity-method stake with board representation, alongside staffing, building-maintenance, and overseas BPO units.
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The company seems to steadily compound revenues and profits and once you strip out the asset write-off from a small Vietnamese subsidiary, it seems to trade very cheaply on just over 7x earnings.
Problems Won’t Be Solved if a Company Gets Caught up in Debates over the Means to an End
- “The fact that Japanese companies hold vast cash reserves” is one aspect of the issue, but it’s not root cause. Focusing solely on the means won’t actually solve the problem.
- While increasing growth investments and improving board practices are not wrong as strategies, few companies truly understand why they should pursue these initiatives or are able to implement them effectively.
- Both investment and improvements in board practices are necessary measures for achieving the management goal of sustainably increasing shareholder interest. It is the responsibility of management to achieve this goal.
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