Communication with Shareholders and Investors
| Fiscal 2021 Objectives | Fiscal 2021 Achievements | Self-Evaluation | Priority Objectives for Fiscal 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
★★★ |
|
- Self-evaluation: ★★★ Achieved more than targeted / ★★ Achieved as targeted / ★ Achieved to some extent
IR Disclosure Policy
Sharp discloses information to shareholders and investors in a fair and timely manner, in order to increase trust in its IR activities and to ensure a proper assessment of Sharp’s corporate value in capital markets.
Sharp discloses information designated under the laws and regulations of Japan, and it also adequately discloses other information, such as business overview, management policy, and strategy.
Basic Policy on Allocating Profits
Sharp considers distributing profits to shareholders to be one of management’s top priorities. Sharp pays dividends from surplus, comprehensively taking into account its consolidated business performance, financial situation, and future business development, while making active investments in R&D and other areas and strengthening the financial standing from a long-term perspective. In line with this, Sharp’s basic policy is to ensure stable dividends at a payout ratio of 30%. For fiscal 2021, the annual dividend paid per common share was 40 yen, which represents a payout ratio of 33.0% and an increase of 10 yen per share compared with the previous fiscal year.
Communicating with Shareholders and Investors
Sharp actively facilitates opportunities for shareholders, investors, and analysts to communicate directly with senior executives. In addition to financial results briefings, management policy briefings, management briefings for shareholders, and one-on-one meetings, whenever possible senior executives attend conferences organized by securities companies. And whenever senior executives are unavailable, the IR department meets with shareholders and investors.
At the same time, Sharp seeks to be responsive to changing investor needs. For example, Sharp is pursuing greater interdepartmental cooperation with regard to ESG, which represents one of the company’s key business challenges in recent years and an area of growing investor interest. The IR department is constantly collecting information about investor needs, how they are changing, investors’ views on Sharp, and the outlook for the industry. It then relays all of this feedback to the senior executives.
Sharp will continue to use IR activities to help a wide range of shareholders and investors better understand Sharp’s management situation and business policy.
General Shareholders’ Meeting, Management Briefings
Sharp strives to create an environment that enables shareholders to easily exercise their voting rights. Efforts include disclosing notices of the meetings before they are sent out, participating in an electronic voting platform (for institutional investors), posting English notices about the meetings on its website, and allowing shareholders to exercise voting rights via the Internet.
Also, after the general shareholders' meetings, Sharp holds management briefings to exchange opinions with shareholders on topics which are not limited to the agenda of the general shareholders' meetings.
IR Activities Designed to Meet the Diversifying Needs of Investors
In response to diversifying needs, Sharp makes every effort to properly disclose a wide range of information promptly and accurately, and enhance its communication with shareholders and investors in Japan and overseas.
In particular, Sharp endeavors to provide detailed disclosure of financial information for which there is great interest, such as through securities reports, summaries of financial results, financial presentation materials, and integrated reports. ESG represents another important business challenge, about which Sharp actively discloses information through not only sustainability reports but also finance-related materials and other sources.
Also, Sharp has developed and maintains an accessible and easy-to-understand IR website. It is compatible with smartphone viewing and, in addition to having a page tailored for individual investors, it offers a robust array of content, such as a page providing graphs of major performance data. In fiscal 2021, the new “Sharp at a Glance” was put online, offering a compact summary of a variety of information, including financial data and stock and bond-related data.
Preventing Insider Trading
Sharp has effectuated regulations restricting insider trading, established strict controls on undisclosed material facts (“insider tips”), and instituted restrictions on the buying and selling of stocks and other securities. Sharp has also implemented in-house training related to insider trading. This training includes, among other approaches, an educational campaign on the corporate intranet that targets Sharp Group employees in Japan with the aim of preventing insider trading by Sharp Group directors, audit and supervisory board members, executive officers, or employees.
In addition, given the importance of disclosure, when “material facts specified in the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act” and/or “important company information that should be disclosed in a timely manner as stipulated by securities exchanges” is generated, Sharp does its utmost to promptly disclose and publicize the relevant details. Further, regarding media and analyst coverage, Sharp deals with it while fully honoring the spirit of disclosure and remaining attentive so as not to violate insider-trading regulations.