Japan Food Sector "Trends in the sale of policy shareholdings based on..."

Research evidence excerpt

Japan Food Sector "Trends in the sale of policy shareholdings based on..."

Global Research

29 June 2026ab

Japan Food Sector Equities

JapanTrends in the sale of policy shareholdings based

on annual securities reports Food & Beverage

Rei Ihara

Analyst

rei.ihara@ubs.com

FY25 annual securities reports have now been released, we analysed the +81-3-5208 6227

reduction in specified investment shares

Ryunosuke Watanabe

As FY25 annual securities reports for the 24 food companies under our coverage have Associate Analyst

been released, we analyzed progress in reducing specified investment shares. The main ryunosuke.watanabe@ubs.com

conclusions are as follows: (1) due to the rise in the share prices of holdings, the ratio of +81-3-5208 6243

specified investment shares to net assets increased in FY25; (2) companies whose ratios

remain above the food-sector average but have steadily declined over the past five years

include Kikkoman, Nissin Foods HD, DyDo Group, and Yakult Honsha; (3) companies

showing limited improvement include Yamazaki Baking, Ariake Japan, and Kewpie; and

(4) companies with a gap between stated targets and actual progress include Morinaga

& Co., Yakult Honsha, and House Foods. Details are provided below.

Food-sector average specified investment share ratio rose to 7.2% in FY25

The simple average ratio of specified investment shares to net assets for the 24 food

companies under our coverage, excluding companies with no policy shareholdings,

declined from 10.1% in FY20 to 6.6% in FY24, but rose to 7.2% in FY25. The main

factor was the rise in the share prices of holdings, although we believe the slower pace

of reduction in policy shareholdings also had some impact.

Holding ratios remain high at Ariake, Yamazaki Baking, and Kewpie