Kirin Holdings (2503): Maintain Neutral: Short-term profit above plan, but awaiting Kyowa Kirin growth strategy and M&A in the health science field

Research evidence excerpt

Kirin Holdings (2503): Maintain Neutral: Short-term profit above plan, but awaiting Kyowa Kirin growth strategy and M&A in the health science field

J P M O R G A N Asia Pacific Equity Research

29 June 2026

Kirin Holdings (2503)

Maintain Neutral: Short-term profit above plan, but Neutral

awaiting Kyowa Kirin growth strategy and M&A in the 2503.T, 2503 JP

health science field Price (29 Jun 26):¥2,833

▲Price Target (Dec-26):¥2,800

Prior (Dec-26):¥2,700

We raise our December 2026 price target to ¥2,800 from ¥2,700 and maintain our

Neutral rating. At Kyowa Kirin (Underweight; covered by Seiji Wakao), Japan Equity Research

discontinuation of the development of rocatinlimab, a key pipeline product, will Food, Beverage, and Tobacco

reduce R&D expenses in the short term, boosting business profit. However, we AC Satoshi Fujiwara

expect business profit to enter a downtrend in FY2028, and believe the direction (81-3) 6736-8652

of group earnings over the medium- to long-term is unclear. Our focus is on the satoshi.fujiwara@jpmorgan.com

acquisition of growth drivers for Kyowa Kirin and additional M&A in the health Hideto Takahashi

science field. (81-3) 6736-8638

hideto.takahashi@jpmorgan.com

• Revising up business profit estimates: We raise our business profit estimates JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., Ltd.

to reflect our latest forecasts for Kyowa Kirin. We raise our FY2026 estimate

from ¥259 billion to ¥266 billion (+6% YoY, guidance: ¥235 billion), our

Style Exposure FY2027 estimate from ¥262.3 billion to ¥271.1 billion (+2%), and our FY2028

estimate from ¥250 billion to ¥268.2 billion (-1%). We forecast FY2028 ROE

of 12.1% (previously 11.7%). Based on the increases to our profit and ROE

estimates, we revise our fair-value P/B from 1.45x to 1.5x, which we apply to