Basic Policy "IR Policy"

As a "contributing member of society," ESPEC advocates, as its corporate philosophy, building a meaningful relationship with every stakeholder (improvement of value exchange) and fulfilling its social responsibilities.
Our "IR Policy" is explicitly stated based on such corporate philosophy applied to IR activities that are intended to improve communication with shareholders and investors, and aims at disseminating information regarding our code of activities.

• IR Policy (IR)

Communication with Shareholders and Investors

Policy on Disclosures and IR Activities

We disclose information in accordance with corporate laws, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, other related laws and regulations, as well as with the Timely Disclosure Rules and other related rules prescribed by the stock exchange. We also disclose in a proactive and fair manner other useful information that does not fall under these rules in order to further the understanding our shareholders and investors.
We have established an information disclosure committee as an internal corporate structure tasked with deliberating over information disclosure issues. We are also striving to centralize the information by limiting the number of people who can disclose. In our IR activities, we aim to build relationships of trust with our shareholders and investors by deepening their understanding of ESPEC so that they evaluate our company properly. We also aim to utilize market valuations in ESPEC's management activities.

Initiatives to Energize the General Meeting of Shareholders and Streamline the Use of Voting Rights

• General meeting of shareholders

We believe that the general meeting of shareholders is a valuable opportunity to directly interact with our shareholders. When holding our meetings, we deliberately avoid days on which many companies hold their meetings of shareholders in order to allow more shareholders to participate. Striving for early sending of meeting notifications, we succeeded in sending them one week before the legally required date.
We also posted announcements at the Tokyo Stock Exchange and on our homepage two weeks before the legally required date, we are working to expand our English language contents, and to post English versions (summaries) on the same day. We also changed to a color design for the Notice of the 69th Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders, and worked to improve its readability. As for the meeting material although a system for electronic provision of materials for general meetings of shareholders was introduced following the revision of the Companies Act, it was sent to shareholders in written form as before, whether requested or not. The 71st General Meeting of Shareholders was attended by 75 shareholders.

• Exercise of voting rights

A Smart Voting system is also available that allows shareholders to exercise their voting rights by mail or via the Internet, with voting made easy simply by reading a 2D code from a smartphone. We have also introduced a new electronic voting rights exercise platform, and are working to improve the exercise environment for institutional investors as well.

IR activities for institutional and individual investors

Participation of top management in IR activities

At ESPEC, top executives actively participate in IR activities. Individual meetings are organized with both domestic and international institutional investors, and in FY 2023 we conducted discussions with a total of 23 such companies. Meanwhile, at our briefings for individual investors, the President provided details about the company’s strengths and shareholder returns.

Enhancement of information transmission

• Shareholders' Communications

Kabunushi Tsushin is issued twice a year with the purpose of deepening understanding of ESPEC among its shareholders. It includes information about products that were successfully delivered as well as about ESPEC's management structure and CSR activities.

• Financial and non-financial information

ESPEC provides financial and stock data (factbooks) for the last 10 years in both Japanese and English. We also disclose non-financial information including materials summarizing our sustainability initiatives, ESG data compilations, and enhancements to our sustainability site.

Feedback to Management

Shareholder and Investor Surveys

In addition to receiving opinions from investors at corporate briefings and other such occasions, we conduct surveys targeted at shareholders when forwarding shareholders' communications. We report opinions and other ideas received from our shareholders in the interim shareholders' communication.

Market Assessment Feedback

Results of surveys conducted at IR events and through shareholders’ communications, as well as opinions and other ideas received at individual meetings, are compiled into reports and submitted to the Board of Directors. We also share information with executive officers and general managers of related departments, and we strive to reflect that in our management strategy. By bringing back this assessment of the market to our company, we can more easily identify issues and work to improve future IR activities and the quality of company management.

Returning Profits to Shareholders

Basic Policy on Profit Distributions

Generating shareholder returns is one of our highest business priorities. Continuously improving corporate value is fundamental to improving shareholder value, and we have established the following basic profit sharing policy in order to ensure continuity and a certain dividend payout ratio. We have set our consolidated dividend payout ratio to 30% and aim to pay out an additional one-third of surplus funds as dividends as well. We are also agile with respect to treasury stock acquisitions in order to maintain essential internal reserves.

Dividend / Shareholder Returns