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Latest Brief · Aug 4, 2026
Nippon Steel raised its full-year net profit forecast to ¥290bn, up nearly a third, as stronger US steel prices and a turnaround at United States Steel outweighed rising raw-material costs and falling Middle East exports at home.
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MARKETS
Tokyo equities advanced while the 10Y JGB yield nudged higher.
Sourced from Nikkei, JPX, BOJ, MOF - values, not commentary.
Industrial Earnings Roundup
Gas-turbine and nuclear orders lifted Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' quarterly business profit 65% to ¥159.6bn, but the group kept its full-year profit and dividend targets unchanged, raising only its order forecast to ¥7.0tn.
Industrial Earnings Roundup
A 47% first-half profit beat against its own forecast, driven by a weaker yen and refunded US tariffs, pushed Kubota to raise full-year operating profit guidance by ¥100bn to ¥400bn and announce a ¥40bn share buyback the same day.
Industrial Earnings Roundup
Ibiden now expects ¥127.0bn in operating profit for the year to March 2027, up from its May forecast of ¥90.0bn, as orders for AI-server chip substrates outrun its own planning; a second 2-for-1 stock split takes effect in October, doubling the share count.
Industrial Earnings Roundup
Machine-tool orders at DMG Mori rose 34.8% in the first half on aerospace, defense and semiconductor-equipment demand, prompting the company to raise its full-year operating profit forecast 7.1% to ¥30.0bn and its order target to ¥630.0bn.
Industrial Earnings Roundup
Data-centre chiller sales and a semiconductor-chemical rebound lifted Daikin's quarterly operating profit 7.6%, even as US residential air-conditioner demand stayed limited and China's property slump kept HVAC demand thin; full-year guidance and the dividend forecast are unchanged.
Industrial Earnings Roundup
Furukawa Electric will spend roughly ¥100bn in the US, Brazil, Japan and India to nearly double its rollable ribbon-cable capacity for hyperscale data centers, with customer purchase commitments already in hand but revenue and profit impact not showing up until production ramps from late 2028.
Policy and Governance Watch
Sumitomo Pharma says its auditor's unqualified opinion covers the accounts a new report questions, and for now it has found nothing that would justify restating them.
Policy and Governance Watch
A draft ordinance from Japan's Immigration Services Agency would add a five-year residence term to the Specified Skilled Worker No. 2 visa, raising the bar these workers must clear before applying for permanent residency to match other work visas.
More to Know
Motorcycle demand in India, ASEAN and Europe pushed Yamaha Motor's first-half operating profit up 88.6% to ¥158.5bn, and the company has raised full-year profit guidance 44% even as it books a ¥12bn charge to stop building off-road vehicles in-house at its Georgia plant and cut around 300 jobs.
More to Know
Sumitomo Chemical's net profit swung to ¥40.8bn from a year-earlier loss, driven largely by a ¥32.7bn turnaround at its Rabigh refining joint venture in Saudi Arabia and steadier crop-chemical sales, while management left its ¥70bn full-year profit target unchanged.
More to Know
A ¥45.5bn gain from selling its stake in DuPont Teijin Advanced Papers handed Teijin ¥45.1bn in net profit for the quarter to June, already matching the ¥45.0bn it guided for the full year to March 2027.
More to Know
Tokyo Seimitsu's board raised its dividend forecast to ¥304 a share after semiconductor-equipment orders nearly doubled on generative-AI, HPC and HBM testing demand, and the group lifted full-year sales and profit guidance for the second time this year.
More to Know
House Foods grew quarterly operating profit 17% yet still cut its full-year forecast by ¥1.0bn, blaming Middle East-linked cost increases of up to ¥3.0bn on its spice business, and it is closing a New Jersey plant-based meat factory that never found enough buyers.
More to Know
Kaga Electronics's stake in fellow electronics trader Shinko Shoji jumps from 1.74% to 72.45% after its tender offer cleared the minimum threshold, and a squeeze-out to delist the target from the Tokyo Stock Exchange comes next.
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A forensic probe found no log evidence that hackers pulled data from Nidec's Taiwan subsidiary, but a dark-web list of folder and file names means Nidec still can't rule out a leak, even as the unit's production and shipping continue as normal.
More to Know
Two-year Phase 3 data show sibeprenlimab slows IgA nephropathy patients' kidney decline to roughly the rate seen in healthy aging, a result Otsuka Holdings is using to push VOYXACT toward full US approval.
More to Know
KDDI's voting rights in Every, Inc. dropped from 14.38% to 4.76% on August 4, pushing the telecoms group from second- to fourth-largest shareholder after the company's new listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Growth market diluted its holding.
More to Know
The DELISH KITCHEN owner debuted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market with guidance for a ¥345mn operating profit, but nine months of results already delivered 93.8% of that figure, leaving little room in the final quarter.
Aug 3, 2026
The BOJ's Inflation Bet
Wage pass-through, AI-driven chip prices and a weaker yen will push Japan's core inflation clearly above 2% in the second half of the current fiscal year, the Bank of Japan says, even as a Middle East-linked oil shock slows growth first.
Earnings Season's Biggest Movers
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's net profit rose 48% to ¥809.4bn in the June quarter on trading and equity gains, yet the group left its ¥2.7tn annual profit target and dividend forecast exactly where they stood before the results landed.
Earnings Season's Biggest Movers
Nissan swung to a ¥77.9bn operating profit on cost cuts and currency tailwinds, but automotive free cash flow stayed negative, net cash fell ¥201.2bn, and the dividend forecast is still zero.
Earnings Season's Biggest Movers
Lenvima, Leqembi and Dayvigo again did the heavy lifting for Eisai's first quarter, with Leqembi's Americas sales up 71% masking a China pullback tied to last year's distributor stocking, while the drugmaker left its full-year targets exactly where it set them in May.
Earnings Season's Biggest Movers
Commodity prices lifted Mitsubishi Corporation's Metal Resources profit and a one-off revaluation gain from removing engineering contractor Chiyoda Corporation from its consolidated accounts pushed quarterly net profit to ¥298.5bn, even as the trading house held its full-year target steady at ¥1.10tn.
Earnings Season's Biggest Movers
Bain Capital and LINE Yahoo have offered ¥3,520 a share for Kakaku.com, beating Kamgras 1's ¥3,450 bid, and Kamgras 1 has extended its own tender offer to August 17 as the board weighs which deal to recommend.
Earnings Season's Biggest Movers
Seven & i Holdings landed ¥100,300 short of its ¥400bn share-buyback ceiling in a single Tokyo Stock Exchange trade on August 3, and nearly ¥367bn of that deal carries a placeholder price that SMBC Nikko Securities will true up later against the stock's future trading average.
Tokyo desk
Japan Airlines lifted quarterly revenue past ¥523bn on higher fares, but a 58% jump in jet-fuel costs and a weak yen cut EBIT by 72% to ¥12.7bn, even as the airline carried fewer paying passengers than a year earlier.
Tokyo desk
A string of drugmaker acquisitions, not stronger underlying sales, pushed Shionogi's quarterly net profit up 148% to ¥97.7bn, covering most of its own first-half profit guidance within three months while cutting its cash pile by more than half.
Tokyo desk
NH Foods' fresh-meat unit raised import prices fast enough to drive a 19.5% jump in quarterly business profit, but its processed-foods segment lost 13.9% of its profit to a Middle East-linked raw-material cost spike, even as net profit slipped 5.6%.
Tokyo desk
Otsuka lifted its full-year sales target to ¥1.38tn and raised its annual dividend to ¥105 per share, citing steady enterprise demand for AI, security and productivity software even as management flagged Middle East and US trade risks.
Companies
Nippon Light Metal Holdings raised its full-year operating profit target 22% to ¥33bn and lifted its dividend to ¥110 a share, citing recovering orders for aluminum plates used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and sustained lithium-ion battery material sales.
Tokyo desk
JPMC's board scrapped this year's dividend the same day it backed a take-private tender offer priced on the assumption shareholders would get no payout at all.
Companies
A company that does not yet legally exist plans to issue 474.2 million shares to become Kyushu Electric Power's parent, and its own filing calls the ¥503.7bn price tag on the deal unconfirmed.
Tokyo desk
Datasection has sued short seller Wolfpack Research in a Pennsylvania federal court, seeking retraction of a report that accused its AI infrastructure GPU purchases of breaking U.S. export-control law; the company says its lawyers cleared the projects, and the damages claim remains unquantified.
Banking
Isuzu's operating profit rose 30.7% to ¥74.8bn in the June quarter, but operating cash flow flipped to a ¥45.3bn outflow after the company sped up supplier payments by about ¥90bn and let Middle East shipping delays build roughly ¥35bn of extra inventory; full-year guidance is unchanged.
Jul 31, 2026
A Lone Dissent at the BOJ
The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark rate unchanged in an 8-1 vote, but board member Takata Hajime broke ranks to seek a quarter-point rise, citing inflation risk from overseas demand shocks.
Takeovers and Tender Offers
Nippon Yusen wants full control of dry-bulk carrier NS United Kaiun at ¥10,600 a share, a premium of roughly 37%, but the target's board has voted to cancel this year's dividend only if the tender succeeds, and top shareholder Nippon Steel will accept a lower price in a separate second-stage buyback.
Takeovers and Tender Offers
Kamgras 1 pushed its tender offer for Kakaku.com to August 17 and reopened price talks on its ¥3,450-a-share bid after Bain Capital and LINE Yahoo floated a higher counter-proposal.
Earnings Season: Winners and Squeezes
Higher factory output and a weaker yen drove a 60% rise in Murata's quarterly operating profit, prompting the electronics maker to lift its full-year forecast 13% above April's target to a record ¥430bn.
Earnings Season: Winners and Squeezes
A 40% jump in quarterly operating profit, driven by image sensors and PlayStation, let Sony raise its full-year profit target to ¥1.72tn, but the new guidance still leaves out any hit from the July earthquake that shut its Kumamoto chip plant.
Earnings Season: Winners and Squeezes
Enhertu and Datroway drove a 21.1% revenue jump for Daiichi Sankyo and prompted an upgraded sales and operating-profit outlook, yet a jump in the effective tax rate to 24.9% means the company actually cut its full-year net profit guidance by ¥9bn.
Earnings Season: Winners and Squeezes
DENSO's quarterly revenue rose 9.1% to ¥1.91tn on stronger vehicle sales and a weaker yen, but higher material costs and growth investment cut operating profit 21.5%, even as the company raised its full-year revenue forecast while holding profit guidance flat.
Policy and Disaster Watch
Any Japanese business handling 300 tonnes of rice a year, from farms to convenience-store chains, would have to register with the farm ministry from October, though the monthly and annual reporting itself does not become mandatory until the following spring.
Policy and Disaster Watch
Nine people, six Nippon Paper employees and three contractor staff, died when an earthquake hit the company's Yatsushiro Mill in Kumamoto Prefecture, and production there remains halted while the company checks damage and taps other plants and inventory to keep supply flowing.
Quick Hits: More to Know
A Bank of Japan rate rise to 1.00% landed in June, six months ahead of Daishi Hokuetsu Financial Group's original December assumption, and the bank now expects a bigger profit and a bigger dividend for the year.
Quick Hits: More to Know
Central Japan Railway's quarterly revenue rose 3% on a 7% jump in inbound fares, and it will start selling fully enclosed Tokaido Shinkansen compartments from October, while a new Shizuoka conservation pact clears one legal hurdle, not full approval, for its stalled maglev tunnel.
Quick Hits: More to Know
First-quarter operating profit jumped 61% at Sumitomo Electric on booming data-center optical demand tied to generative AI, prompting the company to raise its full-year sales and profit targets.
Quick Hits: More to Know
MLIT wants to let homebuilders keep a type-approved structural design even when a certified material runs short, a change that touches the roughly 90% of homebuilder housing already built on type approval; comments are due August 30, 2026.
Jul 30, 2026
A Bidding War Breaks Out for Kakaku.com
A new offer from a Bain Capital and LINE Yahoo vehicle beats a rival ¥3,450 bid for Kakaku.com, rising to ¥3,640 if the bidder locks in a non-tender pact with KDDI, and forces the target's board back into price talks with the original suitor.
Takeover Watch
Tamron confirms it received a non-binding proposal from Sony to become a wholly owned Sony Group subsidiary and has formed a special committee, a day after a Japanese business outlet reported the approach.
Disaster at AEON Mall Kumamoto
An explosion killed seven people at AEON Mall Kumamoto just after evacuation from a magnitude-7 earthquake was completed, and AEON still won't estimate what shutting the 204-tenant mall will cost.
Earnings Season: The Winners
Panasonic Holdings' operating profit more than doubled in the quarter to ¥182.5bn, and the company used the beat to lift its full-year profit forecast by ¥40bn to ¥590bn, though full-year sales guidance still sits 3.1% below last year's record total.
Earnings Season: The Winners
Tokyo Electron's quarterly operating profit rose 46% on AI-server chip investment, and it has already raised its half-year sales, profit and dividend forecasts, saying July's Kumamoto earthquake caused no significant damage to its facilities.
Earnings Season: The Winners
A first-quarter surge in memory prices, driven by generative-AI product demand, pushed the Tokyo-listed chip distributor to lift its full-year operating profit forecast by 168.7% and raise its dividend to ¥1,640 a share from ¥600.
Earnings Season: The Laggards
A three-month gap between rising fuel costs and the tariffs that recover them cut Osaka Gas's quarterly ordinary profit by 15.3%, while the loss of a one-off insurance payout booked a year earlier pulled net profit down 26.5%. The utility still lifted its full-year sales forecast by ¥100bn while leaving profit guidance and its dividend untouched.
Capital Returns and Consultancy Growth
Nomura Research Institute's quarterly operating profit rose 12% to ¥41.7bn, but the board also burned through nearly all of a ¥70bn buyback and cancelled 20 million shares, cutting the share count by more than 3% in ten weeks.
Policy Watch
MLIT wants first-offense vehicle suspensions for unauthorized taxi operators catering to tourists to double, from 60 to 120 days, with a parallel doubling for unlicensed freight haulers, and public comment is open until August 28, 2026.
Quick Hits: Earnings Snapshots
Calbee's operating profit rose 24.4% in the quarter to June as price rises and expansion in Greater China and Indonesia outweighed a domestic potato shortfall hitting a mainstay snack, yet the company left its full-year forecast untouched.
Quick Hits: Earnings Snapshots
Fuji Electric raised its full-year operating-profit forecast by ¥14bn to ¥156.5bn, citing stronger first-half demand, higher production and cost cuts across its energy and industrial-equipment businesses.
Quick Hits: Earnings Snapshots
Chugin Financial Group's first-quarter net profit rose 40.3% to ¥13.9bn as higher domestic rates lifted lending income, even as the bank booked ¥19.9bn in losses selling off low-yield bonds, a cost partly offset by ¥18.3bn in stock-sale gains.
Quick Hits: Earnings Snapshots
Kagome trimmed full-year profit guidance by ¥4bn to ¥19.0bn after a ¥2.8bn Middle East cost hit, while its two mass-market vegetable drinks are still stuck below prior-year sales five months after a price increase that its premium Tomato Juice brand shrugged off.
Quick Hits: Earnings Snapshots
A weaker yen pushed Takeda's quarterly revenue up 10.2%, but at constant currency sales actually fell 0.5% and net profit dropped 23.5%, more than double the decline shown in headline yen figures, even as full-year targets and the dividend forecast held steady.
More to Know
A shareholder holding about 25% of the voting rights in Foster Electric now has its CEO on the board, and the speaker maker is tearing up its 2025-2027 plan for a replacement due around November.
More to Know
IRISO Electronics has no release date for either its year-to-March 2026 results or the following quarter's earnings, as a third-party committee investigates suspected improper overseas payments alongside separate quality and inspection concerns.
More to Know
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank is cutting its stake in a ¥1.64tn leasing subsidiary from 84.9% to 45%, Panasonic is exiting entirely, and Fuyo General Lease (40%) and Yokohama Financial Group (15%) are buying in; parent Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group expects a ¥14.0bn transfer loss when the deal closes on October 1.
More to Know
Japan's NRA has opened a month-long comment period on draft rules that would require power and research reactor operators to spell out exactly how teardown costs will be funded, a response to an IAEA review that found the existing financial checks too thin.