Latest Tokyo Brief coverage on SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED, tracking filings, financial news, and market signals from Japan.
TSE:4005
Sumitomo Chemical raised its core operating profit forecast to ¥270bn from ¥215bn, and its materials segment, now guided to ¥75bn against ¥20bn, accounts for the whole ¥55bn increase.
Investors priced the chemical maker's two-year notes at 2.048% and its five-year notes at 2.659%, with every yen of the proceeds earmarked to retire commercial paper due by the end of September.
A short seller's report linking Sumitomo Pharma's approved therapy to unresolved image-duplication questions at Kyoto University's CiRA discloses a stock position that pays off if the report's target sees its shares fall; Sumitomo Pharma calls the report one-sided and may sue.
Sumitomo Pharma says a ¥164.5bn dividend from its Swiss unit and a jump in receivables were routine accounting, not the earnings-management scheme Gotham City Research alleged in an August 3 short-seller report.
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.
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.
Current holdings disclosed by tracked funds.