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Chiyoda restarts Middle East work as small caps rewrite the balance sheet
Chiyoda says Middle East work is nearly back to pace even as the bill stays fuzzy, while auditors flinch and small caps keep rewriting the cap table.
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lead
The big story
Chiyoda says Middle East work is near prior pace, adds an Idemitsu battery pilot EPC
Chiyoda's corrected management-status report says two Middle East projects — Qatar NFE LNG and a regional oil and petrochemical job — suffered no physical damage, and construction has restarted in stages to a level the company says is almost back to where it was before the disruption. The company also says the year ended March 2026 took almost no hit from the turmoil, but it still cannot reasonably estimate the effect on the year ending March 2027. At the same time, Chiyoda disclosed a fresh domestic win: EPC work for Idemitsu Kosan's large solid-electrolyte pilot plant tied to all-solid-state batteries, with completion targeted during 2027. If extra costs do emerge on the Middle East jobs, Chiyoda says it will try to recover them through force majeure and other contract terms — a reminder that the sites may be moving again even if the final bill is not.
secondary
Capital, governance and strategy
Espoir gets a no-opinion audit over three late-year revenue deals
Aria Audit Corporation declined to express an opinion on Espoir's financial statements and its internal-control audit for the year ended February 2026, citing three real-estate consulting related transactions booked in the final month of the year as ¥155.454 million of sales and ¥20 million of non-operating income. The auditor said it could not obtain enough evidence or run planned confirmations to determine whether correction was needed, warned that any required fix could leave the company with negative net assets for a second straight year, and then resigned effective after the May 27 shareholders meeting while Espoir began looking for a successor.
Basel keeps ICT, crypto and liquidity in banks' line of sight
The Basel Committee's May 19-20 meeting in Basel produced three clear workstreams: publication of a report on ICT risk management, further review of prudential standards for banks' crypto-asset exposures, and possible targeted revisions to liquidity-risk principles. The committee also said the global banking system remains resilient because of strong capital and liquidity, while warning that Middle East tensions, private-credit linkages and AI-shaped cyber risks still deserve close supervisory attention — more watchlist than rulebook, but a watchlist banks cannot ignore.
SpiderPlus gives InforMart a seat at the table via founder selldown
SpiderPlus has signed a capital and business alliance with InforMart to link SPIDER+ and BtoB Platform TRADE across construction workflows, from field management to procurement and back-office processing. Founder-president Kenji Ito will sell 1.8 million shares to InforMart at ¥291 apiece, giving InforMart 5.07% of voting rights and ending Ito's status as controlling shareholder while he remains the largest holder; a separate same-day filing also said SpiderPlus will suspend operations at its Vietnam subsidiary, with only a minor earnings impact expected.
Akatsuki Honsha pairs a softer outlook with a 15% ROE ambition
Akatsuki Honsha is guiding for the year ending March 2027 revenue of ¥70 billion, up 1.9%, but operating profit of ¥5.6 billion and parent-company profit of ¥3.3 billion, both lower than the year just ended as management takes a conservative view on market-sensitive securities earnings and slimmer real-estate margins. Against that softer one-year backdrop, it unveiled a five-year plan targeting average ROE above 15% and shareholder equity above ¥40 billion by March 2031, with a 4.0% DOE floor as the base return policy.
Modalis opts for a bond-plus-warrant bridge
Modalis plans to issue 240,000 stock acquisition rights, equal to up to 24 million shares, alongside an unsecured private bond of up to ¥300 million to EVO FUND. The company says the package can raise ¥1.33164 billion, but only the bond arrives upfront; the larger equity-linked piece depends on warrant exercise through March 2027, with an initial exercise price of ¥56, a floor of ¥28 and disclosed maximum dilution of 24.91%, as management funds MDL-101 and broader R&D.
EDP splits its financing between partner shares and reset warrants
EDP's latest fundraising pairs a partner-linked share issue with a much larger warrant layer: Takeuchi Kogyo and Tsuchiya are set to take the new-share tranche for ¥300 million and ¥200 million respectively, while Okasan Securities gets 30,000 reset warrants representing 3.0 million potential shares. On the company's stated assumptions, the package totals ¥3.892 billion, but the immediate share leg is far smaller than the warrant piece, with 3.12% dilution from the shares and another 19.39% of potential dilution sitting in the warrants.
Sangetsu's record year still leaves overseas doing the heavy lifting next
Sangetsu finished the year ended March 2026 with sales up 3.0% to 2,064.4 and operating profit up 7.0% to 194.0 on the company's disclosed ¥100 million scale, while net profit rose 16.7% to 146.4. The more important change was overseas: sales rose 17.6% and the operating loss narrowed to 0.4 from 8.2, helped by North America and better execution in Asia, as the new plan to March 2030 asks overseas operations to grow from "improving" into a real profit pillar.
G-Beemap pulls an inventory hit into last year and rewrites the loss line
G-Beemap booked a ¥36.237 million inventory impairment on slow-moving information and communications equipment, deepening its net loss for the year ended March 2026 to ¥151.553 million from the originally reported ¥115.316 million and cutting net assets to ¥502.808 million from ¥539.045 million. Operating loss was unchanged at ¥97 million, so the damage sits below the operating line, and because the charge was brought forward, the company also lifted its March 2027 operating profit guide to ¥70 million from ¥50 million while leaving the sales target at ¥1.9 billion.
quick hits
Quick Hits
ZUU lines up an ¥864,556,180 equity shuffle:
Read moreThe company wants to reduce capital reserve by ¥864,556,180, move the amount into other capital surplus and then into retained earnings to cover a deficit, subject to a June 24 shareholder vote and a June 25 effective date. ZUU says the move is an internal accounting transfer with no effect on performance.
FSA tests a five-year e-delivery rule for investment corporation statements:
Read moreA draft ordinance amendment would let investment corporations provide certain statement information electronically if it stays accessible online for five years after notice and the articles authorize the setup. For REIT-style vehicles and fund administrators, the workflow burden is the real story.
FSA clarifies collateral and NEXI treatment in bank capital rules:
Read moreThe new Q&A says eligible financial collateral inside a company-value pledge can count toward credit-risk mitigation if controls are robust, and NEXI-covered exposures may be treated like government-guaranteed ones. It is interpretive guidance, not a fresh rewrite of capital rules.
YCP puts a ¥961.2 million JDR buyback order into ToSTNeT-2:
Read moreYCP Japan plans to bid for 1.2 million JDRs at ¥801 in the May 28 closing auction, with results due after the 8:45 a.m. session. The catch is execution: the order can be partially filled or not filled at all.
Pal Group approves a ¥1.4 billion buyback cap:
Read moreThe retailer authorized purchases of up to 1 million shares, or 0.57% of shares outstanding excluding treasury stock, between June 1 and August 31. It is a ceiling rather than a promise, but it is a clean signal on capital allocation.
G-INC HD wants a new year-end on May 31:
Read moreIf shareholders approve on June 29, the group will shift from a March 31 close to a May 31 close, with a 14-month transition year running from April 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027. Administrative change, yes; model-comparison nuisance, also yes.
UGS Asset Management lifts its meito stake to 9.75%:
Read moreThe fund now holds 1,622,900 shares, up from 8.36%, and says it is in dialogue with management on capital efficiency, shareholder returns and lifting PBR above 1. The filing also cites changes in important contracts, including collateral-related arrangements.
Silchester trims Kyoto Financial to 5.37%:
Read moreThe large-shareholder change report shows a drop from 6.40% to 5.37%, or 16,181,000 shares. This is a holder update rather than a company event, but it redraws the ownership map for one of the region's bigger bank groups.
Evo Fund surfaces at SANKO with a 5.05% stake and a June 1 financing step:
Read moreThe fund disclosed 2,007,700 shares and said it plans to buy a ¥300 million convertible bond plus 100,000 warrants on June 1. That makes this more than a simple cash equity position.
Hikari Tsushin raises its JRC stake to 7.57%:
Read moreThe combined holding reached 993,300 shares, up from 6.47% in the previous report, with the filing obligation triggered on May 20. The report gives no thesis beyond pure investment, but the ownership creep is now plainly visible.
MI2 crosses 6.31% in Metal Art and leaves itself room to push:
Read moreMI2 reported 199,100 shares and said it may add more within three months if the stock looks undervalued. It also flagged capital-policy and governance proposals, including dividends and buybacks, as part of its holding purpose.