Kawasaki Heavy puts dates on its defence plan; Ricoh hands strategy to outside directors

The number of foreign workers on the Type 1 Specified Skilled Worker visa reached 432,016 at the end of July, up 89,093 from a year earlier, according to preliminary Immigration Services Agency figures. That is 53.6% of the 805,700 expected-acceptance figure the cabinet set on 23 January 2026 for the period to March 2029.

By the numbers: Nursing care added the most, 24,402 to 81,436 residents. Food service added 12,107 and now has 49,290 against 50,000, or 98.6%. Industrial products manufacturing has the largest figure of any sector, 199,500, and is 31.6% filled.

What to watch: Road transport had 703 residents against 22,100, and rail 73 against 2,900. The agency's table does not say what happens when a sector reaches its figure, which matters most for food service.

DISCO's preliminary first-half sales beat its forecast as quarterly shipments hit a record DISCO's non-consolidated first-half sales for the year to March 2027 came in at ¥213.6bn, 106.2% of the ¥201.1bn it last forecast, according to a preliminary flash disclosure dated October 6. Shipments of ¥123.9bn for July to September were the highest for any single quarter in its history.

The number: Second-quarter sales were ¥118.5bn, up 38.9% on the year, while shipments rose faster, up 60.0%. DISCO books sales when customers accept equipment, so it publishes shipments as a closer guide to the market.

The catch: The company attributes the record to shipments running high on generative AI applications, which is its own account. The figures are unaudited and could change; full second-quarter results are due October 22.

Axelspace Holdings has concluded that the high-speed communications link on four of its seven GRUS-3 satellites has failed permanently, and will book a ¥1.879bn impairment in the first quarter of the year to May 2027. Imaging still works; sending large image files to the ground does not.

What happened: The company estimates the link's power amplifier could not shed heat and was damaged. The same element has run normally on the older GRUS-1 satellite, so it considers it highly likely that the heat-dissipation design modified for GRUS-3 was at fault. That is its own inference. On October 6 it decided to establish an advisory board of outside experts to test it, though members have not been named. Insurance on GRUS-3 does not cover the fault.

The number: AxelGlobe sales are now forecast at ¥4.24bn, down from ¥6.08bn, with segment profit at ¥1.97bn from ¥3.4bn. The three unaffected satellites share the design, and commercial operation, once aimed for during 2026, is now targeted for February 2027.

What to watch: The board's schedule runs from a company report in mid-October to mid-November, with a final report planned for the end of November.

Strategic Capital told regulators on 6 October that it is pressing GungHo Online Entertainment on capital structure, ownership and the board. Its stake is unchanged at 13.67%, so the amended item is the stated purpose of the holding, not its size.

What changed: The change report lists proposals: delist GungHo through acquisition by a third party, raise the dividend, buy treasury shares from specific shareholders and dispose of them to Sony Music Entertainment, and, if GungHo stays listed, either dismiss the representative director or have the chairman leave the board. The report presents the two board options as alternatives.

The catch: These are the filer's proposals, not agreed transactions. The report names no buyer and gives no amount for the buyback or the dividend increase. Strategic Capital holds 7,267,500 of 53,161,416 shares outstanding, and the funding disclosure totals ¥20.84bn, of which own funds were ¥275,000 and the rest came from customer assets under a discretionary contract.

Ricoh hands a strategy review to its outside directors Ricoh's board resolved on 6 October to run a 'strategic review' led by independent outside directors, and says the options include a Ricoh 'that is not an extension of the current state'. The notice says no specific measures or direction have been decided.

Why now: The notice lists continued misses of mid-term plan targets, a price-to-book ratio below 1x for a long period, return on equity persistently below the cost of capital, low profitability in growth areas such as workplace services, and weaker earning power in office printing, its current main source of profit.

Details: The review team is all eight outside officers: five independent outside directors and three outside corporate auditors, chaired by the lead outside director. It will examine profit structure, management strategy, business portfolio, capital policy, capital allocation and the equity story, and reports to the board, which makes the decisions. Ricoh says it will concentrate on the review in the second half of the fiscal year and, separately, will disclose its response to June shareholder-vote results by the end of October. The notice states no end date for the review.

SBI extends its BASE offer to October 21 after a major shareholder signals buying past 30% SBINM, the SBI Holdings vehicle bidding for BASE, extended its tender offer a second time, to October 21, and kept the ¥340 per-share price and the share cap. Settlement moves from October 22 to October 28.

What changed: BASE told the bidder on October 1 that a major shareholder's agent said he would resume buying from October 2, aiming to hold more than 30%. The agent said he could not go along with BASE's executive side and that buying would serve ordinary shareholders; BASE says its own view differs. The filing does not state the shareholder's current stake, so 30% is an aim, not a holding.

Details: The offer is capped at 23,792,300 shares, which would give SBINM a 20.67% holding, and carries no minimum. The stated purpose is to make BASE an equity-method affiliate, not to take it private. BASE's board still supports the offer and leaves the decision to tender to shareholders. The filings name no rival bidder.

Toho Holdings contests the court order blocking its takeover-defence warrants Toho Holdings filed an objection on October 6 with the Tokyo District Court against a September 18 provisional order that blocks a free share-warrant allotment its shareholders approved on June 26 as a defence against 3D Investment Partners.

Details: The approval lets the board resolve the allotment if 3D and Citco Trustees (UT) Limited go ahead with the purchase described in 3D's January 16 explanatory document. A Toho shareholder applied for the ban, and the order provisionally bars the allotment on the strength of the June resolution.

What to watch: Toho says there is no ground for the order and that it 'should be rectified immediately'. The notice is the company's own account and gives neither the court's reasoning nor a date for a ruling.

Bain-linked bid for baudroie succeeds; squeeze-out steps still to be announced BCPE Neon Cayman, the Bain Capital-linked buyout vehicle, will buy all 10,365,448 shares tendered at ¥2,970 each after the offer closed on October 5 above its 3,135,200-share minimum. Settlement starts October 13.

The number: The tender alone leaves the vehicle with 31.58% of voting rights. Add the 17,758,400 shares it plans to buy from three founder-shareholders outside the offer, and it would hold 85.68%. That figure holds only if the founder transfers go through.

What to watch: The bidder did not obtain all shares and options, so it plans a series of steps to become sole shareholder, after which the stock would be delisted from the Prime market. The company says the specific steps and timing will be announced after discussions with the bidder.