Inbound shoppers lift Takashimaya, and GO's driverless taxi target is conditional on permits

Core private-sector machinery orders rose 5.2% in August from July on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Cabinet Office reported on 15 October, the first rise in two months. The measure excludes ships and orders from electric power companies. Total orders from 280 manufacturers in Japan fell 3.7%.

Why it matters: The Cabinet Office treats core private orders as a leading indicator of private capital spending. The three-month moving average rose 3.6%, and the office kept its assessment that orders are showing signs of picking up. It did not upgrade it. The two headline numbers diverge because the total also covers overseas, public-sector and agent orders, plus ships and power companies. Overseas demand fell 7.7% and public-sector demand fell 6.1%. Manufacturing orders rose 1.6% and non-manufacturing orders (excluding ships and electric power) rose 2.9%.

What to watch: The August gain follows a 3.7% fall in July, a 9.7% rise in June and a 12.4% fall in May. Over four months the series has alternated between gains and falls of that size.

West Holdings' grid-battery segment earned ¥8.42bn of operating profit in the year to August 2026, against ¥2.17bn for its renewable-energy segment. Group operating profit rose 50.3% to ¥12.99bn on sales of ¥56.65bn, up 19.9%.

What changed: Storage sales rose 280.4% to ¥21.73bn and its operating profit rose 462.1%. A year earlier the renewable segment led, with ¥4.55bn against ¥1.50bn for storage. Renewable operating profit fell 52.4% on sales down 24.7% to ¥24.76bn. West Holdings blames non-FIT plant development, where handovers ran below plan, and says it is not starting new ground-mounted mega-solar development.

The catch: Grid-connection consultation applications exceeded 1,600 at the end of August, with each area's transmission and distribution operator reviewing them. That counts applications under review, not batteries built or operating. A rule that took effect on 1 August caps the number of grid-battery connection studies per operator, and West Holdings says it will examine its existing pipeline for feasibility and commercial viability before pushing projects toward development.

What to watch: For the year to August 2027 the company forecasts sales of ¥70.41bn, operating profit of ¥15.6bn, up 20.1%, and a ¥70 dividend, unchanged. Cash lagged profit: operating cash flow was ¥7.23bn, and balances owed on completed construction work rose ¥6.71bn to ¥31.25bn.

BayCurrent has set a 2030 plan for ¥500bn of revenue and a 40% EBITDA margin, and on the same day loosened its cash-reserve rule so more surplus goes to investment and buybacks.

What changed: The 2030 plan calls for revenue of ¥500bn and EBITDA of ¥200bn. Guidance for the current year is ¥190bn of revenue and ¥66.5bn of EBITDA, a 35% margin. The 2035 roadmap aims for ¥1tn of revenue, ¥450bn of EBITDA and a 45% margin. The company says it expects to broadly meet its current plan about a year early, crediting AI, cybersecurity and defence demand, and its own disclaimer says results may differ materially from these targets.

The move: BayCurrent had held back up to about 40% of forecast revenue each year: roughly 25% for operating funds and roughly 15% fixed for growth investment. The board scrapped the 15% bucket, so it must now keep only about 25% of forecast revenue, or roughly three months of working capital. Cash above that goes to growth investment and to buybacks.

What to watch: The dividend guide is unchanged at a 40% payout ratio, with a ¥65 interim and a ¥65 year-end dividend planned for the current year. The notice gives no buyback size: repurchases are to be carried out during the current year or around the year-end results disclosure.

TOHO raised its full-year net profit forecast to ¥48.0bn from ¥41.0bn after a partial sale of investment securities, while keeping revenue and operating profit guidance where it was.

What changed: The increase is 17.1%. Revenue (¥345.0bn), operating profit (¥62.0bn) and ordinary profit (¥67.0bn) stay where the company set them on April 14. The half-year report says the board decided on September 15, 2026 to sell part of its listed holdings under its policy of reducing strategic shareholdings, and that the sale carries a gain of ¥11.1bn.

The catch: The operating picture has not improved. For the six months to August 31, revenue was ¥185.2bn, down 3.4%, operating profit ¥30.9bn, down 24.8%, and net profit ¥20.0bn, down 40.2%. The prior-year half included an ¥8.9bn securities gain; this year's has none. Even after the raise, the ¥48.0bn net profit forecast is 7.3% below the prior year, and the ¥62.0bn operating profit forecast is 8.7% below it. TOHO says it held the other guidance lines because it is watching how big second-half releases open; Godzilla Minus Zero is due in Japan on November 3.

What to watch: TOHO will keep considering the year-end dividend under a floor of ¥17 a year and a payout ratio of at least 35%, and has not announced an increase. The interim dividend is ¥11.00 a share, payable from November 20. Its presentation says it intends to cut the book value of strategic holdings by more than ¥50bn by the end of the fiscal year to February 2030.

GO Inc. told investors on 15 October that it, Waymo and an operating partner aim to start commercial, fully driverless taxi service in Tokyo during 2027. The target of around 100 vehicles, phased in, applies after obtaining the necessary permits.

What changed: GO's board approved a cooperation agreement with Waymo LLC on 15 September 2026, and it was signed that day. The partners have tested on public roads in seven Tokyo wards since 2025, with the operating partner's crew riding along. GO designs the rollout and offers the service through its app, Waymo supplies the driving technology, and the operating partner runs field operations and depots. The target is Level 4 operation, which GO's filing defines as full automation under specific conditions.

By the numbers: In the quarter to 31 August, which includes GO's 16 June listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Growth market, sales were ¥12.24bn and operating profit ¥3.04bn. The presentation puts growth at 27.8% for sales and 92.8% for operating profit. Rides booked through the app rose 9.8% to 32.16 million, and average revenue per ride rose 29.1% to ¥191. Autonomous-driving costs were ¥127mn against ¥221mn a year earlier. GO left its forecast for the year to May 2027 unchanged, with operating profit at ¥13.0bn.

Axelspace Holdings will issue warrants over 16.5mn shares, 24.78% of voting rights, to SMBC Nikko Securities, raising about ¥4.3bn if all are exercised at the initial price, after faults in four of its seven GRUS-3 satellites.

What changed: The company is issuing 165,000 warrants at ¥259 each, each carrying 100 shares, with an initial exercise price of ¥259. On each exercise the price resets to 92% of the previous day's volume-weighted average price, with a floor of ¥156, at which the filing puts proceeds at about ¥2.6bn. Only the ¥42.7mn warrant-issue payment, due November 2, 2026, is scheduled; the rest arrives only if SMBC Nikko exercises, and it must use best efforts but has no obligation to do so.

Why now: Four of the seven GRUS-3 satellites, launched in July 2026, have a high-speed communications fault. Axelspace had planned to use the seven partly for the Defense Ministry's satellite constellation project, under a contract of about ¥43.6bn (excluding tax) running to March 2031. The three unaffected satellites are targeted to begin commercial operation in February 2027, and the company booked a ¥1.879bn impairment in the first quarter, leaving its equity ratio at 37.7%.

The catch: The filing states that conditions raising significant doubt about Axelspace's ability to continue as a going concern exist, but says that at the end of the first quarter it judges no material uncertainty to be recognised. Of the roughly ¥4.303bn net estimate, ¥2.303bn is earmarked for building and launching optical satellites and ¥2.0bn for working capital. The final dilution rate stays open until exercise ends.

Yellow Hat says log analysis fixes the number of affected members at 1,797,124, below the 1,801,499 maximum in its first report of 28 August 2026, but more kinds of personal data were taken than first reported. The Tokyo Prime-listed auto-parts retailer set out the findings in a second report dated 15 October.

What changed: Addresses, birth dates, gender, login IDs and passwords were added to the exposed fields after the first report. The leaked data now comprises names, addresses, birth dates, gender, telephone numbers, email addresses, membership numbers, login IDs and passwords held in a form that cannot be restored. The company says that means no risk of account misuse from that information, and that credit card data was not leaked because the booking system does not hold card details.

What to watch: Yellow Hat detected the unauthorised access on 19 August, suspended the booking system and resumed it after security upgrades that a third-party investigator verified. It has finished submitting its final report to the Personal Information Protection Commission, and police are investigating. It does not expect response costs to have a material effect on its results. Affected customers have been notified, and a helpline (0120-405-092, weekdays 10:00 to 19:00) remains open.

Pasona Group disclosed in its first-quarter results that its subsidiary Pasona is the subject of a Japan Fair Trade Commission investigation into fee-setting in worker dispatch, and says it is cooperating fully. The disclosure is a short note in the 'other' section of the quarterly earnings summary dated 15 October 2026. The JFTC is Japan's competition regulator.

Context: An investigation is not a finding of a violation, and the note records none. It does not say when the investigation began or what conduct the commission is examining, and the description comes from Pasona Group alone. The subsidiary's business sits in the Expert Solutions segment, where sales rose 5.4% to ¥36.54bn in the three months to 31 August on higher dispatch fee rates and one more business day. The note draws no link between the investigation and those rate changes.

By the numbers: Group sales rose 3.1% to ¥79.33bn. Operating profit was ¥93mn against a loss of ¥568mn a year earlier, and profit attributable to owners of the parent was ¥496mn, including extraordinary gains of ¥308mn. Pasona Group left its forecasts for the fiscal year ending May 2027 unchanged: sales of ¥325bn, operating profit of ¥1.5bn and a net loss of ¥1bn.