Japanese technology company Kyocera Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, will celebrate its 60th anniversary with a $40.61 million share pay-out to employees, according to company reports.
The final decision on the number of shares will be made at the upcoming board of directors meeting, scheduled for 25 June 2019, but current expectations are that around 723,000 shares will be dispersed to company employees.
In a statement the company said, “The Company marks its 60th anniversary in 2019. As a part of this 60th anniversary project, the Company has been considering to allot (sic) the Company’s shares to the Employees in order to share the delight of the 60th anniversary with the Employees, who have contributed to the development of the Company group.”
Company officials will carefully assess the number of shares to be dispersed before the summer board meeting with a view to making sure that the allotment of stock does not overly dilute the existing share capital. Current assessments consider the dilution to be “small-scale” and would not cause a major slide in share values or voting rights. The dilution of the shareholding ratio is calculated by the company to be 0.19 percent.
Kyocera Corporation does not expect the share pay-out to employees to impact the company’s full-year 2019 results that were announced on 25 April 2019. The company reported record sales revenues for the second consecutive year.
Sales revenues increased 3 percent year-over-year, reaching JPY1,623,710 million (US$14.628 billion), the company said that the increase was driven by sales expansion “as well as mergers and acquisitions in both the electronic devices and the industrial and automotive components segments.”
Sales revenue in the Life & Environment division saw a decline in orders for solar energy products, but the overall sales for the group remained strong.
In February, Kyocera Corporation – through its Cincinnati, Ohio,-based subsidiary, Kyocera Senco Industrial Tools, Inc., which manufactures pneumatic and cordless power tools, acquired Van Aerden Group BV, a European pneumatic tool manufacturing and sales company. On 1 March 2019, Van Aerden was renamed Kyocera Aerfast Europe BV.
In addition, the company’s German-based European subsidiary, Kyocera Fineceramics GmbH, acquired H.C. Starck GmbH’s subsidiary H.C. Starck Ceramics GmbH, an advanced ceramics manufacturing and sales company based in Selb, Germany. Kyocera is still awaiting regulatory approval for its H.C. Starck acquisition.
Neither of these acquisitions would have affected the sales revenue to any large degree as they were concluded late in the year, but profits were up due to the organic increase in sales and cost reductions.
Operating profits increased by JPY4,124 million ($37 million), or 4.5 percent, to JPY94,823 million ($854 million); while profits before income taxes increased by JPY10,618 million ($96 million), or 8.2 percent, to JPY140,610 ($1.267 billion); and profit attributable to owners of the parent increased by JPY24,073 ($217 million), or 30.4 percent, to JPY103,210 ($930 million) in the fiscal year 2019 compared to the fiscal year 2018.
In the next fiscal year, which ends 31 March 2020, Kyocera Corporation expects its components and automotive divisions to show growth as the 5G telecommunications infrastructure market increases and the adoption of advanced driver-assist systems pushes sales in those divisions.
A company statement added that it will look to further mergers and acquisitions to maintain its growth through a third year.
