Operator and funding
Operator
Shimaken, author of the book series “Ano Kaisha no Shikumi”, runs this site alone.
The writer
Shimaken, author of the book series “Ano Kaisha no Shikumi”. The regular writing is on note and Substack, in Japanese.
Indicator methodology
Each company page carries six measures. Only three of them are marked with ★. The other three show the value alone, with no position attached.
The three measures that carry ★ (profitability, growth, capital efficiency) are calculated directly from disclosed figures, and cut into five steps by where the company sits among every company on this site. They are not a judgement of which company is better, and not a rating for investment decisions. No forecast is used.
The three measures without ★ (net assets as a share of total assets, cash conversion, sales per employee) are ones where larger is neither good nor bad. Net assets are assets less liabilities. Cash conversion of 100% means operating cash flow equals operating profit. Sales per employee shows differences in levels by industry and business model. Marking these with ★ would turn the page into a rating, so only the value and the median of the same industry are shown.
| Measure | Formula | Companies with a value |
|---|---|---|
| Profitability | Operating income ÷ net sales (or operating revenue) | 4,033 |
| Net assets to total assets | Net assets ÷ total assets | 4,237 |
| Growth | Average annual revenue growth (up to the last five reported years; companies with at least three) | 4,090 |
| Capital efficiency | Return on equity (as disclosed in the annual securities report) | 3,995 |
| Cash conversion | Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities ÷ operating income | 3,558 |
| Sales per employee | Net sales (or operating revenue) ÷ employees | 4,052 |
Capital allocation methodology
Each company page also presents capital allocation indicators. Every one of these is a disclosed figure divided by another, by machine. The five in the table below are shown only where both numerator and denominator are available on a consolidated basis. Consolidated values are never divided by parent-only values, and IFRS accounts are never divided by Japanese GAAP accounts.
★ marks the position when all companies are sorted by value and cut into fifths. It is a position among all companies, not a rating. A company with a large increase in working capital may have had a year when the business grew and receivables and inventory grew with it, or a year when collection slowed. This figure alone does not say which.
| Item | Formula | Companies with a value |
|---|---|---|
| Increase in working capital | (increase in trade receivables + increase in inventories) ÷ net sales (or operating revenue) | 2,856 |
| Extraordinary gains and losses relative to ordinary profit | (extraordinary income − extraordinary loss) ÷ ordinary income | 2,199 |
| Return to shareholders | (dividends paid + purchase of treasury stock) ÷ net cash provided by operating activities | 2,683 |
| Property, plant and equipment purchases relative to depreciation | Purchase of property, plant and equipment ÷ depreciation | 3,026 |
| Investment securities to net assets | Investment securities ÷ net assets | 2,831 |
Dividend history methodology
The dividend history on a company page transcribes the annual dividend per share, the interim dividend per share and the payout ratio from the reporting company's key figures in its annual securities reports. Each report carries five years, so reports filed in different years are stacked, giving up to 15 years for the longest runs. Both the dividend and the payout ratio are the reporting company's (parent-only) disclosed figures; the payout ratio is not recalculated from consolidated profit.
- Consecutive increases = counting back from the latest year, how many times the annual dividend per share rose above the previous year
- Consecutive years with a dividend = how many years in a row the annual dividend per share was above zero
- Dividend growth (year on year) = latest year divided by the year before it, minus 1
- Dividend growth (5-year annual rate) = the fifth root of the latest year divided by the year five years earlier, minus 1. Shown only where six comparable years exist
Flagged years are left out of those counts. A year is flagged in two cases. One is a year with a note about a stock split or a share consolidation, because the dividend per share in the report is sometimes left at the pre-split amount and may not rest on the same share base as the year before. The other is a fiscal year that was not 12 months. In both cases no calculation crosses that year. A year with no disclosure is not read as zero; counting stops there.
Shareholder composition methodology
The number of shareholders and the ownership breakdown are transcribed from the share information section of the annual securities report. The percentages are the disclosed figures, calculated on trading units, so for some companies they do not add up to exactly 100%. Foreign holders (total) is the sum of the institution and individual rows. "Individuals and others" is a register category, so it does not necessarily mean that much of the company is held by individuals. The major shareholder list is a register of nominees. Whose trust a trust bank holding belongs to is not disclosed, so the names are shown exactly as written, and addresses are not reproduced.
Site funding
The site earns from the following.
- Book referrals: company pages and index pages link to the book series “Ano Kaisha no Shikumi”. Those are Amazon Associates links, and the operator earns from qualifying purchases through them.
- (Planned) referrals for research tools: the site may introduce tools for researching companies, such as a brokerage's analysis tools, and receive a referral fee. When that starts, the spot where it appears will be labelled as an advertisement, and this page will be updated.
No advertising space is sold. Whether or how much a referral pays never changes which companies appear, how they are treated, the figures, or the order of any comparison.
Relationship with the companies covered
- No listing fee, advertising fee, interview cooperation fee or other consideration for coverage is received from the companies covered.
- Where a referral fee is received for introducing a covered company's service (such as a brokerage account), that is stated on the company's page.
- No company was added because it asked to be. The operator chooses which companies appear.
- Where the operator holds shares in a company covered, that is stated on the company's page.
- Where a company asks for a change, factual errors are corrected. Where a point is raised that is not a factual error, the fact that it was raised is kept on the page.
Reasons for the policy
On a site about company revenue models, being paid by those companies for coverage changes what can be written. So that it does not change, no payment for coverage is taken, and any referral fee is kept separate from how a company is treated.