TOKYO - Airline operator ANA Holdings plans to offer around $60 million worth of shares to thousands of employees, the latest Japanese company to use employee share incentives as a tool to retain talent and comply with a request by the regulator to pay more attention to share price performance.
In the last five years, the number of Japanese companies offering equity-based compensation to employees doubled to 966, data from Nomura Securities shows, representing a quarter of the some 3,900 listed firms. Raising corporate value is key for investors in Japan, where so many stocks are chronically undervalued that the Tokyo Stock Exchange made a rare call in March for firms to disclose long-term plans to improve capital efficiency.
"When the pandemic hit our earnings, many employees in their thirties and forties left," he said. "The stock incentives are aimed at beefing up engagement with employees and promoting their interest in raising corporate value." Cross-shareholdings have drawn criticism from international investors and companies are under pressure from the regulator to unwind them as soon as possible.