Japanese companies warm up to employee stock incentives

By Makiko Yamazaki and Ritsuko Shimizu TOKYO - Airline operator ANA Holdings plans to offer around $60 million worth of shares to thousands of employees, the latest Japanese company to useMusicians, humour and stories galore help Bruce Guthro's Celebration of Life | SaltWireTOKYO - 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...

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.

At ANA, employees must hold on to their shares for three years before they can sell or transfer them, said Shintaro Takano, a general administration executive. Today, employee stock incentives are also a way for companies to replace cross-shareholdings, a common practice where companies take stakes in partners to cement relationships and avoid activist investors.

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Japanese companies warm up to employee stock incentivesAirline 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. ANA will offer 100 shares worth about $20 each to about 70% of nearly 45,000 employees in November, following in the footsteps of other major Japanese firms such as Omron and Sony Group. The employee share incentive plans coincide with one of the most severe labour shortages Japan has seen in years, and as the Tokyo Stock Exchange urges listed firms to become 'more conscious' of their share prices due to concerns that far too many companies are trading below their book value.
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