Sapporo Holdings Ltd, which plans to introduce anti-takeover measures to counter a bid by US investor Warren Lichtenstein, said full-year profit dropped 36 percent on falling sales.
Net income for last year fell to ¥2.33 billion (US$19 million), from ¥3.63 billion a year earlier, Japan's third-largest brewer said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday. The beer maker forecast this year's profit will surge 41 percent to ¥3.3 billion.
Sapporo, with a market value of US$2.5 billion, will introduce new anti-takeover measures to ensure yesterday's proposals by Lichtenstein's Steel Partners Japan Strategic Fund L.P. will not be submitted at its shareholders meeting on March 29. Steel Partners, seeking 66.6 percent of the brewer's voting rights, already has a 17.52 percent stake.
Asahi Breweries Ltd, Japan's second-largest beer maker, yesterday denied a Yomiuri newspaper report that the brewery made an informal merger proposal to Sapporo late last year. The article created speculation Sapporo may be a bidding war target, sending its stock to its biggest one-day gain in almost seven years.
Sapporo stock rose ¥100, or 12.6 percent, higher in Tokyo yesterday to close at ¥891, before earnings were announced. That's its highest close since July 31, 1997.
Yoshiyuki Mochida, a director at Sapporo, said the company had no comment on the proposal from Steel Partners.
"We don't have information on whether Steel Partners is joining the management or not," said Mochida.
"We will be asking more information," he said.
Sapporo hired Mizuho Securities Co as financial advisor.
Revenue last year fell 4.1 percent from the year before to ¥435 billion, while operating profit plunged 16 percent to ¥8.6 billion.
Kirin Brewery Co, Japan's biggest beverage company, said last year's profit rose 4.4 percent to ¥53.5 billion as increased demand for alternative beers and soft drinks pushed up sales.
New York-based Steel Partners proposed to management that it would pay ¥825 a share, 4.3 percent more than yesterday's closing price, the fund said yesterday.
Should it make a tender offer, it would be the second bid by Steel Partners for a Japanese food and drinks company in the past three months, following a failed attempt to buy instant noodle maker Myojo Foods Co. Sapporo's management said last year that they may issue stock options to fend off a bid after the fund began amassing a stake.
Steel Partners yesterday said it had no plans to change Sapporo's management or board.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique