Quite strange things happened at Hogy Medical.
In May management announced that Masao Hoki, founder and director of Hogy Medical, has the intention to retire from business. It wasn't any surpirse to me, given that Masao Hoki is 91 now. But what came as a huge surprise was a news release that was accompanied.
The management intended to sweeten Masao Hoki's retirement with a 2 bln. yen bonus for extraodinary archievments. Profit forecast was slashed by more than half and no guidance was given anymore for dividend in this fiscal year.
I was flabbergasted. What was going on with communication in Hogy's Management. If there was the intention to give Mr. Hoki a bonus for its lifetime archievement, why wasn't it communicated earlier and why didn't management built- up reserves instead of paying out half year profit.
It took a while that my emotions cooled down a little over this absolutely incomprhensible move by Hogy's management. But it didn't last too long, because two weeks later the following announcement was made.
http://www.hogy.co.jp/material/pdf/20120606giann_e.pdf
What the heck...He doesn't want his bonus now? I couldn't get my head around that news at all.
So I asked somone who is more familiar with japanese culture than I am and he told me, that he found this news very interesting and very japanese. Basically, he explained to me, Mr. Hoki expected this offer to him by management, as a sign of respect. At the same token management expected Mr.Hoki to decline the offer.
Quite surreal things happen when one is investing in Japan. I reckon this isn't going to be the last strange news out of japanese companies, where I'm going to scratch my head.
No comments:
Post a Comment