Communication with Shareholders and Investors

Status of dialogue with investors and analysts

At UACJ, to help shareholders and investors foster an understanding of the UACJ Group and to build and maintain long-term relationships of trust with our shareholders, we strive to ensure timely, appropriate information disclosure and enhance bilateral communication.
The Investor Relations Department leads IR activities, including holding financial results briefings once a quarter, IR-Day, and sustainability briefings once a year, as well as one-on-one meetings, small meetings, plant tours, business briefings, and other events as each occasion arises. In particular, we hold themed business briefings combined with plant tours for shareholders and investors, striving to deepen their understanding of our business—specifically the core operations and product manufacturing.
In light of our shareholder composition, UACJ has adopted a basic policy of conducting investor visits at least once a year by senior management in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Our shareholder relations (SR) activities are led by the legal departments, which work to engage in constructive dialogue with institutional investors to support UACJ’s sustainable growth and medium- to long-term enhancement of corporate value. Since fiscal 2020, we have continued dialogue by providing regular annual meeting opportunities primarily with proxy voting officers at institutional investors, and we are continually expanding the scope of participating institutions each year. Opinions and requests from institutional investors obtained through dialogue are fed back to the management team, including the Board of Directors, in a timely manner.
At UACJ, we provide opportunities for dialogue between outside directors and institutional investors through both IR and SR activities, in an effort to gain an understanding of not only our business but also the effective activities of our outside directors.

Main IR and SR activities

Main themes in dialogue with investors and analysts

• UACJ’s principle business—e.g., business model, competitive environment, areas of operation, performance outlook, and shareholder return policy
• UACJ’s business strategy, desired direction, strengths, including UACJ VISION 2030 and short- and medium-to-long-term growth strategies
• Financial strategies and approach to capital efficiency management
• Sustainability initiatives—e.g., materiality, promotion of recycling, and human rights and human capital initiatives.
• Corporate governance—e.g., skill matrix, efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the Board of Directors, the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee activities, and officer remuneration
• Voting results at the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders and future policy for revising voting rights exercise standards

Key Takeaways from Investor Engagement

• Importance of disclosing the performance of major overseas subsidiaries and the progress of initiatives
• Importance of “dialogue” and “disclosure” to ensure accurate understanding of UACJ’s management strategy
• Degree of interest in the financial impact of human capital initiatives
• Expectations for UACJ, as a leading company in aluminum, to promote recycling involving the entire supply chain, etc.

Examples of dialogue in which shareholders gained understanding through our explanations

• Our medium-to-long-term growth strategy centered on the can stock and automotive parts businesses
• Profit and loss of major overseas subsidiaries and future growth strategies
• UACJ’s financial strategy and concept of capital investment
• Concrete measures and the outcomes, and future challenges in response to changes in the business environment surrounding our company (i.e., soaring prices of energy and aluminum alloy additive)
• Potential contributions to the realization of a sustainable society by leveraging the recycling characteristics of aluminum

Status of feedback provided to the management team and the Board of Directors regarding shareholder opinions and concerns, and other matters identified through dialogue

• Reported to the Board of Directors and the Management Committee; shared in regular meetings with relevant departments; and distributed via email to senior management

Matters incorporated based on dialogue

• Creation of dialogue opportunities between the President, Executive Officer in charge of IR, foreign national Executive Officer in charge, and analyst and institutional investors
• Creation of dialogue opportunities between outside directors and shareholders
• Enhanced explanations and disclosures from outside directors regarding the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee activities and the succession plan for the Company president
• Published concrete measures and a roadmap to promote climate change countermeasures
• Reflection in the medium-term management plan—e.g., portfolio management and cash allocation
• Reflection of requests in IR disclosure materials—e.g. quarterly financial results briefings materials and integrated report
• Expansion of IR events—e.g. IR-Day, sustainability briefings, and business briefings

Providing information through various IR tools

The UACJ Group continues working to enhance information disclosure for shareholders and investors—for example, issuing the shareholder newsletter “To Our Shareholders,” and creating the “UACJ Report” which highlights financial and non-financial information in an easy-to-understand manner. We also provide information for private investors.
UACJ’s corporate website has received high external recognition, including being selected as the “Best Website” in both overall and industry-specific categories of the “All Listed Companies Website Ranking Survey” conducted annually since fiscal 2003 by Nikko Investor Relations Co., Ltd.

Approach toward management conscious of cost of capital and stock price

UACJ positions the sustainable enhancement of shareholder value as a core objective of corporate management. To this end, we undertake operations and investments in the areas of strategic planning, business continuity, and safety and environment. These initiatives include expanding earnings, attaining capital efficiency that exceeds its expected cost of capital, and improving financial soundness―thereby enhancing shareholder value.
Under the fourth mid-term management plan from fiscal 2024 to 2027, we have clearly defined capital efficiency improvement and shareholder value enhancement through sustainable business growth as management indicators to which we are aligning our operations.

UACJ’s performance indicators and target figures

• Fourth mid-term management plan targets for fiscal 2027: PBR of 1.0, ROE of 9%, ROIC of 9%, D/E ratio below 1.0
• UACJ VISION 2030 targets for fiscal 2030: ROE of 10%, ROIC of 10%

• ROIC is calculated based on business profit before taxes.

Under the fourth mid-term management plan, in terms of capital efficiency, we are targeting an ROE of 9%―above its expected cost of capital. By advancing efforts toward a circular economy and the supply of high value-added products, UACJ will drive sustainable earnings growth and improve capital efficiency. At the same time, we will aim to reduce the cost of capital by appropriately allocating management resources while also consistently strengthening our financial foundation by maintaining a debt-to-equity ratio below 1.0.
Furthermore, we intend to adopt a more proactive approach than ever before in both disclosing non-financial information and engaging with capital markets. Through these initiatives, we will endeavor to achieve a price-to-book ratio of at least 1.0, in an effort to enhance shareholder value.

Utilizing Green Finance

Green finance refers to investment and lending that provides financial support to businesses and local governments that are tackling environmental issues with, for example, climate change countermeasures, waste reduction, and biodiversity conservation.

With its corporate philosophy of "Contribute to a prosperous and sustainable society with technologies that bring out the innate power of Materials,” UACJ seeks to help reduce environmental impacts globally through aluminum. In our long-term roadmap, UACJ Vision 2030, our aim is also "Aluminum is our passion. It inspires our work in building a better world and a healthier environment." and we position sustainability activities as a core element that will determine the raison d'être of our corporate management.

In particular, we place importance on creating a circular economy in terms of increasing our corporate value. Because aluminum has a large environmental impact from GHG emissions and pollutants when used as new metal, promoting the circulation of aluminum (closed-loop recycling) contributes to addressing climate change and preserving, regenerating, and creating nature (nature positive). In other words, since the value created by recycling aluminum is significant, we have positioned promotion of recycling as the most important growth and added value strategy in our fourth mid-term management plan.

Under this vision and strategy, we have raised funds using green finance to further promote measures to increase our corporate value. For details on our green finance framework, please refer to the UACJ Corporation Green Finance Framework assessment report by Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd.

Dividend policy

UACJ regards dividend payments as a priority measure for returning profits to shareholders. While adhering to a fundamental policy of continuously paying stable dividends, we evaluate distributions holistically—taking into account factors, such as earnings performance trends, updated efforts to maintain stable business operations, investments in strengthening competitiveness such as strategy and environment and in research and development to enhance corporate value and growth, as well as the establishment of a robust financial foundation. The dividend for fiscal 2024 was ¥150 per share annually.
Most recently, the Board of Directors resolved to partially revise the dividend policy at its meeting held on May 11, 2023 (dividends paid twice a year: interim and year-end, effective fiscal year ending March　31, 2024. Furthermore, with a record date of September 30, 2025, we conducted a 4-for-1 split of common stock held by shareholders listed or recorded in the final shareholder register on that date.