February 7, 2008
Increased dividend forecast for fiscal year ended December 31, 2007
Tokyo, February 7, 2008—Kirin Holdings Company, Limited ("Kirin"), at a meeting of its Board of Directors held today, decided to upwardly revise the forecast dividend per share for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007. The amount of year-end dividend is subject to formal approval at the annual general meeting of shareholders scheduled to be held in March 2008.
1. Reasons for revision of dividend forecast
Kirin believes that ensuring an appropriate level of return to shareholders is one of the most important roles of management, and has paid a dividend in every year since the establishment of Kirin in 1907. From 2007 Kirin adopted a new target consolidated payout ratio of 30% plus, aiming to link dividend increases to increases in actual profitability.
In line with this approach, for the year ended December 2007 Kirin has decided to increase the year-end dividend by ¥3.00 per share to ¥12.00 per share. In combination with the interim dividend already declared, which was increased by ¥1.00 per share to ¥9.00 per share, this represents a proposed full-year dividend of ¥21.00 per share, a year-on-year increase of ¥4.00 per share. Under this proposed dividend declaration the consolidated payout ratio for the year would be 30.1%.
For the fiscal year ending December 2008, the planned full-year dividend is ¥23.00 per share (comprising interim and year-end dividends of ¥11.50 per share, respectively), taking into account the impact of amortization of goodwill arising from business investment aligned with Kirin's pursuit of a quantum leap in growth.
2. Table of dividend forecasts before and after revision
Fiscal year ended December 31, 2007
| Unit: yen | Previous dividend forecast (issued February 7, 2007) |
Revised dividend forecast |
| Interim dividend per share | 9.00 | 9.00 (actual) |
| Year-end dividend per share | 9.00 | 12.00 (proposed) |
| Annual dividend per share | 18.00 | 21.00 (proposed) |
For reference: Recent trends in dividend declarations
| Unit: yen | Fiscal year ended December 31, 2006 |
Fiscal year ended December 31, 2005 |
| Interim dividend per share | 8.00 | 7.00 |
| Year-end dividend per share | 9.00 | 7.50 |
| Annual dividend per share | 17.00 | 14.50 |