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Kao raises FY'17 dividend on profit gains, gives guidance for FY'18

Japanese consumer products giant Kao Corp. plans to increase its year-end dividend for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2017, partly to reflect profit that exceeded its forecast.

The company is raising its year-end dividend for fiscal 2017 to ¥56 per share, up from ¥48 per share in the year-ago period and also above its forecast of ¥54 per share given Oct. 30, 2017. This brings the total dividend planned for fiscal 2017 to ¥110 per share, compared with ¥94 per share in the previous year.

The dividend of surplus will be officially decided at the annual shareholders' meeting on March 23.

For fiscal 2017, Kao recorded net income of ¥148.61 billion, a 16.2% increase from ¥127.89 billion in the year-ago period.

Basic EPS came in at ¥298.30, up from ?253.43 in the previous year and beating the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate of ¥280.39.

Net sales for the year jumped 2.2% to ¥1.489 trillion from ?1.458 trillion in 2016, while operating income grew 10.4% to ¥204.79 billion from ¥185.57 billion.

For fiscal 2018 ending Dec. 31, Kao forecasts attributable net income to increase 3.4% year over year to ¥152 billion, net sales to grow 3.4% to ¥1.54 trillion, and operating income to jump 5.0% to ¥215 billion. It also expects basic EPS of ¥308.46.

The S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate of Kao's GAAP EPS for fiscal 2018 is currently ¥309.66.

As of Feb. 1, US$1 was equivalent to ¥109.45.