DoCoMo Share Price at Record Low
According to this report via Bloomberg, DoCoMo aims to rely on dividend payments and strategic investments to raise its share price from record lows. “The dividend is our top policy choice, followed by investments in growth areas; buying back shares comes after that,” Tsubouchi said in an interview today. “The share price is just too low.” Chief Financial Officer Kazuto Tsubouchi said.
DoCoMo fell to as low as 128,600 yen in Tokyo trading today, the lowest since listing in October 1998, as lower handsets sales and industry wide data-transmission rate cuts sap profit. President Ryuji Yamada last week said the carrier may buy back shares if the stock falls to a record low. The Tokyo-based company last week maintained its plan to increase its dividend payout 8.3 percent to 5,200 yen ($57) in the 12 months ending March 31, its first increase in two years. DoCoMo paid 4,800 yen last fiscal year.
Their recent Q2 results could not have been very helpful either. They have a new handset line-up coming out next week which should help improve the monthly new subscriber additions, as TCA just announced disappointing official stats for DoCoMo in Oct. as well.