Eleven Japanese listed companies filed changes to their shareholder benefit programs over the eight trading days from October 28 to November 5. The largest by far is LY Corporation, the company behind LINE and Yahoo! JAPAN, which introduced a benefit for the first time. KSK also introduced a program, and the most common change was a new reward for holders who stay longer.
Shareholder benefits, known in Japan as kabunushi yutai (株主優待), are voluntary perks that listed companies give their holders, usually products, vouchers or discounts on the company's own services. They are set by each company's board and are separate from dividends.
This briefing covers more than a week at once. Each company links to its filing; the summaries draw on the companies' own releases and on Japanese financial press coverage of the filings, and the Japanese filing remains the authoritative version.
At a glance
| Company | Code / market | Mkt cap | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| LY Corporation | 4689 · Prime | ~$23.6B | New: Yahoo! Shopping gift for 1-year holders of 5,000 shares or more |
| Key Coffee | 2594 · Prime | ~$266M | Higher-value product set for holders of three months or more; new 400-share tier |
| KSK | 9687 · Standard | ~$181M | New: QUO card for holders of 200 shares kept for a year |
| Astena Holdings | 8095 · Prime | ~$134M | Benefit tier set by holding on both May and November registers |
| Carlit | 4275 · Prime | ~$236M | Larger dining card for holders of five years or more |
| Livero | 9245 · Growth | ~$69M | Prepaid card to selectable digital gift, same value |
| Image Magic | 7793 · Growth | ~$24M | Annual featured product added for holders of 1,000 shares |
| Digital Plus | 3691 · Growth | ~$45M | Entry level lowered from 700 to 400 shares, with a holding requirement |
| Kitoku Shinryo | 2700 · Standard | ~$89M | New 200 to 499 share tier; more rice in existing tiers |
| Global Security Experts | 4417 · Growth | ~$605M | Program ends if a tender offer by Accenture succeeds |
| Daitobo | 3202 · Standard | ~$25M | Smaller prepaid card at 1,000 and 2,000 shares; dividend forecast raised |
Codes are Tokyo Stock Exchange securities codes. Market capitalization is shown for company size context only, in USD at USD/JPY 158.22 (November 5, 2026), based on the latest market values available to Yutai, from August to November 2026, adjusted to the closing prices reported with each filing where available.
The filings
LY Corporation
TSE Prime · 4689 · Internet services (LINE, Yahoo! JAPAN) · Filed November 5
LY Corporation is introducing its first shareholder benefit: a Yahoo! Shopping gift certificate, usable at most stores on the site. Holders qualify on the March 31 register if they have held at least 5,000 shares under the same holder number on three consecutive registers, March, the previous September and the previous March, which is one year. The gift is ¥25,000 ($158) at 5,000 shares, ¥50,000 ($316) at 10,000, ¥250,000 ($1,580) at 50,000 and ¥500,000 ($3,160) at 100,000 shares or more, based on the lowest holding across the three registers. The first register is March 31, 2027. Instructions are mailed around July each year, a Yahoo! JAPAN ID is needed to receive the gift, and it can be used until about January of the following year. The gift is for residents of Japan only and cannot be transferred. The company says the aim is to encourage medium- to long-term holding and continued use of its services.
Key Coffee
TSE Prime · 2594 · Coffee roasting and food products · Filed October 29
Key Coffee is adding a richer version of its twice-yearly gift of its own products for holders who stay. The company will check its register at the end of every quarter. Holders who appear on two consecutive checks, three months or more, before the March or September cycle receive the expanded set: ¥2,400 ($15) instead of ¥1,200 ($8) at 100 shares, ¥5,400 ($34) instead of ¥2,300 ($15) at 200, ¥5,800 ($37) instead of ¥3,300 ($21) at 300 and ¥8,000 ($51) instead of ¥5,300 ($33) at 1,000 shares. A new tier for 400 to 999 shares receives a ¥7,000 ($44) set, with no holding period required through September 2027. The changes apply from the December 2026 register, and the first expanded sets go out for the March 2027 cycle.
KSK
TSE Standard · 9687 · Software and IT services · Filed October 30
KSK, an independent software company, is introducing a shareholder benefit for the first time: a QUO card, a prepaid card widely used in Japan, given once a year on the March register from March 31, 2027. Holders of 200 shares or more qualify after holding for at least one year, and the card is worth ¥1,000 to ¥5,000 ($6 to $32) depending on shares held and holding period. KSK filed supplementary details on November 2. The company says it wants to thank holders, make its shares more attractive to hold over the medium to long term, and build a stable holder base.
Astena Holdings
TSE Prime · 8095 · Pharmaceuticals and chemicals · Filed October 28
Astena Holdings is changing how it decides each holder's benefit tier. Today the tier depends only on shares held on the November 30 register. From the November 2027 cycle, it will use both the May 31 and November 30 registers, and where the two counts differ, the smaller one applies. Holding time is counted by consecutive appearances under the same holder number: three for one year, seven for three years. Share tiers stay at 500, 1,000 and 3,000 shares, and the benefit items do not change. The company says it wants to reward holders who keep their shares over time.
Carlit
TSE Prime · 4275 · Chemicals · Filed October 28
Carlit is expanding its benefit, a Jeff Gourmet card, a dining gift card usable at restaurants across Japan, for its longest-standing holders. Holders of five years or more will receive ¥2,000 to ¥4,000 ($13 to $25) depending on shares held. The program already paid more to holders of three years or more.
Livero
TSE Growth · 9245 · Relocation and housing support services · Filed October 28
From the December 31, 2026 cycle, Livero will give its benefit as a digital gift instead of a QUO card. Holders of 200 shares or more still qualify and the value stays at ¥10,000 ($63). Holders choose on the web from options planned to include Amazon gift cards, Google Play codes, PayPay money, Rakuten Points, QUO Card Pay, d points and au PAY gift cards. A guide is mailed within about three months, and the benefit lapses if no choice is made by the stated deadline.
Image Magic
TSE Growth · 7793 · Custom printing and print on demand · Filed October 28
Image Magic is adding a featured product for holders of 1,000 shares or more, whatever their holding period, from the December 31, 2026 cycle. The product will change each year. The first is a figure of the holder's pet, about 5cm tall and made from a photo, with a regular price of ¥6,380 ($40). Application forms come with the AGM notice, expected in March 2027. The existing coupons for its Original Print.jp site do not change.
Digital Plus
TSE Growth · 3691 · Digital gifts and fintech · Filed October 29
Digital Plus, whose group supplies digital gifts to other companies' programs, is lowering the entry level for its own share-based benefit from 700 to 400 shares and adding a continuous holding requirement. Several existing benefit items are being discontinued. The change was filed with the company's forecast for the year to September 2027.
Kitoku Shinryo
TSE Standard · 2700 · Rice and food wholesale · Filed October 30
Kitoku Shinryo, a rice and food wholesaler, is expanding its benefit for the December cycle. It is adding a tier for holders of 200 to 499 shares and increasing the quantity of rice products in the existing tiers.
Global Security Experts
TSE Growth · 4417 · Cybersecurity training and consulting · Filed October 30
Global Security Experts said it will end its shareholder benefit if a tender offer for its shares by Accenture succeeds. The program gave holders of 200 shares for six months or more a choice of a ¥2,000 ($13) digital gift or one of the company's own security training courses. Takeovers and tender offers are a common reason Japanese programs close.
Daitobo
TSE Standard · 3202 · Textiles, healthcare and property · Filed November 4
Daitobo is reducing the QUO card in its benefit from the March 31, 2027 register. Holders of 100 shares or more keep the discount vouchers for the company's online shop: one after six months, two after one year. At 1,000 shares the card falls from ¥3,000 ($19) to ¥1,000 ($6) after six months and from ¥4,000 ($25) to ¥2,000 ($13) after one year. At 2,000 shares it falls from ¥5,000 ($32) to ¥2,000 ($13) and from ¥6,000 ($38) to ¥3,000 ($19). In the same filing the company raised its year-end dividend forecast for the year to March 2027 from ¥3 ($0.02) to ¥4.5 ($0.03) per share, and coverage describes the change as a shift toward dividends.
Context
Time held was the thread of the week. LY Corporation asks for a year on three consecutive registers. Key Coffee rewards three months, Carlit adds a tier at five years, Astena checks holdings twice a year instead of once, and Digital Plus adds a holding requirement. All of them count tenure the same way: consecutive appearances under the same holder number on the company's register.
LY Corporation's program is also a step up in scale. A company of more than $20 billion is paying its benefit inside its own shopping service and requiring a Yahoo! JAPAN ID to claim it, which turns each claim into a signed-in customer. It joins the large companies, such as Toyota, NTT and SoftBank Corp, that route their benefits through their own apps. The program is limited to residents of Japan.
The two reductions follow known patterns. Global Security Experts' program ends if Accenture's tender offer succeeds, a common reason Japanese programs close. Daitobo cut its prepaid card while raising its dividend.
Yutai's view
The week shows both sides of the Japanese model. Companies want to reward the holders who stay, and they keep finding new ways to measure it. But every measure depends on a domestic register and a domestic holder number, and LY Corporation's gift is open to residents of Japan only. Holders who keep the same shares through an international broker, or in tokenized form, cannot build that tenure or claim the benefit. We think time held should be verifiable wherever the shares are held.
Important information
Yutai Technologies, Inc. has no affiliation with the companies mentioned. This summary is based on public company disclosures. Naming a company does not imply any relationship with, or endorsement by, that company.
Not investment advice. This content is for information only. It is not an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security, and it is not a recommendation about any company. Market capitalization figures are approximate and are given for company size context only.
Shareholder benefits are voluntary programs set by each company. They are not shareholder rights and may be changed or discontinued at any time. Benefits described here are typically non-transferable and are not cash.
Translations and summaries are prepared by Yutai Technologies, Inc. from Japanese-language filings and may contain errors. The original Japanese filing is the authoritative version. Yutai Technologies, Inc. is a technology provider and is not an issuer, broker, exchange or custodian.