August 12, 2020
Kuraray Co., Ltd.

Notice of Earnings and Dividend Forecasts
Kuraray Co., Ltd. hereby announces its full-year consolidated earnings forecast forfiscal 2020 (January 1 to December 31, 2020), a forecast that had been undecided
when the May 14, 2020 “Notice of Revision to Earnings Forecasts” press release
was issued.
In conjunction with the formulation of the aforementioned consolidated
results forecast, Kuraray also revised the year-end dividend forecast announced on
February 13, 2020 as follows.
1. Consolidated earnings forecast for fiscal 2020 (January 1 - December 31, 2020)

Previously
announcedforecast (A)Revised forecast (B)Change (B − A)
Percent change (%)(Reference)
Results of fiscal 2019

Net Sales

Operating
IncomeOrdinary
IncomeBillions of yen

Billions of yen

Billions of yen

Undecided
510.0
―
―
575.8

Undecided
33.0
―
―
54.2

Undecided
29.0
―
―
48.3

Net Income
Attributable to
Owners of theParent
Billions of yen

Net
IncomeperShareYen

Undecided Undecided
13.0
37.80
―
―
――(2.0)(5.66)

Through the press release cited above and “Business Results for the First Quarter of
the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2020,” Kuraray announced its withdrawal of
the full-year consolidated results forecast released on February 13, 2020 andintention to temporarily leave the announcement blank, due to the difficulty ofreasonably calculating results forecasts for the third and fourth quarter in the face ofthe global outbreak of COVID-19, which caused economic activities to fall into
stagnation.
The economy has receded significantly due to COVID-19 pandemic, and weassume that the effects will last into 2021 and beyond. Accordingly, Kuraray isplanning to carry out production adjustments based on projections of business
operations affected by ongoing stagnation in demand in the third quarter andbeyond.
Given these circumstances, Kuraray has recalculated its full-year consolidated
results forecast by using information available at present.
In addition, although we recorded an extraordinary loss in fiscal 2019 related
to litigation in connection with a fire at a U.S. subsidiary in May 2018, we will makean announcement promptly if any revision to the current financial forecast is
considered to be required as a result of future settlement negotiations.2. Forecasts for year-end dividends for the fiscal 2020
(1) Revised forecasts

Previously
announced
forecast
Revised forecast
Dividends paid
(Reference)
Dividends paid forfiscal 2019

End of 1Q
Yen―

Annual dividends
End of 2Q
End of 3Q
Fiscal year-end
Yen
Yen
Yen
21
21―

―――

―

21―

―

20

―

Total
Yen
42

1940

2242

(2) Reasons for the revisions
Kuraray considers the distribution of profits to shareholders to be one of its top
management priorities. In order to secure and enhance our corporate value andshareholders’ common interests, we endeavor to ensure the appropriate distributionof profits while giving due consideration to maintaining a balance between
shareholder returns that reflect management results and retaining resources tosupport future growth. To this end, the Company has set a basic policy ofmaintaining the total return ratio relative to net income attributable to owners of theparent at 35% or more, along with annual dividends per share of ¥40 or higher, forthe duration of the “PROUD 2020” management plan period (fiscal 2018 – 2020).
In line with this basic policy, Kuraray previously announced its forecast forfiscal 2020 annual dividends of ¥42 per share through “Business Results for theFiscal Year Ended December 31, 2019” issued on February 13, 2020. This annual
dividend forecast was based on the Company’s forecast for fiscal 2020 net income
attributable to owners of the parent of ¥35.0 billion. However, the Company
decided to revise its year-end dividend forecast to ¥19 per share in step with its
revised full-year earnings forecast. As Kuraray intends to maintain its initial forecast
for the interim dividend at ¥21 per share, the annual dividends to be paid by theCompany for fiscal 2020 are expected to total ¥40 per share.
Note: The forecasts presented above are based on currently available informationand certain conditions judged rational, but actual results may differ from forecasts
for various reasons.