When was the Company established?

The Company was established on February 4, 1962.

Why was the Company established?

The Company was incorporated in 1962 in Wakayama city by the current president, Masahiro Shima, when he was twenty-four years old, in order to address the difficult challenge of “fully automating the glove knitting machine.”

What kind of businesses does the Company operate?

The Company's main businesses are the development, manufacture and sale of computerized flat knitting machines for knitwear production, design systems and glove/sock knitting machines. The Company holds an overwhelming global market share in each business area.

Recently, the Company has been supporting its customers' businesses by offering total solutions which include provision of the Company's know-how and designs with design systems as the core.

Which companies constitute the Shima Seiki Group?

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• Group Companies

Where are the Company's factory, branches and regional offices located?

The factory is located in Wakayama City, where the Company Headquarters is situated. Please click on the link below to find branches and regional offices..

• Global Network

What is the Company's management philosophy?

The Company's management philosophy is expressed in its corporate motto of “Ever Onward”.

The motto shows the Company's commitment to striving to develop technologies that have never existed before and as a comprehensive mechatronics company, to providing highly advanced products at economical prices and continuously introducing innovations to the industry with its originality and ingenuity.

Please describe your efforts to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The Company endeavors to enhance regional environmental management through its efforts to clean pavements constructed on facility sites and to establish facilities surrounded by greenery.

Efforts are also being made to prevent crime and ensure security in the region by lighting up the Headquarters building and installing large street lights along the road.

Regarding environmental issues, the Company has worked to save energy by actively introducing the photovoltaic generation system into the factory, making it one of the largest in Japan for a private facility.

How is the Company's structure for corporate governance organized?

The Company recognizes the importance of fully utilizing the functions of its various systems, including the Board of Directors system and the auditing system, and the establishment of proper and efficient corporate governance in promoting greater efficiency, soundness, and transparency of management, as well as business management with a high regard for the interests of our stakeholders.

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• Corporate Governance

Please explain the Company's business structure.

With Flat Knitting Machine segment as the core, the Company operates in the following four business areas.

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• Segment Information

What is WHOLEGARMENT^®?

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• Glossary

What is SDS^®-ONE?

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• Glossary

What kind of machine is a glove knitting machine?

The reason for the Company's incorporation was to address the difficult challenge of “fully automating the glove knitting machine.” In 1965, the Company successfully developed a fully automated glove knitting machine and in 1970 developed the world's first glove knitting machine which makes it possible to produce seamless gloves. The development of this machine by the Company forced out most other glove knitting machine manufacturers, where more than 200 were operating in Japan alone at that time. The Company is currently the only glove knitting machine manufacturer with proprietary technology in the world. Glove knitting machines represent the original starting point of the idea for WHOLEGARMENT^®.

What is the Company's market share within the industry?

The Company has no competitors in the flat knitting machine field within Japan. In the overseas market, its main competitors are German manufacturers. The Company recognizes that its overwhelming global market share is solid, despite the rise of local manufacturers in the Chinese and Hong Kong markets that are achieving remarkable development. In the glove knitting machine market, the Company still holds the largest market share, though imitation machines are recently manufactured in China.

Please provide information about the Company's patents related to knitting machines.

The Company has developed products by setting a goal of manufacturing “the world's first” product since its incorporation. The Company has acquired various patents in Japan and abroad, including approximately 2,000 Japanese and overseas patents for the Company's flat knitting machine, although the details cannot be explained here. Patent allowance, patent implementation and oversea application rates remain high. Consequently, in 2006, the Company received the Intellectual Property Award from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in recognition of these activities.

To find out more about the Company's intellectual property strategies, please refer to the special topic concerning “Technology development and intellectual property strategies (pp. 13-14) “in the Company's Annual Report 2007.

• Annual Report 2007

When does the Company release its financial results?

The 1Q financial results for the year ending March 31, 2011 were released on Thursday, July 29, 2010.

Please describe the Company's business performance.

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• Financial Highlights
• Segment information

How can I obtain data concerning the Company's financial results, annual reports and other information?

Please download from this IR site or fill in the inquiry form and submit it directly.

How does the rising value of the yen affect the Company's performance?

Since overseas sales of the Company account for more than 90% of the total, some transactions are conducted in regional denominations other than yen. It is possible that sales activities may not go according to plan as a result of reduced price competitiveness when the yen turns strong. Although the Company hedges risks using forward exchange contracts, yen-denominated transactions and other instruments, sharp fluctuations in exchange rates may affect the income and financial position of the Company.

Details on the effect of fluctuations in exchange rates on the Company's performance are not disclosed.

Please explain the Company's dividend policy.

Our dividend policy is to maintain long-term stable dividends and pay dividends actively based on business performance enhancement and taking into account future earnings forecasts and business operations. In accordance with this policy, the Company decides dividends taking into account dividend payouts and management performance.

• About Dividends

What is the Company's targeted benchmark?

The Company believes that increased profitability and business growth facilitated by development of new technology will contribute to enhancement of corporate value. It has decided to emphasize the consolidated return on equity (ROE) as the management benchmark and set the objective of constantly achieving ROE of 10 percent or more.

Please tell us the date that the Company's stock was initially sold to the public and the stock exchanges where the Company's stock is listed.

Listed in the Second Section of the Osaka Securities Exchange on December 25, 1990.
Listing changed to the First Section of the Osaka Securities Exchange on September 1, 1992.
Listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on January 25, 1996.

What is the Company's securities code number?

6222

What is the trading unit?

A trading unit is 100 shares.

When is the deadline for purchasing stock to acquire rights to dividends?

The final purchase date for stock with cum-rights is the fourth business day prior to the last business day of March for the fiscal year ending March 31 and the fourth business day prior to the last business day of September for the interim period ending September 30.

When and where is the general shareholders' meeting held?

The Company's general shareholders' meeting is held at the end of June each year at the Company Headquarters in Wakayama.

How is the general shareholders' meeting held?

We consider the general shareholders' meeting an important opportunity for our shareholders and management to communicate with each other on an annual basis; consequently, we discuss agenda reports and proposed resolutions stipulated in the Corporation Law of Japan and make presentations using video images provided by Company staff when delivering business reports in order to make it more understandable. After the meeting is adjourned, we usually conduct a site visit at the Company to facilitate an understanding of our business by the shareholders'.

What is your approach toward returns to shareholders?

We believe that it is a priority management task to return profits to our shareholders. As for profit sharing, our approach is to maintain long-term stable dividends based on business performance enhancement and taking into account future earnings forecasts and business operations. In accordance with this policy, we decide dividends taking into account dividend payouts and management performance. We intend to utilize retained earnings in an active and timely manner for mid- to long-term and active investment in property, plant and equipment, R&D and market strategies which include M&A in preparation for reinforcement of the Group's business infrastructure and future business operations in order to survive severe business conditions.

   The purchase of our own stocks is flexibly conducted as an effective measure for returning profits to stockholders, including cancellation of treasury stock in the future, in order to execute the capital policy of handling changes in the management environment.

How will dividends be paid?

There are four methods for dividend payment as described below. With the implementation of the electronic share certificate system, methods No.3 and No.4 referred to below have been newly adopted.

1. Using a notice of postal transfer payment

Dividends can be received by presenting a postal transfer payment notice at a post bank or post office.
2. Automatic transfer to designated bank account

Dividends can be received through a designated account with the bank or other financial institution for each issue.
3. Registered dividend receipt account method

Dividends releting to all issues you own can be received through a registered account with the bank or other financial institution.
4. Allocation based on the number of shares method

Dividends can be received through the securities company where you have opened an account. If you have accounts with several securities companies or other financial institutions, then the dividends will be allocated based on the balance remaining in each account. You will not be able to choose this method if you have any shares held in a "special account."

Please contact your securities company or other financial institution for details. For shares recorded in a special account, please contact Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation.

Where can I make inquiries about stock?

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• About Stock