Shareholders today lashed out at executives of struggling Japanese companies over their dismal financial performance as they sought explanations for what they claim was poor handling of the global economic downturn.
Dozens of major Japanese companies will also hold their annual shareholders meeting this week as a time when an increasing number of individual stockholders are seeking a bigger say in the management of company operations.
Sinking into the red for the business year that ended in March, both NEC Corp and Mitsubishi Motors were unable to pay annual dividends for fiscal 2008 with sales and demand eroded by the global economic downturn and a stronger yen.
"If you had carried out drastic reforms before the onset of the global recession, we would not be in this kind of situation," a shareholder said at NEC's meeting in Tokyo.
"I think your crisis awareness is low."
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"We accept the criticism that our earnings are sluggish," NEC President Kaoru Yano clarified after offering an apology for the lack of dividend payments.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Motors, which has not paid an annual dividend for about a decade, saw a record-high attendance of 1,966 shareholders at its two-hour annual meeting in Tokyo where participants poured out complaints over the uncertain outlook for its business.