Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third-biggest publicly traded cigarette maker, may raise its dividend payout target to trim gaps with rivals including Philip Morris International Inc. and British American Tobacco PLC.
"We're obviously behind them," Executive Deputy President Masakazu Shimizu said in an interview last week. The company may raise the target ratio from the current 30 percent of profit in the year beginning April 1, 2012, he said.
The cigarette maker is considering the dividend increase after the Children's Investment Fund Management U.K. LLP called on the company in September to return more cash to shareholders. Cash, near cash and short-term investments rose 66 percent as of March 31 from a year earlier to ¥277 billion, according to Bloomberg data.