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Service 01 / Foreign IR Diagnostic

Diagnose your IR
from the foreign-investor side.

We score how your IR reads to foreign investors across 12 items and 24 points.
English disclosure, investor meetings, and the capital-markets story are reviewed from the seat of someone who has sat through those foreign-institutional meetings up close, and the findings are summarised on one card.
Scope covers English earnings summaries, earnings-presentation decks, English IR materials, English timely disclosures, English integrated reports, IR meeting scripts and Q&A, and the broader foreign-IR equity story.

Why diagnostic, not translation

We check how foreign investors read it, not whether the English is correct.

A translation service guarantees that the English is correct. The foreign IR diagnostic looks at the step before: what should be communicated, how that wording is landing with foreign investors, and which points are missing. It uses a frame built from sitting through a long run of meetings with institutional investors.

The English IR materials are "correct English" but the investor reaction is thin

Even when the grammar is correct, if the wording does not sit inside the foreign-institutional frame (capital allocation, unit economics, management trajectory), meetings stay on surface questions and don't reach the conversation you wanted. The diagnostic makes that structural gap visible.

The meeting "covered" the points, but the impression is unclear

When meetings are run through an interpreter, it is hard to confirm afterwards how the CEO's or CFO's words actually landed with investors. The diagnostic reviews the meeting script and expected Q&A from the investor's seat, and structures the loss of meaning in the room.

Numbers and story do not line up across the disclosure set

Across the earnings summary, presentation deck, integrated report, and English presentations, KPI definitions or the management's main message can be slightly misaligned. The diagnostic reads them side by side and identifies the points where a foreign investor is most likely to get confused.

It is hard to know how your IR compares to peers

There are few tools to quantify how your English IR reads versus similar listed companies. The 12-item, 24-point card gives a uniform scale that supports a benchmark-style read across companies.

Diagnostic scope — 12 items

What is reviewed — 12 items, 24 points

The diagnostic scores 12 items at 0–2 points each (24 points total). The absolute score is less important than the balance between items and the written comment that goes with each one.

01

Capital allocation narrative

Whether Cash, CapEx, Dividend, Buyback, and M&A priorities are told consistently across the IR set.

02

Unit economics / core driver

Whether unit economics (gross margin, CAC, LTV, payback period and similar) are disclosed in an investor frame.

03

KPI consistency

Whether KPI definitions and numbers agree across the earnings summary, presentation deck, integrated report, and English presentations.

04

Forward guidance — degree of certainty

Whether hedges such as "expect to", "may", and "targeting" line up with the level of conviction investors will read into them.

05

Management commentary

Whether management's commentary reads as the voice of the people making capital-allocation decisions.

06

Governance narrative

Whether board composition, executive compensation, and succession are explained from a foreign-investor angle.

07

Segment disclosure granularity

Whether segment information is granular enough for an outside investor to understand the business.

08

Risk disclosure — specificity

Whether risk disclosure is company-specific, not standard boilerplate.

09

ESG / sustainability framing

Whether ESG disclosure connects to business strategy, or stops at boilerplate.

10

English wording inside the investor frame

Whether word choice fits the investor convention (conservative hedges, clear commitments).

11

Meeting / interpretation design

Whether expected Q&A and scripts for 1-on-1s, IR Days, and conference meetings are organised from the investor's side.

12

Web / IR site readability

Whether the English IR site's structure, navigation, and searchability match how foreign investors actually look for information.

Deliverables

Deliverables

The core deliverable is the Diagnostic Card (one-page PDF) plus a written commentary (10–20 pages). Comment-marked reviews of English IR materials can be attached as needed.

  • Diagnostic Card (PDF): 12 items, 24 points, top three improvement priorities, and a benchmark-style observation, all on one page.
  • Diagnostic commentary (PDF, 10–20 pages): rationale per item, the issues observed, and the direction of recommended fixes.
  • Comment-marked review of English IR materials (as needed): for one or two priority documents — English earnings summary, earnings presentation, English integrated report, etc.
  • Expected Q&A list (as needed): likely questions from foreign institutional investors with recommended answer outlines.
  • 30–60 minute readout, in person or online: review of the findings and a discussion of the next step.
Process

How it runs

The first diagnostic is delivered within 10 business days of kick-off.

Pre-engagement call

30 minutes. We hear which IR materials are in scope, recent foreign-investor meetings, and the current state of the English IR set.

Materials received (under NDA)

Earnings summary, presentation decks, IR site, meeting scripts, etc. shared under NDA.

Diagnostic work

5–7 business days. We score the 12 items from the investor side and produce the Diagnostic Card and commentary.

Readout

30–60 minutes. We walk through the findings together and shape the next improvement step.

Follow-up

Questions within two weeks are handled at no charge. Continuing support, if needed, is scoped separately.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How does this differ from a translation agency's check?
A translation agency's check confirms that the English is correct. The foreign IR diagnostic asks what should be communicated in an investor frame and how that wording is landing with foreign institutional investors. Capital-allocation narrative, unit economics, KPI consistency, and the degree of certainty around forward guidance are reviewed at the design level of investor communication — not as a language check.
How is confidentiality handled?
An NDA is signed for every engagement. Anything received during the diagnostic is not published on this site, on social channels, or in external materials. Where engagements are referenced as case studies, names are not disclosed; only sector, scale, and issue type are described, in anonymised form.
Who is this for?
Listed companies (Prime / Growth / Standard) that already engage foreign investors at a meaningful level, or that intend to scale that engagement. Companies with a global segment, a high overseas sales ratio, or a high foreign-shareholder ratio are particularly close fits.
How long does it take?
As a standard, the deliverables come back within 10 business days of kick-off. Where the period is tight (for example, just before earnings), please raise it in advance.
Which materials should we prepare?
The most recent earnings summary (Japanese and English), earnings presentation (Japanese and English), the URL of the English IR site, recent foreign-investor meeting scripts (if any), and the English integrated report (if any). We can finalise the list at kick-off.
Can you also produce the English IR materials themselves?
This service is the diagnostic. Producing the English IR materials, English disclosure review, earnings-presentation review, meeting support, and in-room interpretation are offered separately. See the services list.
First step

We start by hearing which materials and which meetings are in scope

You don't need to commit before discussing the source materials and timing.

Discuss a diagnostic