Japan's cash-rich companies ready to spend more on M&A, not wages - Reuters poll

A Reuters poll showed on Monday, the Japanese firms prefer to spend their cash more on overseas acquisitions than to lift wages.

Key Findings:

“Only 5 percent said they were already deploying their cash for M&A, and just 3 percent said they were already tapping their reserves for wage hikes.

One-third of companies plan to spend reserves on domestic capital investment while 13 percent aim to invest overseas. Another 20 percent said they would hold onto their cash.

The survey, conducted Oct. 26 to Nov. 7 for Reuters by Nikkei Research, polled 547 big and mid-sized firms, which replied on condition of anonymity. About 245 companies answered the questions on internal reserves.”