JCR has assigned a BBB rating to the bonds to be issued shortly by the issuer under the shelf registration.

Issuer: Nagatanien Co., Ltd. (2899)
Issue Amount(bn) Issue Date Due Date Coupon Rating
bonds no.1 Y7 Aug. 4, 2010 Aug. 2, 2013 0.980% BBB
Covenants: Negative Pledge
Bond Administrator: No
Shelf Registration:
Maximum: Y10 billion
Valid: two years effective from July 22, 2010

<Rationale>
(1) Nagatanien Co., Ltd. is the largest manufacturer of Japanese-style instant foods. It enjoys a strong business base, having large market shares and strong brand power in ochazuke, instant miso soup & other Japanese-style soup, chahan no moto (fried rice mix), etc. Although market size of each of these markets is not big, the Company has been expanding business in those markets steadily by providing highly value-added products, which are characterized by its distinctiveness.

(2) The Company is expected to record an increase in both revenue and profit for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011 for the 4th time in a row, with its net sales and operating income increasing 3.1% and 16.6% year-on-year to 68.2 billion yen and 2.75 billion yen, respectively. It has been continuing its investments intensively in the food business in a situation where a trend of eating at home and return to a rice diet has been increasingly strong. These investments have led to an expansion in sales of the main products and an expansion in new product categories. JCR will pay attention to the future developments as to whether the Company can sustain the sales growth and can improve the profit margin by expanding the business expansion.

(3) The Company's financial structure is satisfactory as indicated by the ratio of equity capital to total assets, which was 44.9% at the end of March 2010. The funds to be raised by the bond issuance are to be appropriated primarily for repayment of the long-term borrowings. Therefore, the issuance will not have any significant impact on the financial structure.