Asics Corp. (TYO:7936) saw net sales fall 3.3 percent year-on-year to 203.74 billion yen ($1.87 billion) in its first-half results, running from January 1 to June 30, 2017. Despite a strong showing in the running shoes segment, net sales within Japan decreased 3.4 percent year-on-year to 54.26 billion yen, owing to sluggish performance by sportswear. Sales of running shoes and...
Nichirin Co. Ltd. (TYO:5184), a large manufacturer of automotive rubber parts, recently released its business results for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending December 2017. The company posted sales of 29.01 billion yen ($265.64 million), up 15.9 percent over the same period last year; an operating profit of 4.39 billion yen, up 22.5 percent; and an ordinary profit...
Fujikura Rubber Ltd. (TYO:5121) reached the decision on Aug. 10 to acquire land for constructing a new factory in Zhejiang Province, China. To be used for consolidated subsidiary Anji Fujikura Rubber Ltd. The project will cost an estimated 132 million yen ($1.2 million). Anji Fujikura Rubber constructed and began operating its second plant in December 2016. Since the Chinese market’s...
Bando Chemical Industries Ltd. (TYO:5195) has been working to bolster existing businesses while creating new ones as part of Breakthroughs for the Future, the company’s medium- to long-term business plan. The plan was embarked upon in fiscal 2013, and its first stage – or “BF-1” – concludes this year. According to Bando Chemical’s president, Mitsutaka Yoshii, the company has made...
Molten Corp. is involved in a wide array of businesses. They include sports equipment, such as competition grade balls for basketball, volleyball and soccer, as well as auto parts, medical equipment, assistive technology, hydrophilic supplies and industrial-grade materials. One entity within the company group is Molten Polymix KK. This firm handles all of Molten’s domestic refining operations for rubber products....
Osaka-based manufacturer Kyowa Ltd. is this year celebrating the 100-year anniversary of its transparent rubber band, developed by company founder Hirozo Nishijima. After formulating the bands in 1917, Nishijima went on to start Kyowa in 1923, aiming to manufacture and sell bicycle tire tubes and rubber bands. In early 20th-century Japan, banknotes were often held together using pieces of bicycle...
