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Maruha Nichiro’s New Four-Year Business Plan Centers Around Trust Recovery, New Strategies
June 3, 2014
Maruha Nichiro Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo under leadership of President Shigeru Ito, announced its four-year medium-term business plan, Challenge Toward 2017, on May 30 with the current fiscal year as the kickoff year. Moving toward a 10-year anniversary of the Maruha and Nichiro merger in 2017, the concept of “challenge to send tasty happiness to as many people as possible” was designated as the vision of the business plan.
The goals to be reached at the final year of 2017 are sales of JPY 900 billion (€6.4 billion/$8.8 billion), which was JPY 851.7 billion in FY March 2014; operating profit of JPY 20 billion (€143 million/$195 million), JPY 10.6 billion in FY2014; and ordinary earnings of JPY 19 billion (€136 million/$185 million), JPY 14 billion in FY2014. The overseas corporate internal saving ratio (on an ordinary income basis) will be raised from 20.1 percent to 25 percent. Likewise, the capital adequacy ratio will be changed to 20 percent from 16.2 percent. The current interest-bearing debt of JPY 290.4 billion (€2.07 billion/$2.83 billion) will be contracted to JPY 275 billion (€1.96 billion/$2.68 billion).
Against a backdrop of an incident where agricultural chemical laced products were manufactured by one of the subsidiaries, Aqli Foods Corporation, at its Gunma Plant late last year, the first two years of the business plan will be dedicated as “a recovery period of social trust and business foundation,” and the remaining two years, the Company said, will be “a phase where we promote strategic measures, which include new businesses, and strive to improve sales and profits, harnessing our Group’s comprehensive strength.”
Capital Investment of JPY 75 billion and More Attention to Overseas Operations
Reconstructing a quality guarantee system including food safety management within the Group, and a crisis management system, and strengthening group governance will be part of the action plan to regain trust. The trust recovery strategies also cover pursuing sustainable growth based on the culmination of a merged group company, which is a holding company system.” Capital of JPY 75 billion (€536 million/$731 million) will be invested for loans and investments during the four-year plan.
In addition, with the prediction of growing consumption of seafood and processed foods worldwide, business growth on a global scale is one of the crucial strategies to materialize sustainable business development. To this end, more capital investment will be performed, targeting overseas opportunities and collecting resultant proceeds.
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