Japan’s Showa Denko Unveils its New Investment Plan of USD 3.53 Billion

According to latest updates, Japan’s Showa Denko which is one of the key Graphite electrode (GE) producer has released its new investment plan of 400 million yen (USD 3.53 billion) over the period, including 130 billion yen for organic growth and 150 billion yen for M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) initiatives

The target for total investment is 2.6 times higher than in Showa Denko’s current medium-term business plan. Showa Denko’s business is divided into five key sectors including petrochemicals, electronics, chemical, and inorganic chemical (graphite electrodes).

Under the new plan, Showa Denko will target sales of 3.4 trillion yen in total for three years, representing an increase of 40% over the current plan. The plan also aims to bring in 480 billion yen for operating income, marking the growth of just over 60%, as well as roughly doubling the company’s net income to reach 330 billion yen.

Earmarking 120 billion yen for capital investments, the company will use this to strengthen its competitiveness and make major upgrades to aging facilities. Meanwhile, investments in organic growth will focus on high-purity gases, wafers for next-generation power semiconductors and materials for multilayer ceramic capacitors. R&D expenditure will be increased by around 30% when compared to the current plan, rising to 78 billion yen. Showa Denko plans as part of this to establish a new R&D base near its Yokohama Plant in the spring of 2022.

Talking about the company’s approach to marketing, company’s president and CEO Kohei Morikawa admitted that a focus on product and technical perspectives had meant that not enough attention was being paid to the customer’s viewpoint. Now that Showa Denko has reflected on this, marketing functions – which had been spread between various business divisions and R&D units – will be centralized at the company’s headquarters, he said.

In addition, Morikawa disclosed, Showa Denko plans to enhance efforts aimed at grasping customer needs. Work toward this will begin in the company’s automotive business before gradually being rolled out to other realms.

source: SteelMint

Showa Denko Graphite electrode Mergers & Acquisitions