[Company analysis] Nisshin Seifun Group Inc. (日清製粉グループ本社)

「Nisshin Seifun Group Inc.(日清製粉グループ本社)」 is the first company in Japan to succeed in mechanically milling flour.「Nisshinbo Holdings Inc.(日清紡ホールディングス)」 is an affiliated company and has mutual investment. Currently, Nisshin Seifun produces about 40% of the wheat consumed in Japan. The number of consolidated employees is about 6,760.

 

1. Company Profile

2. Summary and Features

3. Major Business

4. Financial Information

 

 

 

1. Company Profile

 

※Unit is JPY million, as of 2019

Company name	Nisshin Seifun Group Inc.
Company name (Japanese)	日清製粉グループ本社
Date of establishment	October 1900
Headquarters location	〒101-8441 東京都千代田区神田錦町一丁目25番地
Capital	17,118
Consolidated sales	565,343
Consolidated operating profit	26,916
Consolidated total assets	594,754
Consolidated capital	418,848
Capital adequacy ratio	70.4%
Consolidated number of employees	5,582

 

 

 

2. Summary and Features

 
「Tatebayashi Seifun(館林製粉株式会社)」that was founded by Shoda Teichiro (正田貞一郎) in Gunma Prefecture, is the beginning of 「Nisshin Seifun Group」. At the time of the founding, wheat milling was still produced by a water mill in Japan. Therefore, it was inferior in quality compared to machine-milled imported wheat. ShodaTeichiro was struggle with his research, but eventually succeeded in producing domestic flour of the same quality as imported wheat.

Only seven years after the establishment of 「Tatebayashi Seifun」, They merged with 「Nissin Seifun(日清製粉)」 in Yokohama,  which had better market recognition and was in times of business difficulties. After this merger, 「Tatebayashi Seifun」 had changed their name to「Nissin Seifun」, and expanded the machine flour milling business throughout Japan. After that, They still continued to merge with milling companies all over the country, and by 1913, 「Nissin Seifun」 became one of the largest milling companies in Japan.

When Japanese economy entered the period of rapid growth, 「Nissin Seifun」begun to diversify its business. Leveraging the knowledge and experience gained in the wheat flour industry, in 1960 this company entered the compound feed business, and in 1962 they started the processed food business. For this reason, Business area can be broadly divided into Flour / Food / Others, and all of them fully utilize the unique strength of Nisshin Seifun in wheat flour business.

On a side note, Many people misunderstand that「Nissin Seifun」did development on the first instant noodle, "Chicken Ramen." However, the instant ramen was developed by「Nissin Food Product(日清食品)」 . Their names are quite similar, but they are neither capital nor group companies.

And there is also other case.「Nisshin OilliO Group, Ltd.,(日清オイリオ株式会社)」 a company that produces edible oils in Japan, but there is no connection with this 「Nissin Seifun」or 「Nissin Food Product」. In fact, there are three separate companies in the Japanese food industry: 「Nissin Seifun」,「Nissin Food Product」,「Nisshin OilliO」. So even Japanese people often misunderstand that there is a「Nissin Group」that combines these three companies.

 

 

 

3. Major Business

 

■ Flour milling business
「Nissin Seifun」manufactures food ingredients, mainly flour products, and distributes the produced products to wholesalers mainly through specialized food trading companies.  They have been focusing on strengthening production capacity overseas, such as purchasing the 10th largest milling company in the United States in 2012 and the largest milling company in New Zealand in 2013. Currently, the overseas production ratio of This company is about 50%, and it ranks sixth in the world ranking in terms of production capacity.

■ Food Business
Food business is mainly conducted by its subsidiary, 「Nisshin Foods」. They handle products in all temperature ranges, including refrigerated and frozen foods, including dry foods that can be stored at room temperature, such as flour, dry noodles, and pasta sauce. They are also focusing on expanding our overseas business, and have many overseas production bases in the United States, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries.

■ Other
Other businesses include engineering for pet food, pharmaceutical, and chemical products manufacturers.

 

 

 

4. Financial information

 

※Unit is JPY million

		2016	2017	2018
Consolidated sales		532,040	540,094	565,343
Consolidated operating profit		25,511	28,200	26,916
Consolidated total assets		557,568	593,493	594,754
Consolidated net assets		406,805	413,794	418,848
Breakdown of sales	Flour milling business	250,528	250,758	262,375
	Food Business	255,370	254,406	259,196
	Others	46,429	53,970	63,568
	Adjustment	-20,288	-19,040	-19,796