[Company analysis] Tosoh Corporation (東ソー)

「Tosoh Corporation (東ソー)」is a general chemical company headquartered in Tokyo, founded in 1935. In the chemical field, This company focus on the "Chlor Alkali" business and petrochemicals. It has many production and sales bases not only in Japan but also in Asia, Europe and the United States, and is said to have more than about 130. The number of consolidated employees is about 12,037.

 

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	Tosoh Corporation
Company name (Japanese)	東ソー
Date of establishment	February 11, 1935
Headquarters location	〒105-8623 東京都港区芝三丁目8番2号
Capital	55,200
Consolidated sales	861,456
Consolidated operating profit	105,739
Consolidated total assets	878,194
Consolidated capital	579,501
Capital adequacy ratio	66.0%
Consolidated number of employees	12,955

 

 

 

2. Summary and Features

 
「Tosoh Corporation」 was founded in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1935. At the time of its founding, many Japanese companies relied on imports of caustic soda, which is used in various industries such as pulp, chemical fiber, and aluminum. On that time, This company succeeded in mass-producing caustic soda domestically. As soon as the Japanese economy entered a period of high growth, they also entered the petrochemical industry with a focus on products such as vinyl chloride.

From that point on, the product lineup has been steadily expanding. So current「Tosoh Corporation」has various petrochemical products (olefin, polyethylene, synthetic rubber) and functional products (electrolytic manganese dioxide, (Zirconia ceramics, quartz glass). Toyo's Nanyo factory in Yamaguchi Prefecture has the largest single plant area in Japan(300㎡) and a private power generation facility(825,000 kW).

The strength of「Tosoh Corporation」lies in the successful application of the inorganic chemical technology accumulated in the existing caustic soda business. And utilizing it to the development of related derivatives, they achieved expansion of their business. However, this can also be pointed out as a weakness. Becuase, compare with other general chemical companies, there is a risk that the sales ratio of general-purpose chemical products is too high.

Of course, the Tosoh is also aware of this risk. So they are trying to enter to the engineering field in addition to petrochemicals. Especially,「Tosoh Corporation」is focusing on the engineering business of the water resources treatment business, and they are actively developing business not only in Japan but also in China and Southeast Asia.

 

 

 

3. Major Business

 

■ Chlor-alkali business
They develop chemicals and urethane / cement related products, which are the starting points of Tosoh's business and technology development.

■ Petrochemical business
In the olefins field, 「Tosoh Corporation」also handle polymer products that boast the top market share in Japan.

■ Functional products business
In addition to organic chemical products with the No. 1 production capacity in Asia, this company also support bioscience and high-performance materials.

 

■ Engineering business

 

 

 

4. Financial information

 

※Unit is JPY million

		2016	2017	2018
Consolidated sales		743,028	822,857	861,456
Consolidated operating profit		111,216	130,580	105,739
Consolidated total assets		782,623	448,335	878,194
Consolidated net assets		852,803	528,066	579,501
Breakdown of sales	Petrochemical business	161,747	174,768	183,926
	Chlor-alkali business	279,684	335,023	337,377
	Functional products business	175,880	187,116	197,422
	Engineering business	86,566	84,824	98,918
	Others	39,149	41,124	43,811