[Company analysis] The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (古河電気工業)

「Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (古河電気工業)」is a major manufacturer of electrical and electronic equipment in Japan. Also this company is famous for their non-ferrous metal business including optical fibers, electric wires, and wiring. It is one of the three major electric wire manufacturing companies in Japan, 「Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.(住友電気工業)」,「Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.(古河電気工業)」and「Fujikura Ltd.(フジクラ)」. As of now, they have 143 subsidiaries around the world and 41 subsidiaries in Japan. The number of consolidated employees is approximately 52,215.

 

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	The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
Company name (Japanese)	古河電気工業
Date of establishment	1884
Headquarters location	〒100-8322 東京都千代田区丸の内2丁目2番3号
Capital	69,395
Consolidated sales	991,590
Consolidated operating profit	40,842
Consolidated total assets	818,021
Consolidated capital	279,911
Capital adequacy ratio	34.2%
Consolidated number of employees	52,215

 

 

 

2. Summary and Features

 
「Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.」 handles products for stable transportation of electric power, such as power cables and optical fibers. It started in 1884 with the name of「Yokohama Electric Cable Manufacturing Company(横浜電線製造)」, which was founded in Yokohama as a member of「Furukawa Zaibatsu」for copper smelting and wire manufacturing.

In 1917, they formed a capital and technical tie-up with「Siemens」and established「Fuji Electric(富士電機)」. And from this company, other famous Japanes companies such as「Fujitsu Ltd.(富士通)」and「FANUC Corporation(ファナック)」were founded by the separation and independence. In 1939, they started aluminum refining business in cooperation with「Tokyo Electric Light Company(東京電燈)」, which led to the establishment of「Nippon Light Metal Co., Ltd.(日本軽金属)」. Besides, the battery division of「Furukawa Electric」 was separated and「Furukawa Battery(古河電池)」was established on 1950.。 

In 1974, they succeeded in developing and producing an optical fiber cable for the first time in the world. Recently,「Furukawa Electric」has also developed the world's highest voltage superconducting wire. They have been continuing the electric wire business since its founding and they expand it to the field of information and communication, energy infrastructure, electronic parts, automobile parts, and metal materials. Even now,「Furukawa Electric」supports the experiment of "CERN" that uses superconducting magnets and researches Higgs particles.

In the world electric wire market, this company has 5th largest market share. In the optical fiber industry, they have the third largest sales in the world after「Corning」and「Prysmian」. They have the world's top share in steering roll connectors(SRC) for automobile airbags, lithium-ion battery materials, and aluminum substrates for hard disks. In the ETC antenna market, this comany has top market share in Japan.

The strength of「Furukawa Electric」is the aboved world top class technology in their products. For example, "superconducting cables with zero electrical resistance", "underground power transmission cables for large-scale solar power plants", "micro hydropower generators that can be installed in rivers with very low height differences", and "undersea high-voltage cables used for offshore wind power generation facilities". In other words, they have a variety of products related to solar power, hydropower, and wind power that have a lot of potential for growth.

 

 

 

3. Major Business

 

■ Information and communication infrastructure related products
They handle optical fiber cables, network equipment, and related parts.

■ Power infrastructure related products
This company manufactures power cables and wiring parts.

■ Automotive parts

■ Electronic parts

■ Metal material

■ Life science

 

 

 

4. Financial information

 

※Unit is JPY million

		2016	2017	2018
Consolidated sales		843,344	967,333	991,590
Consolidated operating profit		38,623	44,804	40,842
Consolidated total assets		750,126	815,822	818,021
Consolidated net assets		237,051	272,071	279,911
Breakdown of sales	Infrastruction related business	257,413	284,113	282,250
	Automobile electronics business	428,298	502,521	536,675
	Fuctional product busines	124,393	144,198	140,748
	Sevice and development	33,238	36,501	31,916