Selling the medical, seniors and agriculture businesses, and concentrating on manufacturing (2020)

Who took on the role of seller

Selling a business you bought is hard for the buyer to do. It amounts to denying your own acquisition decision, and inside the company it can look like stripping away a predecessor’s record. At Noritsu Koki that role was taken on by Iwakiri Takayoshi, who came from outside in 2018. The arrangement in which Nishimoto Hirotsugu remained as chairman while stepping away from execution appears to have worked as a mechanism by which the founding family kept hold of direction while keeping its distance from individual divestment decisions.

In that the sale proceeds were turned around into acquisitions of manufacturers, these two years resemble a currency exchange more than a retreat. The businesses gathered in medicine and seniors changed form into DJ equipment, earphones and pen tips. Halmek, which became independent through an MBO in August 2020, has continued to publish its magazine for older women since. What remained on the Noritsu Koki side was revenue of ¥119.2bn and a 17.4% operating margin — figures above those of the peak years of photo processing equipment.