www.kansai.com

2023 Coatings Sales: Approx. $3.71 billion USD (￥562,277 million) for fiscal year ending 3/31/24

Established in 1918, Kansai Paint Co. Ltd. is one of the largest coatings manufacturers in Japan and Africa. The company also holds leading market positions in China, India, and Southeast Asia, and has operations in Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. The company supports customers in a range of markets, including automotive, industrial, building, and marine. Kansai Paint specializes in the manufacture and sale of many types of coatings, as well as the design, manufacture, and sale of coating equipment. It employs approximately 15,908 people.

Kansai Paint Co. Ltd.’s core business areas are automotive coatings, industrial coatings, decorative coatings, and marine and protective coatings. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, the company reported net income of ￥562,277 million, up 10.5% compared to the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2023. Operating income for the same time period was ￥51,595 million, up 60.8% compared to the prior-year period.

In Japan, in the automotive coatings sector, the number of automobiles manufactured increased from the previous year, and net sales increased from the previous year. In the industrial coatings, decorative coatings, automotive coatings (for refinishing), and the protective coatings sectors, although market conditions were sluggish, efforts to improve selling prices led to a year-on-year increase in total sales. In the marine sector, sales increased from the previous year due to an increase in the volume of oceangoing ship repairs and the impact of a change in the fiscal year-end of a subsidiary that sells marine paints. Profits increased year on year due to lower prices for some raw materials, as well as efforts to improve selling prices. As a result of those factors, the segment’s net sales were 165,301 million yen (up 8.4% year on year).

In Turkey, the number of automobiles manufactured exceeded the previous year's level, and in other European countries, sales in the mainstay industrial coatings sector were firm. As a result of those factors, the segment’s net sales were 135,902 million yen (up 21.3% year on year).

In China, automobile production volume increased from the previous year, but demand from major customers was sluggish, resulting in a year-on-year decline in net sales. In Thailand and Indonesia, net sales increased from the previous year due to efforts to improve selling prices, despite a decline in automobile production. In Malaysia, automobile production was firm, and net sales increased from the previous year. As a result of those factors, the segment’s net sales were 71,876 million yen (up 5.6% year on year).

In Africa, the economies of South Africa and neighboring countries were slow to recover due to the effects of chronic power shortages and high prices, and demand was sluggish. In East Africa, the company focused on expanding sales in the decorative coatings sector, and efforts to improve selling prices resulted in higher sales than in the previous year, resulting in higher overall sales in Africa compared with the previous year. As a result of those factors, the segment’s net were 43,338 million yen (up 3.6% year on year).

In North America, the number of automobiles manufactured increased from the previous year, and net sales increased from the previous year. As a result of those factors, the segment’s net sales were 9,210 million yen (up 30.7% year on year).

Notes:  In May of 2023, KANSAI HELIOS Coatings GmbH, a European consolidated subsidiary of Kansai Paint Co., Ltd completed its acquisition of the global Railway Coatings business assets from Beckers Group´s company Becker Industrie SAS. KANSAI HELIOS opened its first subsidiary in France, KANSAI HELIOS France SAS, which represents the entire industrial coatings expertise of the KANSAI HELIOS Group and will conduct the railway coating business acquired from Beckers.

In November of 2023, Kansai Paint announced that the company and AkzoNobel terminated the agreement to sell Kansai’s African business. Kansai Paint stated that it will continue to operate its African business and aim to strengthen its competitiveness in the African market, improve customer satisfaction and continue to contribute to the development of the African society.

Source: Annual Report, press releases