YKK, A Zipper Giant, Was Hit By The Epidemic, And Its Sales And Profits Declined In The Last Fiscal Year

Recently, YKK Corporation, a Japanese high-end zipper manufacturer, announced its annual financial report up to March 2020. Affected by the epidemic, sales and operating profit of core zipper business both declined.

For the fiscal year ended March 2020, the core operating data of YKK group are as follows:

Sales fell 4.5% year-on-year to 732.85 billion yen (about 48 billion yuan)

Operating profit fell 51.1% to 42.46 billion yen

Net profit fell 93.9% year-on-year to 23.63 billion yen

Among them, the sales volume of zipper Department decreased by 9.2% to 302.1 billion yen, and the operating profit decreased by 32.5% to 36.2 billion yen. YKK group pointed out that although the operating profit of zipper division was higher than the expected 32.4 billion yen, the operating profit decreased by 40 billion yen compared with the previous financial year, which was the first situation since the fiscal year ending March 2013.

YKK group pointed out that there are two main reasons for the downturn of zipper business: one is the weak performance of global clothing market from April to December 2019; the other is the impact of epidemic situation from January to March 2020.

Even in YKK's jeans zipper market, which has a high market share, and the European high-end grocery zipper market, the group has encountered great challenges in all categories.

Yuming otaku, President of YKK, a subsidiary of YKK, pointed out in March that the reasons for the group's performance decline include: "Sino US trade friction, China's economic growth slowdown, inventory backlog caused by two consecutive warm winters, and the global clothing market downturn," he added, adding that the emergence of the new epidemic has overshadowed the prospects of the already sluggish global clothing market Shadows.

Meanwhile, due to the outbreak, YKK group cancelled its current fiscal year forecast in March this year.

Founded in 1934, its predecessor was the zipper processing and sales company founded by Tadao Yoshida in Japan bridge, Tokyo. In 1945, it was renamed Yoshida Industry Co., Ltd., and the YKK trademark was established the following year.

In 1959, YKK went out of Japan and set up a subsidiary in New Zealand to produce and sell zippers. In 1987 and 1988, he opened up the European and American markets.

Up to now, YKK group has 113 subsidiaries and 3 shareholding companies, which are mainly engaged in the production and sales of zippers and building materials, as well as the sales of related metals, such as aluminum.

In March, Mr. Yoshida, the founder's son of YKK's founding family, resigned from the board of directors and was transferred to the group's consultant post after the board meeting in June. Yoshida graduated from the Law School of Keio University in Japan and received an MBA from the Business School of Northwestern University in the United States. He joined YKK in 1972, joined the board of directors in 1978, and became the president of the group in 1993.

In June 2018, Tadao Yoshida resigned as chairman of the board of directors of YKK, and was replaced by Mr. Yamato, who was hired from outside.

Since its establishment, YKK has not been listed and is still a private company. At present, the largest shareholder of the group is "YKK Hengyou Association", which is composed of its employees, with a shareholding of 20.82%.