Summary of Research Findings

Out of 103 companies in food industry in this research (44 manufacturers, 6 wholesalers, and 53 retailers), 57 companies have increased operating margin (ratio of operating income to sales) for FY2019 compared to FY2018. Break down of the 57 are 28 food manufacturers, 4 food wholesalers, and 25 food related retailers. 
Viewing at an average value of operating margins in FY2019, food manufacturers earned 4.7% by average among 44 companies (4.8% in FY2018), and food related retailers 3.1% by average among 53 companies (2.9% in FY2018). Nonetheless, of the 6 wholesalers targeted in this survey, average operating margin remained at the same level compared to the previous fiscal year, 0.8% (0.8% in FY2018). 
Distribution of operating margins for FY2019 among the 103 companies in food industry shows that companies with operating margin below 2% make up the majority, 32% (33 companies out of 103 companies), followed by greater than 2% to less than 4% accounting for 28.2% (29 companies out of 103 companies), and greater than 4% to less than 6%, 25.2% (26 companies out of 103 companies). Companies in food industry with operating margin less than 6% account for 85.4% (88 companies out of 103 companies), indicating that operating margins of most of the target companies for this research was below 6%. 

Noteworthy Topics

As for connection between R&D expenses to sales among 40 listed companies of food makers that disclosed R&D expenditures, total amount of sales among 40 food manufacturers attained 100.2% year-on-year with 21,575,685 million yen for FY2019, compared to 21,541,880 million yen in FY2018. R&D expenditure of the 40 companies totaled 243,583 million yen for FY2019, reaching 102.6% compared to 237,495 million yen in FY2018. Meanwhile, an average ratio of R&D expenses to sales among the 40 companies was 0.9% for 2019 and 1.0% for FY2018, meaning it stayed at approximately the same level year on year.

Research Outline