Native name ロート製薬株式会社 Traded as TYO: 4527
OSE: 4527 Headquarters Japan Founded 15 September 1949 | Type kabushiki gaisha Founder Yasutami Yamada Number of employees 5,518 | |
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Industry Fast-moving consumer goods and pharmaceutical industry Key people Kunio Yamada (chair and CEO, great-grandson of the founder)
Toshiaki Yoshino (president and COO) Stock price 4527 (TYO) JP¥ 2,188 +21.00 (+0.97%)21 Mar, 3:00 PM GMT+9 - Disclaimer CEO Kunio Yamada (9 Jun 2009–) Subsidiaries Mentholatum, AJ North(Proprietary) Limited Profiles | ||
Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (ロート製薬株式会社, Rōto Seiyaku Kabushiki-gaisha) is a multinational fast-moving consumer goods and OTC pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in Ikuno-ku, Osaka, Japan, with a presence in North America, Europe and Asia. The company is listed on the stock exchange having posted steady increases in revenues from ¥95,619 million in 2006 to ¥120,292 million in 2011. Skin Care contributes to 61.3% of the revenues while Eye Care contributes to 21% of their sales.
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Market Segments
Rohto is active in the three consumer segments of:
International presence
In 1974, Rohto set its eyes on The Mentholatum Company. In August 1975, it acquired the trademark rights to Mentholatum and began to sell the Mentholatum Ointment and Mentholatum Medicated Lip Stick, which proved to be a financial success as the company's revenue skyrocketed to ¥2.64 billion by April 1981. Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. continued to acquire the management rights to The Mentholatum Company Inc in June 1988, thus completing the merge.
Rohto group has established operations in 15 major markets, with marketing/distribution agreements in more than 150 countries globally. They have two production plants in Japan and 6 production plants across US, UK, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
Rohto entered the Vietnam market in 1997 and set up their manufacturing base to cater to the Asia Pacific market. In mid-2010, Rohto entered the India market and started operations in the lipcare and skin care segment, with their internationally popular brands, Lipice and Oxy. Simultaneously they also entered the Bangladesh market.
With a strong presence across international markets, the company has a manpower strength of close to 5000 employees.
History
Yasutami Yamada (山田 安民, Yamada Yasutami) founded "Shintendo, Yasutami Yamada Pharmaceutical Company (信天堂山田安民薬房)", the predecessor of Rohto, in Shimizucho, Higashi-ku (present: Shinsaibashi, Chuo-ku), Osaka on February 22, 1899. Yamada sold "Rohto Eyedrops" in 1909. "Rohto" was named after August von Rothmund, a German ophthalmologist who was a professor for Toyotaro Inoue (井上 豊太郎, Inoue Toyotarō), a Japanese ophthalmologist.