Investing in Japan: Menicon, a leading Japanese contact lens manufacturer, aims overseas market expansion

Menicon secured profit growth amid COVID-19 disruptions

Menicon Co., Ltd. is a leading contact lens manufacturer in Japan founded in 1951, headquartered in Nagoya. It consistently develops, manufactures and sells contact lenses and related products in-house. To date, Menicon has developed various types of contact lenses such as hard lenses, soft lenses, disposables (disposable), lenses for astigmatism and bifocal lenses. It has the No. 1 market share for hard lenses and the No. 2 market for soft lenses in Japan. 

As for the recent consolidated financial results, Menicon announced that net income for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 was 4 billion yen, up 14% from the previous year. While the sales and profits of most Japanese companies fell sharply due to the spread of new coronavirus infections, Menicon increased its sales by 4.5% from the previous year to 84.5 billion yen, a record high for the fifth consecutive year since listing of its stock. On the other hand, the earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2021 was not disclosed because the impact of the new coronavirus could not be read.

Menicon steps further aiming global market

Menicon has recently started to sell orthokeratology contact lens in China which correct myopia while these are worn at nights. In China, it is said that there are 80 million people in their teens who suffer from myopia. There are many families with an only child in China. Many of those parents are keen to maintain their children's eyesight providing Menicon with opportunities to expand its businesses. 

In domestic business development, the company completed its largest contact lens factory in Gifu Prefecture in 2020 to cater for the growing market in daily disposable contact lenses. The factory was originally established in 2015 as a production base for “Miru 1day UpSide”, a daily disposable contact lens made of a high oxygen permeable material called silicone hydrogel. 

Menicon expanded the factory’s floor space by adding second and third floors at this time. New production lines were put into operation gradually from June 2020 and the annual production at the plant will be increased to more than 500 million pieces. The lenses produced at this factory will be exported to Europe as well as sold in Japan. These will also be exported to China as soon as the company gets approval from the authority. 

In addition, Menicon uses its technology and experience of providing the first intraocular lens for animals in Japan 1997 to create a business on animal medical care now known as Meni-one Co., Ltd., its subsidiary company. In October, Meni-one started a new service "Fundus AI". In this service, AI identifies the suspected illness from the dog eye image and advises veterinarians. 

Using AI technology, Menicon accumulated a large amount of eye image data collected in the contact lens development for dogs. Through this service, Menicon expects its intraocular lens sales for treating dogs with cataract to reach 30 million yen annually in three years. Menicon will expand further its business both in Japan and overseas by those strategies.