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World leader in amino acids and MSG seasoning, also makes frozen foods and a near-monopoly chip-packaging film (ABF).
World leader in amino acids and MSG seasoning, also makes frozen foods and a near-monopoly chip-packaging film (ABF).
Sells seasonings and frozen foods to consumers and food makers across Asia, the Americas and Europe, while its electronic-materials unit sells ABF, an insulating film used between layers of the substrates that carry advanced chips, to substrate makers. ABF is a small part of sales but a far larger part of profit.
In one line: A food company with a hidden semiconductor-materials niche.
Moat: wide (IP / patents, process know-how, scale). Near-monopoly in ABF insulation film used in most advanced chip packages, plus century-old amino-acid fermentation know-how.
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan · Founded: 1909 · Employees: 34,787
Size Ajinomoto (2802.T) is a Japan Consumer Staples company (Food: Specialty/Candy) with a market value of $25.3B, the 68th largest of 1,379 Japan companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ¥4,268 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 16.1%, against -1.7% for the median peer and +1.8% for the Japan market (cap-weighted) — 4th lowest of 17 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 6.7% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.7%); the operating margin is 11.4% (peer median 13.9%).
Valuation It trades at 29.4× forward earnings against a peer median of 17.6× (3rd most expensive of 17).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 19% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +8%, so the hurdle is +11 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 0.8 points above its cost of capital (9.2% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 9 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥1.63T | ¥1.58T | ¥1.53T | ¥1.44T | ¥1.36T |
| Revenue growth | — | +3% | +6% | +6% | — |
| Gross profit | ¥623B | ¥570B | ¥523B | ¥486B | ¥447B |
| EBITDA | ¥278B | ¥262B | ¥241B | ¥223B | ¥203B |
| Net income | ¥139B | ¥135B | ¥70.3B | ¥87.1B | ¥94.1B |
| Free cash flow | ¥128B | ¥143B | ¥122B | ¥102B | ¥49.3B |
| Capital expenditure | ¥99.5B | ¥105B | ¥95.1B | ¥72.0B | ¥73.0B |
| Total debt | ¥562B | ¥483B | ¥496B | ¥492B | ¥336B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajinomoto 2802.T | $25.3B | -16% | +7% | 11% | 29.4× | 19.2% |
| Nestle NESN.SW | $266B | +11% | -2% | 16% | 19.0× | 1.3% |
| Unilever ULVR.L | $143B | +15% | -20% | 20% | 18.4× | 8.0% |
| Kikkoman 2801.T | $10.9B | +24% | +9% | 11% | 24.8× | 8.8% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | 2802.T | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -20.6% | +9.1% | lowest of 17 |
| 6-month return | -16.1% | -1.7% | 4th lowest of 17 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -32.7% | -20.6% | lowest of 17 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +6.7% | +6.7% | 8th highest of 17 |
| Operating margin | 11.4% | 13.9% | 9th highest of 17 |
| Forward P/E | 29.4× | 17.6× | 3rd most expensive of 17 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 19.2% | -1.1% | 3rd most demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +8.1% | +8.1% | 8th highest of 16 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +11.1 pp | -8.5 pp | 3rd most demanding of 16 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +0.8 pp | +3.9 pp | 3rd lowest of 17 |
| EV / EBITDA | 16.0× | 11.6× | 4th most expensive of 16 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.3× | 2.1× | 7th least indebted of 16 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajinomoto 2802.T | Japan | $25.3B | -16% | +7% | 11% | 29.4× | 19.2% | +8.1% |
| Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli LISN.SW | Switzerland | $24.6B | -8% | +4% | 16% | 28.2× | 3.4% | +8.1% |
| Foshan Haitian Flavouring and Food 3288.HK | Hong Kong | $29.4B | -24% | +11% | 27% | 18.0× | -4.6% | +4.2% |
| Hershey Company (The) HSY | United States | $35.8B | -3% | +7% | 20% | 19.2× | -5.0% | +7.5% |
| J.M. Smucker Company (The) SJM | United States | $13.9B | +33% | +5% | 19% | 12.9× | -7.1% | +2.5% |
| McCormick & MKC | United States | $13.0B | 0% | +13% | 17% | 15.9× | 3.2% | +4.1% |
| Britannia Industries BRITANNIA.NS | India | $12.1B | -18% | +7% | 17% | 41.7× | 28.9% | +7.8% |
| Tata Consumer Products TATACONSUM.NS | India | $11.4B | -6% | +15% | 11% | 55.5× | 42.8% | +11.8% |
| Kikkoman 2801.T | Japan | $10.9B | +24% | +9% | 11% | 24.8× | 8.8% | +11.2% |
| Orkla ORK.OL | Norway | $10.8B | -6% | 0% | 10% | 15.5× | -1.1% | +8.7% |
| Barry Callebaut BARN.SW | Switzerland | $8.33B | +5% | +9% | 5% | 23.7× | -8.4% | +16.5% |
| Darling Ingredients DAR | United States | $7.92B | -20% | +16% | 9% | 7.3× | 9.0% | +11.4% |
| Mondelez International MDLZ | United States | $83.6B | +8% | +6% | 18% | 19.9× | -2.7% | +7.7% |
| Lamb Weston LW | United States | $7.61B | +31% | +3% | 10% | 16.6× | 4.0% | +12.5% |
| Meiji 2269.T | Japan | $7.35B | +14% | +4% | 8% | 17.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Campbell's CPB | United States | $6.90B | +11% | -5% | 11% | 13.7× | -3.6% | +2.8% |
| Toyo Suisan Kaisha 2875.T | Japan | $6.74B | -4% | +7% | 17% | 14.5× | -5.0% | +9.5% |