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Japanese consumer-products maker of personal care (Biore), household cleaning (Attack), diapers (Merries) and specialty chemicals.
Japanese consumer-products maker of personal care (Biore), household cleaning (Attack), diapers (Merries) and specialty chemicals.
Sells mostly through drugstores and supermarkets, so shelf space and promotions matter, with a separate chemicals division selling to industrial customers. Japan is still its largest market. Overseas it has grown by acquisition, including Jergens in 2005 and premium hair brands such as John Frieda and Oribe.
In one line: Japan's Procter & Gamble.
Moat: narrow (brand, scale, distribution). Strong household brands and Japan retail distribution, but global consumer staples giants compete hard on price/innovation.
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan · Founded: 1887 · Employees: 31,514
Size Kao (4452.T) is a Japan Consumer Staples company (Household/Personal Care) with a market value of $21.8B, the 78th largest of 1,379 Japan companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ¥3,800 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 33.5%, against +15.2% for the median peer and +1.8% for the Japan market (cap-weighted) — 4th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 6.2% over the last twelve months (peer median +5.4%); the operating margin is 10.2% (peer median 14.6%).
Valuation It trades at 24.4× forward earnings against a peer median of 26.0× (10th cheapest of 21).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 2% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +4%, so the hurdle is -3 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 6.3 points above its cost of capital (5.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 4 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥1.75T | ¥1.69T | ¥1.63T | ¥1.53T | ¥1.55T |
| Revenue growth | — | +4% | +6% | -1% | — |
| Gross profit | ¥675B | ¥641B | ¥610B | ¥533B | ¥522B |
| EBITDA | ¥266B | ¥249B | ¥229B | ¥183B | ¥197B |
| Net income | ¥136B | ¥120B | ¥108B | ¥43.9B | ¥86.0B |
| Free cash flow | ¥151B | ¥138B | ¥144B | ¥148B | ¥65.4B |
| Capital expenditure | ¥69.5B | ¥70.8B | ¥67.5B | ¥66.4B | ¥77.2B |
| Total debt | ¥237B | ¥243B | ¥245B | ¥261B | ¥263B |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kao 4452.T | $21.8B | +33% | +6% | 10% | 24.4× | 1.5% |
| Procter & Gamble PG | $383B | +13% | +4% | 24% | 23.4× | -0.3% |
| Unilever ULVR.L | $143B | +15% | -20% | 20% | 18.4× | 8.0% |
| Unicharm 8113.T | $12.1B | +15% | 0% | 12% | 24.5× | -2.0% |
| Shiseido 4911.T | $9.52B | +20% | +5% | 4% | 32.8× | 17.5% |
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 | 4452.T | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +9.1% | +10.4% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +33.5% | +15.2% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -5.1% | -7.9% | 8th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +6.2% | +5.4% | 10th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 10.2% | 14.6% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 24.4× | 26.0× | 10th cheapest of 21 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 1.5% | 5.5% | 7th least demanding of 21 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +4.1% | +4.6% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -2.6 pp | +4.6 pp | 8th least demanding of 21 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +6.3 pp | +6.1 pp | 11th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 12.7× | 18.7× | 6th cheapest of 19 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -0.3× | 1.5× | 6th least indebted of 19 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kao 4452.T | Japan | $21.8B | +33% | +6% | 10% | 24.4× | 1.5% | +4.1% |
| Beiersdorf BEI.DE | Germany | $20.4B | +21% | -2% | 12% | 22.6× | -2.3% | +7.0% |
| Essity ESSITY-A.ST | Sweden | $19.9B | +17% | -2% | 12% | 15.4× | -3.3% | +2.6% |
| Church & Dwight CHD | United States | $25.8B | +17% | +2% | 18% | 27.4× | 6.9% | +4.8% |
| DSM-Firmenich DSFIR.AS | Netherlands | $29.5B | +62% | -45% | 8% | 30.1× | 24.3% | +2.5% |
| Puig Brands PUIG.MC | Spain | $12.5B | +16% | +4% | 16% | 17.9× | -3.0% | +11.7% |
| Marico MARICO.NS | India | $12.3B | +8% | +20% | 16% | 51.8× | 28.0% | +11.1% |
| Unicharm 8113.T | Japan | $12.1B | +15% | 0% | 12% | 24.5× | -2.0% | +5.4% |
| Clorox CLX | United States | $12.1B | +8% | +6% | 14% | 17.4× | 2.7% | -1.8% |
| Estée Lauder Companies (The) EL | United States | $39.9B | +28% | +6% | 13% | 31.1× | 16.8% | -1.5% |
| Givaudan GIVN.SW | Switzerland | $45.8B | +47% | -2% | 18% | 34.0× | 10.6% | +3.4% |
| Reckitt Benckiser RKT.L | United Kingdom | $47.6B | +22% | -2% | 28% | 16.4× | 1.6% | +0.3% |
| Hindustan Unilever HINDUNILVR.NS | India | $49.6B | -12% | +6% | 21% | 41.5× | 27.2% | +6.5% |
| Shiseido 4911.T | Japan | $9.52B | +20% | +5% | 4% | 32.8× | 17.5% | +1.0% |
| Godrej Consumer Products GODREJCP.NS | India | $9.19B | -18% | +12% | 18% | 37.0× | 31.7% | +6.6% |
| Kimberly-Clark KMB | United States | $66.5B | +12% | -12% | 14% | 15.3× | 4.1% | -3.0% |
| Dabur India DABUR.NS | India | $7.13B | -19% | +9% | 15% | 32.1× | 27.3% | +6.6% |
| APR 278470.KS | South Korea | $7.04B | -40% | +119% | 23% | 17.4× | -1.4% | +47.3% |
| e.l.f. Beauty ELF | United States | $6.85B | +91% | +31% | 12% | 35.4× | 27.9% | +38.8% |
| Colgate-Palmolive CL | United States | $76.8B | +10% | +6% | 22% | 24.2× | -5.5% | +4.4% |
| Amorepacific 090430.KS | South Korea | $6.03B | -1% | +10% | 9% | 23.8× | 4.0% | -0.8% |