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Kobe-based wholesale food distributor supplying supermarkets, restaurants and food manufacturers across Japan.
Kobe-based wholesale food distributor supplying supermarkets, restaurants and food manufacturers across Japan.
Buys from food makers and delivers to supermarkets and restaurants, earning a thin margin per item plus rebates from manufacturers, so logistics scale across dry, chilled and frozen goods and efficient delivery matter more than price.
In one line: A smaller, Japan-focused Sysco/US Foods.
Moat: none (scale, distribution). Distribution scale in a low-margin, competitive wholesale food market.
Headquarters: Kobe, Japan · Founded: 1947 · Employees: 4,099
Size Kato Sangyo (9869.T) is a Japan Consumer Staples company (Food Distributors) with a market value of $1.35B, the 609th largest of 1,379 Japan companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ¥6,770 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 10.1%, against -13.3% for the median peer and +1.8% for the Japan market (cap-weighted) — 6th highest of 19 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 2.3% over the last twelve months (peer median +2.7%); the operating margin is 1.5% (peer median 2.3%).
Valuation It trades at 0.1× enterprise value to sales against a peer median of 0.9× (cheapest of 18).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -10% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +2%, so the hurdle is -11 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 4.8 points above its cost of capital (5.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 12 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥1.24T | ¥1.21T | ¥1.17T | ¥1.10T | ¥1.04T |
| Revenue growth | — | +4% | +6% | +6% | — |
| Gross profit | ¥90.4B | ¥84.4B | ¥79.9B | ¥74.8B | ¥68.6B |
| EBITDA | ¥25.2B | ¥24.4B | ¥22.8B | ¥21.7B | ¥18.3B |
| Net income | ¥16.5B | ¥13.2B | ¥14.5B | ¥12.0B | ¥11.3B |
| Free cash flow | ¥14.9B | -¥7.87B | ¥18.8B | ¥8.80B | ¥11.4B |
| Capital expenditure | ¥6.58B | ¥15.2B | ¥8.73B | ¥8.37B | ¥4.99B |
| Total debt | ¥14.4B | ¥13.4B | ¥14.6B | ¥15.3B | ¥14.8B |
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 | EV / Sales | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kato Sangyo 9869.T | $1.35B | +10% | +2% | 1% | 0.1× | -9.5% |
| Kanematsu 8020.T | $2.35B | +2% | +4% | 5% | 0.5× | -2.4% |
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 | 9869.T | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +1.8% | +2.0% | 10th highest of 19 |
| 6-month return | +10.1% | -13.3% | 6th highest of 19 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -5.3% | -20.1% | highest of 19 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +2.3% | +2.7% | 9th lowest of 19 |
| Operating margin | 1.5% | 2.3% | 8th lowest of 19 |
| EV / Sales | 0.1× | 0.9× | cheapest of 18 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -9.5% | 8.2% | least demanding of 13 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +1.9% | +3.9% | 5th lowest of 13 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -11.4 pp | +0.3 pp | 3rd least demanding of 13 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +4.8 pp | -1.7 pp | highest of 18 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -2.4× | 2.7× | 2nd least indebted of 14 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | EV / Sales | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kato Sangyo 9869.T | Japan | $1.35B | +10% | +2% | 1% | 0.1× | -9.5% | +1.9% |
| Dole DOLE | United States | $1.31B | -7% | +8% | 2% | 0.3× | 4.1% | +16.1% |
| Jiangxi Huangshanghuang Group Food 002695.SZ | China | $880M | -14% | +17% | 7% | 2.6× | 14.7% | -7.1% |
| Young & Co.'s Brewery, P.L.C YNGA.L | United Kingdom | $822M | +52% | +5% | 14% | 1.8× | 9.0% | +42.0% |
| Agencia Comercial Spirits AGCC | United States | $804M | -24% | +145% | 13% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Maple Leaf Foods MFI.TO | Canada | $2.39B | -13% | -17% | 8% | 1.1× | 2.4% | -1.9% |
| Krispy Kreme DNUT | United States | $723M | +16% | -5% | 0% | 1.3× | 23.2% | +6.3% |
| Metcash MTS.AX | Australia | $2.55B | +12% | 0% | 3% | 0.3× | 0.9% | +3.9% |
| Shanghai Bright Meat 600073.SS | China | $702M | -15% | +3% | -3% | 0.2× | 37.0% | -1.5% |
| United Natural Foods UNFI | United States | $2.73B | -13% | -2% | 1% | 0.2× | 6.5% | +2.9% |
| COFCO Joycome Foods 1610.HK | Hong Kong | $669M | -18% | -8% | -10% | 0.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Premium Brands PBH.TO | Canada | $2.86B | -13% | +20% | 5% | 0.9× | 7.4% | +12.9% |
| S Foods 2292.T | Japan | $537M | -6% | +8% | 2% | 0.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Atria ATRAV.HE | Finland | $509M | +12% | +6% | 4% | 0.4× | -5.2% | +3.8% |
| Chefs' Warehouse CHEF | United States | $4.51B | +27% | +12% | 4% | 1.2× | 22.6% | +30.1% |
| Guangdong Guanghong 000529.SZ | China | $404M | -19% | -12% | -12% | 2.0× | n/a | n/a |
| MARR MARR.MI | Italy | $389M | -38% | +3% | 2% | 0.3× | n/a | n/a |
| ShandongLongda Meishi 002726.SZ | China | $382M | -34% | -25% | -9% | 0.5× | 23.5% | -16.1% |
| Shandong Delisi Food 002330.SZ | China | $362M | -20% | -10% | -2% | 0.9× | n/a | n/a |