President and CEO (Representative Director), Furuno Electric Co., Ltd.
「発注もバンバンきている」船の『頭脳』を売りまくる、謎のトップ企業（古野電気／魚群探知機／安全保障／レーダー／漁業／釣り／FURUNO）
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http://bit.ly/3X5XMzD
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今回は、船の“頭脳”を担う船舶機器を手がける古野電気をデューデリ。世界で初めて魚群探知機の実用化に成功して以来、漁業用、商船用、プレジャーボート用と製品ラインナップを拡充し、海のプロフェッショナルたちを支える存在として、世界のトップを走り続けてきました。
さらに近年、売上を急激に伸ばすとともに、財務体質の改善にも成功。まもなく創業90年を迎える老舗企業・古野電気は、いかにして変革を遂げたのか。そして、王者であり続けるその強さの源とは──。
▼目次
00:00 OP
00:34 世界シェア５割の謎企業
02:15 何で稼いでいる？
07:44 古野電気の武器「浜営業」
11:13 浜営業でどう稼ぐ？
13:24 「稼ぐ力」が急上昇、何をした？
17:24 古野社長になに聞こう
Correction:
17:03 PBRを示す単位が誤って「％」となっていますが、正しくは「倍」です。お詫びして訂正いたします。
#防衛銘柄
#船舶機器
#企業研究
#ビジネス
#東証プライム
#グローバルニッチトップ
About Yukio Furuno
In a May 2025 interview, Furuno Electric President and CEO Yukio Furuno stated that orders are "coming in one after another" and that they will "definitely increase by about three times in the next decade." He made the remarks while discussing the company's position in the defense-related sector. Furuno, who has been with the company for 40 years, also described the company's "hama eigyō" (beach sales) approach, in which sales staff visit fishing ports to exchange information with fishermen rather than directly pitching products, as a key part of its business model.
Transcript (92 segments)
H
Host0:00
I've been digging into things on my own and questioning management. This time, we're looking at a global top company that has been developing fish finders for 80 years, supporting ships around the world. But recently, sales, stock price, and ROE have all been improving. What did they do? And what exactly does this company sell?
So, we'll be doing due diligence with various people and asking questions to the president of Furuno.
Furuno is on half of the world's ships.
We managed to get an interview with the president of Furuno Electric.
C
Co-Panelist0:37
Furuno Electric? I don't know it.
H
Host0:38
You don't know it? It's quite famous among serious anglers and people who go to sea.
C
Co-Panelist0:43
So it's marine-related.
H
Host0:45
Yes. Their most famous product is the fish finder.
C
Co-Panelist0:48
They also make other electronic equipment for ships. They don't build the ships themselves.
H
Host0:53
That's right. If the ship is the body, they make the brain.
C
Co-Panelist0:58
I see. So what's so impressive about that?
H
Host1:01
They have products with the world's top market share. For fishing boats, it's one out of every two boats.
C
Co-Panelist1:08
Half? So if this company didn't exist, the shipping industry wouldn't survive?
H
Host1:20
That's the kind of company it is. You had no idea, right?
C
Co-Panelist1:23
No idea.
H
Host1:28
But recently, sales have been growing tremendously over the past two years. The market is paying a lot of attention to them.
C
Co-Panelist1:35
Really? The stock price has gone way up. It was flat until 2023, then suddenly rose.
H
Host1:41
That's right. I don't think they changed what they do much. They're a global top company with amazing technology, but they're low-key. The question is why they suddenly started growing, how they did it, and also, with Trump's tariffs, it's hard to read the impact on a globally expanding company. I want to ask the president about that.
You said they make the brain of the ship. What exactly do they make?
C
Co-Panelist2:21
Let's organize the basic information.
H
Host2:25
Yes. It's easier to understand by looking at the history. The company was founded in 1938 by the Furuno brothers.
C
Co-Panelist2:35
The eldest son, Kiyota, and the second son, Kiyokata. They weren't twins. They were the top two of four brothers.
H
Host2:42
Originally, they handled all the electrical systems for ships.
C
Co-Panelist2:49
From the start? Yes. But then World War II started, fish catches dropped, and after the war, Japan needed to get protein from fish. At that time, the two brothers succeeded in commercializing the world's first fish finder.
H
Host3:09
That's sudden. They modified military surplus equipment. The navy used sonar, sending sound waves underwater and measuring depth by the return time. When there's a school of fish, bubbles appear, and hitting those bubbles indicates something is there. This was featured in detail on NHK's Project X.
C
Co-Panelist3:31
It was? I'm curious about that.
H
Host3:33
Yes. Starting from ships, they expanded by combining various needs with communications and electronics.
C
Co-Panelist3:44
So from fish finders, they branched out into wireless, radar, and GPS technologies.
H
Host3:56
They developed each of these four technologies. In 1952, when fishing was deregulated, they needed communication, so they moved into wireless. They expanded like that, and in the 1980s, they entered the Korean market.
C
Co-Panelist4:12
Cargo ships?
H
Host4:13
Cargo ships, passenger ships, and pleasure boats. They expanded overseas early, first using Japanese trading companies, then local distributors, and acquiring distributors with poor sales.
C
Co-Panelist4:40
They've been acquiring a lot of companies.
H
Host4:48
Looking at the latest financial results, the marine business totaled 108.7 billion yen, but domestic sales were only 22.8 billion yen, about 20%. Most is overseas, with Europe and Asia being big markets. They build a lot of small ships in China.
C
Co-Panelist5:06
So the marine business is driving overall growth. It's now 126.9 billion yen. So the other 20 billion is from other things?
H
Host5:18
Yes. The marine business is 108.7 billion, but they also have an industrial equipment business and a wireless handheld terminal business. They even make ETC systems.
C
Co-Panelist5:30
They make ETC? So they've moved onto land.
H
Host5:35
They apply the technology from fishing boats, small ships, and pleasure boats to land-based uses.
C
Co-Panelist5:44
Let's get more specific about what they put on ships besides fish finders.
H
Host5:54
There's the fish finder and scanning sonar, which use ultrasonic technology. Then there's the automatic direction finder for measuring current, which uses wireless technology. That's mandatory by law, so it's a stable business. Radar is also essential for seeing other ships in fog. And GPS for accurate positioning, like a car navigation system.
C
Co-Panelist6:35
There's also the government and public sector, including military, coast guard, and self-defense forces. They even use it for aircraft. So it's highly versatile. That makes Furuno Electric a defense-related stock.
H
Host6:53
Are there other companies doing similar things?
C
Co-Panelist6:56
Famous ones include Garmin in the US, Navico in Norway, and Wärtsilä in Finland. Japan Radio was strong but had poor performance and was acquired by Shinpo Holdings in 2017. They couldn't win in the marine market, so they diversified to survive.
H
Host7:36
How did Furuno survive? Maybe their products are great, or they have other structural strengths.
C
Co-Panelist7:45
Let's welcome Takahashi-san for the first time.
T
Takahashi7:47
Nice to meet you. The strength compared to competitors is their beach sales.
H
Host7:54
Beach sales?
T
Takahashi7:57
Yes. Furuno salespeople go directly to the fishing ports and sell. That's their biggest strength.
H
Host8:00
Really? So that's how they sell things? You can't just buy a fish finder on Amazon and install it yourself. It's complicated. So it's not just selling; it's also service and total support.
C
Co-Panelist8:19
But other companies could imitate that.
T
Takahashi8:22
I thought so too, but after researching, I found they have an enormous number of locations. They have 43 directly managed locations nationwide, and including distributors, about 200 locations. Overseas, they have about 40 locations, so they can provide service in 80 countries worldwide.
C
Co-Panelist8:52
That's hard to imitate.
H
Host8:54
I wanted to see this beach sales in action, so I visited one of their sales offices in Tokushima Prefecture. It was a relatively small office with about five employees. Larger fishing ports have bigger offices.
T
Takahashi9:16
There's a salesperson, a service person who responds to problems, and another person who used to be a fisherman, so they understand the sea and have important connections. I interviewed a salesperson named Umi-san. He covers all of Tokushima Prefecture, Kagawa Prefecture, and Awaji Island, just two people for that area.
C
Co-Panelist9:41
That's a wide area. How do they do sales?
T
Takahashi9:47
They actually go to the fishing port and say hello, start talking. That's how they build relationships. Most boats already have Furuno products, so they're not selling to new customers. They go to check on the fishermen's needs and situation. They talk about how the fishing is, share information about the area. Sometimes they just chat for 30 minutes, other times for three hours. They build relationships, and sometimes the fishermen invite them for a meal.
H
Host10:39
That's strong.
C
Co-Panelist10:40
Very strong.
T
Takahashi10:47
On the service side, they get calls when equipment stops working during fishing. Installation is also very difficult; if the position is off, it won't work. So they have to go and fix it directly. It's different from land-based equipment.
H
Host11:02
So it's not just about making a good product; it's about backup and service. That makes it hard for competitors to enter.
C
Co-Panelist11:14
But service alone doesn't generate much profit. They need to sell products.
T
Takahashi11:21
Exactly. Radars on ships are replaced about every 10 years, and fish finders can last 20 years. So they need to catch the timing of replacement and propose upgrades. That's why they spend three hours talking. Also, when high-performance products come out, they upsell. Another important point is that support is becoming paid.
C
Co-Panelist11:55
Service is paid? So they charge for repairs?
T
Takahashi12:01
Not just repairs. They charge for software services. Also, for small ships, they offer remote monitoring of the ship's location, which becomes a subscription model. So their revenue model is changing.
H
Host12:30
How profitable is it?
T
Takahashi12:33
In the latest financial results, out of a 12.1 billion yen increase from the previous year, 2.6 billion was from increased maintenance and service revenue. That's about one-fifth. Currently, maintenance service generates about 10 billion yen, and they aim to double that to 20 billion in five years.
C
Co-Panelist12:49
But total sales are 120 billion, so that's a significant portion. Making something that was free into a paid service is something Japanese companies are bad at. It's a big reform. Was there any backlash? How did they make that decision?
T
Takahashi13:06
Originally, they were a global top company with stable revenue, but the stock market pointed out that their earning power was weak. So they needed to improve profitability.
H
Host13:21
So they were told their earning power was weak.
C
Co-Panelist13:25
But sales have been rising recently.
T
Takahashi13:28
Yes. Looking at the long term, sales were flat but have grown significantly in the last few years. Part of that is from maintenance service, but the bigger factor is external. They are an export company, so they benefit from the weak yen. Also, there's a global shipbuilding boom right now. Orders were delayed due to COVID, so there's a surge. They have orders secured until around 2027.
C
Co-Panelist14:14
But if the yen strengthens, that's a risk. Trump wants a weak dollar, which could put pressure on the yen to strengthen. Also, tariffs could hurt exports. And the operating profit margin has improved dramatically.
T
Takahashi14:40
Looking at the financial results, from February 2024, profits increased by about 10 billion yen. Of that, 5.5 billion was from improved profitability, not just increased sales. They improved inventory efficiency and stopped making unsellable products.
H
Host15:02
So it's a steady, incremental improvement.
C
Co-Panelist15:14
They must have had a lot of waste before. I was surprised to learn that their medium-term plan was to achieve 120 billion yen in sales and a 10% operating profit margin by 2030, but they've already achieved it. So what's next?
T
Takahashi15:28
That's what we want to ask.
H
Host15:30
Other numbers have also improved dramatically. For example, ROE. In FY2023, it was 2.7%, in FY2024 it was 11%, and in FY2025 it's 17%. That's an extreme increase. It's almost worrying.
C
Co-Panelist16:07
2.7% is very low. What happened?
T
Takahashi16:12
Looking at FY2022, it was 6%. So FY2023 was an outlier with very low profits. That year, material costs increased, and they were investing in acquisitions and new projects. It was a year of upfront investment.
H
Host16:38
So that investment paid off. But why did they need to invest so much and change at that time?
T
Takahashi16:56
The medium-term plan seems to have been a catalyst. They started focusing on stock price and PBR, which had been below 1x for a long time. They've been improving, and now it's finally above 1x.
C
Co-Panelist17:06
But they spent a lot of money in FY2023 and improved so quickly. It's amazing speed for a company that was almost dead. I wonder what happened inside the company around that time.
H
Host17:19
We want to ask about that.
C
Co-Panelist17:24
The current president is Yukio Furuno, the founder's son-in-law. It took a long time for him to become president.
H
Host17:40
Maybe he didn't want to be president from the start. He's said to be a very calm person.
C
Co-Panelist17:47
So what should we ask?
H
Host17:49
First, about the reforms. What did he do to improve earning power? What was his motivation? What was difficult? He's been president since 2007, but seemed to awaken around the 2020 medium-term plan. What happened? Consultants weren't involved. He might not say, but we want to probe.
C
Co-Panelist18:17
Also, we know their service is good, but what products are actually selling? They have so many products. We want to know what's driving sales and profits.
H
Host18:29
And about the future. The risk from tariffs is important. Trump's policy on China is unclear. For Furuno, it's hard to tell if it's good or bad. On one hand, defense might grow. There are many uncertainties. How will they diversify? The medium-term plan mentions increasing new business to 30% of sales. We want to hear the specific roadmap.
C
Co-Panelist19:33
Also, I'm curious about Yukio Furuno himself. He joined the company as a son-in-law and has been there for 40 years. A lot must have happened.
H
Host19:50
Yes. Oil shocks, the Lehman shock, now the Trump shock. How does he navigate through these? Where does he choose to compete? How does he view the defense-related trends?
C
Co-Panelist20:07
Clearly, orders are pouring in. It could increase threefold. Furuno Electric has been able to keep running globally. Is it because they're easygoing?
H
Host20:15
Is that so?