Insecticides & Repellents Segment

In Japan, in addition to peak summer heat during the prime sales period, the prolonged lingering summer heat extended the sales period, leading to a market expansion. With this market expansion, sales increased for insect repellent products alongside the mainstay product category for cockroaches and other insect pests. New products launched this fiscal year, Gokishu! and Zeronite Cockroaches and Bed Bugs One-Push Spray , also performed steadily and contributed to sales. Market share increased to 57.3% (Company estimate, +0.4 points versus 2023), as the effects of price revisions began to materialize.
Furthermore, as a result of continued efforts to implement product return reduction measures, a management priority, the total amount of product returns decreased, contributing to earnings improvements.
Overseas, sales continued to grow, driven by the expansion in the ASEAN region and exports, as well as the effects of a strategic shift toward strengthening offline sales in China.
As a result, sales for this category were 69,744 million yen (+12.4% year-on-year).

Homecare products Segment

In oral hygiene products category, market competition is intensifying due to the aggressive product rollouts by competitors. While sales of the mainstay mouthwash Mondahmin Premium Care declined from the previous year, sales of Damon, a new product launched in autumn targeting the younger generation, contributed to the sales growth. As a result, sales for this category reached 8,512 million yen (+1.8% year-on-year).
For bath salts category, while consumer needs are diversifying, sales of tablet bath salts increased with the launch of the new product Onpo Dekamaru. Sales of the BARTH brand of neutral bicarbonate bath salts were steady. On the other hand, despite maintaining a high market share for powder types such as Bath Roman and Bathclin and granule types such as Kiki-yu, sales remained sluggish, resulting in sales in this category totaling 25,104 million yen (-3.6% year-on-year).
In other household products category, although the effect of the price revision for deodorizing air fresheners fell short of expectations, sales of refrigerants and coolants as countermeasures for extreme summer heat, women’s masks, and air conditioner cleaning spray grew. In addition, sales of household detergents in Vietnam expanded, bringing total sales to 34,035 million yen (+3.8% year-on-year).
Sales in this category amounted to 67,653 million yen (+0.7% year-on-year).

Pet products and others Segment

The market for pet and other related products has remained robust, as spending per pet has been rising due to heightened awareness of pet health among pet owners and improved living conditions for pets. Under this environment, sales of pet care products such as cat litter and insecticides and repellents, as well as functional foods, were strong, resulting in sales of 11,516 million yen (+17.8% year-on-year).

In the General Environment and Sanitation Business, demand for the Company's quality hygiene management services utilizing its specialized knowledge, technology, and expertise remained high at food, pharmaceutical, and packaging material production facilities. This was driven by the trend toward the international harmonization of safety standards for food, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare, revisions of relevant laws and regulations in Japan, and incidents of contamination by foreign substances. In the external environment, while increased capital investment in the manufacturing sector provided a tailwind, labor costs and material and equipment prices surged at an accelerated pace due to the deterioration of global conditions.
Against this backdrop, we actively increased investment to strengthen our expertise and technological development capabilities to provide differentiated sanitary management services, aiming to maintain and expand contracts while securing an appropriate level of profit. In particular, in the cleaning operations of production lines at food plants, we have ensured appropriate profits while giving full consideration to safety. In addition, under the JFS conformity certification, the number of audit items has increased, and the company has been registered as the first designated audit entity under the new JFS-B Plus standard. In the R&D domain, we relocated and consolidated the Analysis Center East Japan Laboratory in Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, and expanded our testing facilities for the life science field. For new products, we have launched “Pescle Insects”—an AI-powered monitoring system for insects—as part of the “Pescle” series.
In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, while performance was affected by a higher cost ratio and an increase in personnel expenses attributed to active investment in human resources, an increase in the number of annual contracts boosted overall segment results. Accordingly, sales in the General Environment and Sanitation Business amounted to 31,888 million yen (+9.7% year-on-year) and segment income (operating income) to 1,500 million yen (+3.4% year-on-year).
For more information about our General Environment and Sanitation Business, please visit the Earth Environmental Service Co., Ltd. website.