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The largest Japan owned companies in the UK employ around 65,000 people and have grown around 5% on average in terms of employee numbers in the year 2023 to 2024.
The top 5
The top three largest companies are the same as in 2015/6 – Nissan Motor Manufacturing with around 7,000 employees, down 500 from 2015/6, Fujitsu Services, with around 6,000 employees, down from nearly 10,000 in 2015/6. The third largest company, Kwik-Fit (owned by Itochu) has around the same number of employees (5,000) as they did nine years ago.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing was the fourth largest Japan owned company in 2015/6 but has been overtaken by Dentsu UK and ARM (owned by SoftBank). Dentsu UK has grown significantly as a result of the merger of its UK regional operations – but also due to further acquisitions.
New entrants
New entrants for 2024 are the result of acquisitions in the food services sector – Toridoll, who acquired The Fulham Shore (brands including The Real Greek and Franco Manco), adding to their Marugame Udon chain, and Zensho, who acquired Yo! Sushi, through their purchase of Wonderfield, who also own Taiko Foods, a sushi supplier.
Notable growers
Companies which have grown at an above average rate over the past year include logistics companies Yusen Logistics and Vantec (owned by KKR Japan, mainly supplying Nissan), as well as other services sector companies such as SMBC Bank International, NTT Data UK and Dentsu International. In the manufacturing sector, Marelli Automotive Systems (also owned by KKR Japan) has grown significantly, but is still 4% down on nine years ago, whereas Hitachi Rail, which is quadruple the size it was in 2015/6, shrunk its workforce by 4% over the past year. Two companies with manufacturing in the UK – Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning and Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies – have both doubled in size since 2015/6.
Drop outs
Those companies who have dropped out of the top 30 since 2015/6 are largely those who have divested, ceased or cut down manufacturing operations, such as Honda, Toyoda Gosei, Japan Tobacco (closing its Gallaher factory) and Princes (divested by Mitsubishi Corporation). Pilkington UK, acquired by Nippon Sheet Glass in 2006, has halved in size and car part manufacturers Unipres, Denso and Yazaki have all cut back their workforces significantly.
Non appearances
Several Japanese companies undoubtedly have more than 1,000 employees in the UK, but do not disclose this. Sony Europe, MUFG Bank and Mizuho Bank are all branches, so do not have to publish annual reports in the UK showing their employee numbers. Uniqlo only discloses employee numbers for the whole of Europe.
For further details, our Top 30 largest Japanese companies for 2024 is available for purchase and download online (£3+VAT) here.
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