OHARA INC.
5218・Standard Market・Glass & Ceramics Products
Business
Ohara Inc. is a specialty manufacturer of optical glass and specialty glass materials founded in 1935, listed on the Standard Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company operates two segments: the Optics Business (optical glass materials and lens materials) and the Electronics Business (high-functionality glass materials for semiconductor and FPD exposure equipment). It has 9 subsidiaries and 1 affiliated company both domestically and overseas, with manufacturing and sales bases in Taiwan, Malaysia, China, the United States, and Germany. Its main customers are camera manufacturers and semiconductor equipment manufacturers, led by Canon Inc. (12.7% of net sales), with Seiko Group Corporation also listed among its shareholders. Consolidated net sales for FY2025 (ending October 2025) were ¥28,895 million.
Business Model
The Company handles the entire chain from material design to manufacturing and sales of optical glass and specialty glass. It produces materials at domestic sites and adopts a division-of-labor structure in which overseas subsidiaries (Taiwan, Malaysia, China) handle processing and sales. In the Optics Business, it sells Optical Press Products and Optical Block Products, while in the Electronics Business it sells Specialty Glass (High-Homogeneity Optical Glass, Low-Dielectric Glass, etc.) and Quartz Glass. It draws on approximately 90 years of material design know-how as a source of competitive advantage, earning profits through the supply of high-value-added products.
Company Strengths
Since its founding in 1935, the company has continuously manufactured optical glass and specialty glass for approximately 90 years. Building on this accumulated expertise, it possesses the technical capability to develop and mass-produce a diverse range of high-performance materials, including high-refractive-index glass, ultra-low-expansion glass ceramics, quartz glass, and Lithium-Ion Conductive Glass-Ceramics (LICGC™).
In FY2025 (ending October 2025), the Electronics Business achieved net sales of ¥13,585 million, operating profit of ¥2,593 million, and an operating margin of 19.1%. Although profit declined 12.9% year on year due to inventory adjustments for semiconductor lithography equipment, the segment continues to function as a highly profitable business supporting the group's overall earnings.
The company has subsidiaries in Taiwan, Malaysia, China, the United States, Germany, and Hong Kong, having built an international structure spanning manufacturing to sales. In FY2025 (ending October 2025), the order backlog for the Optics Business rose to ¥5,294 million (up 125.1% year on year), reflecting demand captured from its global customer base.
ENVALITH's Perspective
Performance Trend
Revenue rose from ¥23,522 million in FY2021 to a peak of ¥28,305 million in FY2022, then moved sideways, reaching ¥28,896 million in FY2025. The full-year forecast for FY2026 (ending October 2026) stands at ¥31,900 million (up 10.4% year-on-year), showing signs of acceleration. Operating profit, on the other hand, peaked at ¥2,977 million in FY2022 and has continued to decline, falling to ¥1,794 million in FY2025. For the first half of FY2026 (ending October 2026), operating profit fell sharply to ¥533 million (down 49.3% year-on-year). As an external factor, the continued depreciation of the yen (the euro was weaker by ¥21.88 year-on-year) generated foreign exchange gains that supported ordinary profit, but soaring raw material costs, the abolition of VAT export refunds, and a worsening product mix put pressure on gross profit. The full-year operating profit forecast of ¥1,800 million is expected to remain roughly on par with the previous year's actual result of ¥1,794 million.
Growth Strategy
Structural reform of existing businesses combined with the launch of new businesses targeting AI, XR, and solid-state batteries to transform the profit structure
The company has implemented price revisions aimed at securing appropriate profit levels, while promoting sales expansion of high-unit-price downstream products (Optical Block Products). In the first half of FY2026 (ending March 2026), Optical Block Products sales grew to ¥1,599 million (up 20.6% year on year), and the Optics Business operating loss narrowed to ¥167 million (improved from a loss of ¥387 million in the same period of the previous year).
A dedicated melting furnace was launched at the Taiwan plant to expand supply capacity of low-dielectric glass for printed circuit boards used in AI servers. In the first half of FY2026 (ending March 2026), sales of Specialty Glass (High-Homogeneity Optical Glass, Low-Dielectric Glass, etc.) increased to ¥4,225 million (up 8.5% year on year), and the framework to capture the external tailwind of expanding data center investment is progressively taking shape.
The company is strengthening the sales organization of the Electronics Business to respond to expanding demand for products used in optical communication equipment, driven by the growth in data center investment. The company has explicitly cited this as one of the main factors behind the upward revision of the full-year FY2026 (ending March 2026) earnings forecast (sales +¥2,000 million).
Through the advancement of glass material development for AR glasses and R&D of materials for solid-state batteries, the company aims to reduce its dependence on the existing camera and semiconductor markets as a medium- to long-term measure to transform its profit structure. At present, the financial results report does not include any specific description of sales contribution, as these initiatives remain in the development stage.
The company is promoting the strengthening of its supply and sales framework for value-added products in Southeast Asia. In addition, based on a resolution of the Board of Directors in December 2025, the company acquired 630,000 shares of treasury stock (¥677 million) to return value to shareholders. The company plans to maintain an annual dividend of ¥25 (unchanged from the previous fiscal year).
Last updated: July 17, 2026