Court protection for Horishita

Horishita, one of the oldest hide traders, leather chemicals suppliers and shoe wholesalers in Japan, in existence for almost 100 years, has applied to the courts for the Japanese equivalent of chapter 11. Whether the court has accepted the application is not known at this moment. The move is regarded as coming totally out of blue to many in the trade. Sales were 25 billion yen (US$1 = Y119.005) when the economy/business was good but they appear to have fallen to Y14 billion recently. The company have been changing their company strategy over the past ten years but appear to have failed to keep up with current business requirements. Their raw hide trading places them in around third to fifth position in Japan and their main source of supply is reported as being IBP. In addition they buy more IBP hides (in the main) domestically from Marubeni, presumably on a Tegata Draft basis. They are also one of the largest wholesalers of chemical products (man-made leathers etc) supplying the shoe and bag trades.