The Top International Companies

Ink World, Nov, 1999

Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, Inc. $3.9B

Including Sun Chemical Corporation

DIC Building, 7-20 Nihonbashi 3-chome, Chuo-ku Tokyo 103-8233 Japan

Fax: (011) 81-3-3278-8558

Phone: (011) 81-3-3272-4511

Internet Address: www.dic.co.jp

SALES: $3.9 billion (984 billion yen) in graphic arts; total consolidated sales for graphic arts; $3.92 billion (including Sun Chemical, which has $2.5 billion in printing ink sales). Total sales: $8.66 billion.

E-mail Address: webmaster@dic.co.jp

MAJOR PRODUCTS: Offset, gravure, flexo, news and metal decorating inks for cans.

KEY PERSONNEL: Takemitsu Takahashi, chairman; Kozo Okumura, president; Tsutomu Saito, executive vice president; Takeshi Kumagai, senior managing director; Shouzou Uchino, Shigeru Enomori, Yukio Tomohiro, Makoto Suzuki, Yasumichi Kawamura, Yasuo Kikuya, and Kazuhiko Yoshida, managing directors; Norio Yokomichi, technical director.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 25,694.

COMMENTS: Dainippon Ink & Chemicals (DIC Group) continue to expand its operations across the globe, currently making a major acquisition in the printing ink industry with its pr posed deal to purchase Coates, the fourth-largest international ink manufacturer, from TotalFina. If the proposed acquisition goes through, DIG and its subsidiary, Sun Chemical Co poration, will have strengthened its operations throughout the world, particularly in Europe, Asia and Africa.

While Sun Chemical continues to make gains in the industry , reaching $2.5 billion in sales last year, DIC had a slower ear overall, with a 3.7 percent decline in sales. According to Mr. Takahaski and Mr. Okumura, the economic problems in Asia have affected the company's sales and profit levels, as consumer spending decreased. However, overseas sales were generally favorable.

DIC's management team is in the midst of a two-year midterm business plan whose goal, in the words of Mr. Takahaski and Mr. Okumura, is "to rebuild our operating foundation to ensure profitability even in a highly competitive, zero-growth market. To this end, we focused on reinforcing core businesses, namely printing inks, organic pigments and thermosetting resins, investing selectively in promising new growth areas and enhancing our competitiveness by maximizing efficiency."

Among the actions DIG took were to create more state-of-the-art new offset motherplants. The first to come on-line was in June, with the new 50,000 square foot motherplant in Slough, U.K., which replaced a previous plant that was destroyed by a fire. In September, a 90,000 square foot motherplant in Hopkinsville, KY, went on-line. In addition, a new 12,500 square meter gravure ink production facility began operations within the Gunma Plant, replacing aging facilities at the Waribi Plant.

During the past year, Sun Chemical acquired a number of major ink manufacturers, including Gibbon Group plc., U.K., the U.S.-based Heritage Inks International, and Colortron Pty. Ltd., a large Australian sheetfed ink producer. In addition, Sun Chemical acquired a 50 percent interest in Colombia's Tintas S.A., a leading South American ink producer.

The DIG group consists of nearly 250 subsidiaries, including Sun Chemical. Its four business operations groups are graphic arts; polymers and related products; specialty plastics and compounds; and other products, such as building materials, pressure-sensitive adhesive materials and bio-chemicals.

Flint Ink Corporation $1B

4600 Arrowhead Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48108

Phone: (734) 622-6000

Fax: (734) 622-6060

Web Address: www.flintink.com

E-mail Address: webmaster@flintink.com

SALES: $1 billion.

MAJOR PRODUCTS: News, publication and commercial offset; news, commercial and packaging flexo; publication and packaging gravure; news, commercial and packaging letterpress; digital inks and toners; and UV/EB products.

KEY PERSONNEL: H. Howard Flint II, chairman and CEO; L.D. Frescoln, president and COO; David B. Flint, executive VP; Michael Gannon Sr., senior VP and CFO; Joseph W. Raksis Sr., senior VP, research and new product development; James Mahony, president, Flint Ink Europe; James Bitterle, president, Flint Ink Asia/Pacific; Jerko E. Rendic, president, Flint Ink Latin America; Roger Oberg, VP, digital division; Kathy Marx, VP marketing.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 3,300 worldwide.

COMMENTS: Flint Ink Corporation broke the $1 billion mark in sales in 1998, and with its most recent major acquisitions, it is moving forward quickly toward new heights. In particular, Flint Ink's September purchase of Argentina-based Polychem, S.A, the largest ink manufacturer in South America, gives Flint Ink a much greater presence in South America. The global strategy is also seen in Flint Ink's purchase of Manders Premier in mid-1998; the U.K.-based ink manufacturer had more than $200 million in sales in 1997.

The acquisition of the California-based The Ink Company, the fifth-largest U.S. ink company, which posted sales of $130 million in 1998, adds to the company's strength in the U.S.

Flint Ink continues to improve its facilities as well, completing a sate-of-the-art packaging ink plant in Lebanon, OH.