ITOCHU Corp (ITOCY)

Itochu is a general trading house, or sogo shosha, a conglomerate type unique to Japan. The primary driver for sogo shoshas is trading and intermediation between businesses and leveraging their wide domestic and global information and contact networks to extract value. Itochu has historical roots as a textile trader, but over the years has expanded its portfolio from upstream minerals production, to midstream industrial machinery, food processing, and information and communication technology, and all the way to downstream textiles, convenience stores (Family Mart) and realty. Among the Big Five sogo shoshas, Itochu has the highest exposure to the nonresources businesses, and to the domestic business. It continues to skew its future investments toward the downstream and consumer businesses.