Company Overview
1. Company History WaveLock Holdings <7940> originated from Japan WaveLock Co., Ltd., which was established in 1964 with equal investment from Nissho Co., Ltd. (currently Sojitz <2768>), Japan Carbide Industry <4064>, and Maruto Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (currently Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd.) for the introduction of the WaveLock technology regarding fiber-reinforced plastic sheet from Italy. The WaveLock method is a method of manufacturing a sandwich structure by synthesize fibers in a wave shape between two plastic films and fixing (lock) them. Resin processing sheets made by this method have the characteristics of not only elasticity but also a significant increase in physical strength. In the 1960s, vinyl products used in agriculture were weak in strength and susceptible to tearing, and the founder, Hiromi Kinebuchi, saw the need for WaveLock products in the same field and aimed to introduce the technology from agricultural raincoats. After that, the market expanded to include vinyl greenhouses, raincoats, industrial materials, and more, and the business grew. The operating income of products worth 10-30 billion yen were respectively 401/1288/60 million yen.
In 1966, Yu Aoki, the current chairman of the board, founded the School Lunch Propagation Association (an elementary school lunch ingredient wholesaler) that would become the predecessor to Mia Holdings <7129>. Through his attendance at seminars, he became strongly committed to "creating happiness for people" and decided to start a business in the pharmaceutical industry because he believed that the era of "division of labor in medicine" was about to arrive. In September 1984, he established Japan Bio-Science Research Institute, and opened the first store of a medical mall that integrated Eastern and Western medicine, "Kusuri-no-Nissei Pharmacy (Nissei Pharmacy Koma-ko Store)." At that time, the idea of simultaneously expanding Eastern and Western medicine in a medical mall was still premature, so they focused on expanding their business in the dispensing pharmacy field. In October 1998, the large-scale front-door pharmacy No. 1 store "Nissei Pharmacy Kawadacho Store" opened in front of Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital and was a great success. As a result, the company expanded its number of stores, focusing on front-door pharmacies.
For the second pillar, the nursing care business, in 1997, the Long-term Care Insurance Act (enforced in 2000) was established, and nursing care services were incorporated as one of the Long-term Care Insurance systems. They judged it to be a good opportunity to enter the business and started offering home-care support and equipment services from 1999. After that, they expanded their business to include almost all home-based services such as day-care services, visiting care, visiting bathing, and visiting nursing, as well as residential services such as group homes and service-oriented elderly housing. In September 2011, they opened a service-oriented elderly housing "Nissei Oasis Wakou" (now Mia Health Service Oasis Wakou), which was selected as one of the 21 companies for the "Second Elderly Residence Stabilization Model Project," promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism as a model for comprehensive community care system in the Japan Bio-Science Research Institute era. In the following year, it was introduced nationwide at a symposium as one of the 5 representative projects among them, and attracted attention from many government officials and overseas visitors who visited for inspections.
For the third pillar, the childcare business, they started the business in 2011, taking advantage of the expansion of subsidies from the government and local governments to solve the increasing problem of children waiting for childcare due to the advancement of women in society. To establish a licensed nursery school in Tokyo, it was a condition to open 3 certified nursery schools, so they started with certified nursery schools. However, because they needed to conduct their own recruitment activities for children at certified nursery schools, they later promoted the deployment of the business at licensed nursery schools where the local government recruited children. In addition, in 2006, after Japan Bio-Science Research Institute had made the School Lunch Propagation Association a subsidiary, they merged with it in 2011.
In April 2019, the company changed its name to Mia Health (Co.). Mia Health is a Swedish word meaning "more healthy" in a welfare-advanced country and was selected from among 280 proposals in-house. In March 2020, they went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (JASDAQ market), and are also expanding their business through M&A by using the funds they raised. Following the subsidiary of Tokyo-based childcare service provider Higashi Shoji Co., Ltd. (merged in January 2022) in July of the same year, they also acquired Life Support, which operates licensed and certified nursery schools as well as after-school clubs and nursing facilities, as a subsidiary in October 2021 (merged in April 2024). In October of the same year, they changed to a holding company structure with the aim of strengthening their management system, speeding up decision-making, and implementing growth strategies such as M&A, and the newly established pure holding company was listed on behalf of Mia Health, and moved to the Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard Market in April 2022 due to market reorganization.
(Written by FISCO guest analyst, Jo Sato)