Senior managing director Yoshio Kito has been named executive vice president, and joins the board of directors with Shinjiro Kito, and three executives with the Carlyle Group.
Carlyle bought an unspecified portion of the company in 2003 as part of a financial restructuring operation.
“The purposes of the changes in titles are to expand the responsibilities of some management people and strengthening the management team providing for the post-Carlyle’s ownership,” the company said in a statement.
Yoshio Kito told Hoist that no particular exit plan had been chosen. “The only thing I can say at this moment is that the Carlyle Group is very much satisfied with Kito’s progress and this fact is accelerating their preparation for the exit,” he said.
Kazuhiko Okabe has been promoted to senior managing director, and Hiroki Tanaka and Horoshi Nomura have both been appointed to the post of managing director and general manager.
The company’s financial year to March 2005 saw sales growth inside and outside of Japan. Japanese business was up 19% to 11.4bn Yen ($106m), and overseas business was up 32% to 12.3bn Yen ($115m). The company posted a total operating profit of 2.6bn Yen ($24m), up 39% over the past year.
The company said: “Supported by the recovery of domestic investment in Japan and also very strong demand in North America, Asia and Middle East, we were able to finish this financial year with a favourable result. In addition, by a partnership with Carlyle Group, we have successfully improved our financial position by solving various important financial and management issues.”
The company also announced that its Chinese subsidiary Jiangyin Kito Cranes, in Jiangsu province, has opened a new 40,000 sq m factory to increase wire rope hoist production from 20,000 units/year to 35,000 units/year. It will also double its production of overhead cranes to 500 units/year.
