INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Noevir Executive Resigns: Yukio K. Sato, the executive who secured a beachhead in the United States for Japanese cosmetic company Noevir Inc. has resigned as president and chief executive of the company’s U.S. division in Irvine.

The resignation, effective last Wednesday, came just weeks after Noevir’s founder, Hiroshi Okura, visited the U.S. division in May. Derek Stryker, a top executive at the company’s East Coast division, resigned last month.

In a memo to employees, Sato said a difference of opinion had developed between him and Okura regarding management style and corporate strategy. “For this reason,” Sato wrote, “I have decided that it would be best for me to resign and pursue my own interests.”

Sato, 55, single-handedly started the U.S. division in Irvine nearly 11 years ago, when Noevir decided to enter the U.S. market. The company’s sales have risen between 30% and 40% annually in the past six years, reaching $33 million in 1990. But sales remained flat last year because of the recession, and the company says it expects them to fall slightly this year, the first decline since 1982.

Noevir, which makes cosmetic and skin-care products for the higher-end market, has international sales of more than $800 million annually.

Hiro Shoda, 53, formerly executive vice president and Sato’s right-hand man for the past 10 years, will succeed him as president. No one has yet been appointed as chief executive.