Canon’s net profit for third quarter plunges 12.7%

Business

Canon Inc. said that it recorded an operating profit of 59,139 billion Yen, down 356% year-on-year, for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 ( July to September), on the total sales of 799.9 billion Yen, down 12.8%. Its operating profit for the 9-month period from January to September was 163.39 billion Yen, down 12.7% from the same period last year on the total sales of 2.528 trillion Yen, down 2.5%. The company cited sluggishness in the global economy, and weaker-than-expected sales of compact digital cameras and inkjet printers for the loss. The company revised its digital camera sales downward to 8.8 million units of D-SLRs, up 22% year-on-year and compact models to 19 million units, up 2%. The numbers are, however, 400K and 2 million units less than the earlier forecast. The company cited that one fourth will be due to China’s boycott of Japanese products. Canon also anticipates the world’s digital camera market to shrink to 19.3 million units of interchangeable lens system cameras from earlier outlook of 20 million, and 95 million units of compact D-cams from 105 million units. At the same time, Canon trimmed earnings for the full fiscal year through December. It expects a net profit of 234 billion Yen, down 5.9% year- on-year, on the total sales of 3.532 trillion Yen, down 0.7% year- on-year. This is the second time it has cut its outlook for the full fiscal year. The company expects a recovery in sales of D-SLR cameras, high value-added compact camera models and inkjet printers but anticipates uncertainty in laser printers and industrial equipment, such as semiconductor and flat panel display exposure machines. The outlook is based on the expected exchange rates of 78 Yen for the dollar and 100 Yen for the Euro.