Japanese high-tech giant Canon Inc. said Tuesday that its profits more than halved in the three months to September from a year earlier because of poor sales of electronics and a strong yen.
The camera and office equipment maker logged a net profit of 36.7 billion yen (400 million dollars) for the third quarter of its business year, down 55.8 percent from a year earlier.
Operating earnings tumbled 53.6 percent to 60.0 billion yen as revenue slid 21.5 percent year-on-year to 774.3 billion yen, it said.
Canon said it was seeing signs that demand was stabilising in key markets, and maintained its forecast for a net profit of 110 billion yen for 2009.
The company anticipates an operating profit of 190 billion yen and revenue of 3.20 trillion yen, also unchanged from its earlier projections.
It has enjoyed strong sales of high-end digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras in recent years, but its sales of photocopiers and precision machinery have been hit hard by the global economic downturn.
Demand for compact digital cameras also remained sluggish in the third quarter and prices continued to decline, pressuring profits, it said.
"Demand for compact digital cameras is expected to remain stagnant for the time being ... whereas demand for digital SLR cameras is expected to remain strong," Canon said in a statement.
"As for inkjet printers, conditions are expected to gradually improve."
Revenue from office equipment dropped 28.0 percent in the quarter, while sales at the camera business fell 8.3 percent, the company said.
For the nine months to September, Canon said its net profit dropped 76.4 percent from a year earlier to 70.1 billion yen, as revenue declined 27.2 percent to 2.26 trillion yen.
Copyright 2009  AFP Global Edition
