Dow Jones Business News
Canon 1st Half Group Net Profit Y127.7 Billion Vs Y73.2 Billion
Thursday July 31, 2:18 am ET
Canon Inc. (CAJ or 7751) - Tokyo
Half-Year Ended June 30:
GROUP 2003 2002
Sales Y1.536 tln Y1.384 tln
Operating Profit 215.97 bln 140.03 bln
Pretax Profit 215.51 bln 127.20 bln
Net Profit 127.77 bln 73.21 bln
Per share
Earnings 145.55 83.51
Diluted earnings 143.99 82.46
Figures may differ from headline due to rounding.
Results are audited and based on Generally Accepted Accounting Practices.
Canon Inc. also released the following forecasts:
GROUP Full Year Ending Dec 2003
Sales Y3.180 tln
Pretax Profit 440.00 bln
Net Profit 263.00 bln
Per share
Earnings 299.37
TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Canon Inc. (CAJ or 7751) reported Thursday strong earnings for the first six months ended June 30 on brisk sales of printers and digital cameras, and also lifted its full-year earnings forecasts.
The Japanese precision equipment maker had a group net profit of Y127.77 billion for the January-June period, up 75% from a year earlier profit of Y73.21 billion. The net profit was the highest ever posted in a fiscal half, Canon said.
Group operating profit jumped 54% on year to Y215.97 billion, with group revenue growing 11% to Y1.536 trillion from Y1.384 trillion.
The results are broadly in line with Canon's June outlook for a group net profit of Y130 billion on group revenue of about Y1.520 trillion.
For the full-year, Canon now projects a group net profit of Y263 billion on group revenue of Y3.180 trillion, up from its previous outlook for a profit of Y240 billion on revenue of Y3.152 trillion.
This year Canon expects to achieve a record group net profit for the fourth year in a row.
Strong results were supported by a recovery in sales of laser-beam printers under an original equipment manufacturing deal with Hewlett-Packard Co. (HWP). Brisk sales of new compact-type digital cameras, cost reductions in manufacturing, and a rebound in sales of semiconductor production equipment also contributed to the strong results, Canon said.
In the April-June quarter, Canon's group net profit climbed 35% to Y56.17 billion from Y41.55 billion in the same period a year ago. Group operating profit jumped 31% to Y98.57 billion, with a 9.6% gain in group revenue to Y804.03 billion from Y733.39 billion.
The quarterly earnings compare with the company's April estimates of a group operating profit of Y80.59 billion, net profit of Y42.40 billion and revenue of Y780.44 billion.
The results and forecasts indicate that Canon's focus on a limited number of high-margin core products, such as digital cameras, copiers, printers and toner cartridges, is working well to generate stable profits. Its continuous efforts to cut production costs are also helping its profitability, analysts say.
-By Kanji Ishibashi, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2929; kanji.ishibashi@dowjones.com
-Edited by Bennett Richardson and John Gibson
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