Canon Inc posts quarterly profit, floods to affect year-end sales

Tokyo: Canon Inc posted a 17 percent quarterly operating profit rise on solid demand for office equipment and single-lens reflex cameras, but cut its outlook below expectations, citing the impact of the Thai floods and a strong yen.

Canon lowered its annual operating profit forecast to 360 billion yen ($4.7 billion) from 380 billion yen, below market expectations of a 383 billion yen profit, based on 20 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Canon said camera parts suppliers had been flooded in Thailand, and that while it was trying to obtain parts from other suppliers, year-end sales were bound to be affected.

It has also been forced to close an inkjet printer plant in Thailand.

[caption id="attachment_116636" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Canon said camera parts suppliers had been flooded in Thailand. Reuters"][/caption]

It said the floods will bite into annual sales by 50 billion yen and operating profit by 20 billion yen.

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Rival Nikon has been hit even harder by the flooding, and its factory at Ayutthaya where it makes most of its interchangeable lens cameras has been closed since 6 October.

In the July-September quarter, Canon earned an operating profit of 122.5 billion yen, compared with 104.4 billion yen in the same period the previous year and a market consensus of 107 billion yen based on the seven analysts polled.

Shares in Canon, the world's biggest maker of digital cameras ahead of Sony Corp, closed down 1.8 percent to 3,490 yen on Tuesday.

Canon shares fell about 1.8 percent between 1 April and Monday's close, outperforming a 9 percent fall in the Nikkei average.

Reuters