Canon Japan Announced 2017 Third Quarter Results

2017 Third Quarter in Review

Looking back at the global economy in the third quarter of 2017, the U.S. economy continued to grow steadily as employment conditions continued to improve and consumer spending was stable. In Europe, unemployment rate decreased and capital investment showed signs of recovery mainly in such developed countries as Germany. The Chinese economy rallied due to public investments and the economies of emerging countries continued to realize moderate growth due to strong exports. In Japan, corporate earnings improved and consumer spending showed signs of recovery. As a result, the global economy overall continued to realize moderate growth……..

Results by Segment :

Within the Imaging System Business Unit, although sales volume of interchangeable-lens digital cameras declined compared with the previous year, owing to the shrinking market, unit sales of such newly launched models as EOS 6D Mark II enjoyed solid demand, allowing Canon to maintain the top share in the U.S., Japan, and major countries in Europe. As for digital compact cameras, sales of high-value-added models enjoyed solid demand; supported by healthy demand for the newly launched G9 X Mark II, part of the high-image-quality PowerShot G-series lineup, leading to an increase in unit sales from the same period of the previous year…….

Outlook

As for the outlook in the fourth quarter, the U.S. economy is expected to continue to recover as employment conditions and corporate earnings steadily improve. The European economy is expected to recover slowly due to increasing uncertainty surrounding the U.K.’s decision to leave the EU. Looking at China, the economy is expected to stabilize through changes in fiscal policy, while emerging economies, such as those of Southeast Asia, Russia and Brazil, are expected to recover along with the rising price of natural resources. With regard to the Japanese economy, the outlook indicates a trend of gradual recovery supported by improved employment conditions. Overall, the pace of recovery of the global economy is expected to grow stronger, despite such concerns as increasing geopolitical risks….

Read the full reports from Canon Inc. in PDF here.

CIPA 2017 Q1 Report Is Out And Sales Are Up

CIPA published their Q1 2017 results for camera and lens shipments. Participating companies include Canon, Nikon, Sony, Sigma, Olympus, Casio, Panasonic Fujifilm, Ricoh, Tamron, Kenko, Tokina, Zeiss and Xacti.

As you can see, there is some improvements this year so far and Canon even forecasted an uptick in their 2017 profits. The industry is not out of the woods yet. Some smaller players may not survive but the bigger companies like Canon and Sony are on the mend.

Canon Raised Profit Outlook For Full Year 2017

Having been a Canon user for over a quarter of a century and an observer of the company for years, this comes as no surprise since Canon is a well diversified firm and heads-and-shoulders over its other photographic competitors, including Sony and Nikon.


Japan's Canon Inc on Wednesday lifted its full-year operating profit forecast after reporting strong first-quarter results on the back of earnings from a medical equipment unit it bought from Toshiba Corp last year.

The camera and printer maker forecast profit of 270 billion yen ($2.43 billion), up from 255 billion yen estimated in January. It reported profit of 228.9 billion in the previous twelve months.

The upbeat outlook suggests Canon's strategy to diversify has begun to reward the company after the $5.8 billion acquisition of the Toshiba unit and the $2.8 billion takeover of Swedish video-surveillance firm Axis AB.

Canon also said the two existing businesses that have long dragged its earnings - laser printers and cameras - are also showing signs of bottoming out.

A recovery in the Chinese and other emerging economies is pushing up demand for laser printers, while continued popularity of so-called mirrorless cameras is driving camera sales, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Toshizo Tanaka said at an earnings briefing.

For the January-March quarter, Canon said operating profit jumped 88.8 percent to 75.67 billion yen from 40.09 billion yen a year earlier.

That was above a consensus estimate of 58.80 billion yen from six analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Tanaka also said the company is not in a situation to consider joining the bidding for Toshiba's prized flash memory unit.

Toshiba wants to sell most or all of the unit, the world's second-largest NAND chip maker behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. It has narrowed bidders to SK Hynix Inc, Western Digital Corp, Broadcom Ltd and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (Foxconn), people familiar with the process have told Reuters.

To keep the technology in Japan, however, the government is calling for domestic companies to join the bidding and team up with state-backed funds, sources have said.