Canon Profit Tumbles 20.5 Percent on Weak Camera Demand

Japan's Canon said Monday that its net profit fell 20.5 percent in the first six months of the year as smartphones increasingly take a bite out of demand for digital cameras.

The photography and office equipment giant reported a JPY 102.13 billion ($830 million, roughly Rs. 5,328 crores) profit for the January-June period, while operating profit fell 11.5 percent to JPY170.90 billion (roughly Rs. 8,918 crores).

Sales ticked up 2.0 percent to JPY 1.83 trillion (roughly Rs. 95,494 crores) from a year earlier.

"Demand for digital cameras with exchangeable lenses and compact cameras were both below the previous year's levels," the company said.

Canon also trimmed its full-year forecast to a net profit of JPY 245 billion (roughly Rs. 12,789 crores) , down from an earlier JPY 255 billion (roughly Rs. 13,301 crores) projection.

Annual sales are expected to come in at JPY 3.93 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,05,076 crores), up from JPY 3.86 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,01,438 crores) expected earlier.

"The demand for multi-function printers (MFDs) are expected to keep growing moderately" later this year, it said.

Earlier this month, Canon launched two new MFDs in India targeted at small and medium businesses. While the Canon ImageRUNNER ADVANCE C350i (right) is priced at Rs. 1,68,994, the Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE C3300 series (left) devices costs between Rs. 2,83,394 and Rs. 3,95,194, depending upon the customer's requirements.

The products launched in the A3 segment are ImageRUNNER ADVANCE (iR-ADV) C3300 series comprising of iR-ADV C3320/ C3325/ C3330 and ImageRUNNER ADVANCE C350i in A4 segment. With the launch of ImageRUNNER ADVANCE (iR-ADV) C3300 series and ImageRUNNER ADVANCE C350i series, Canon aims to capture additional market share of 3 percent in colour MFD segment.

Written with inputs from AFP.