Industry Profits and Losses

Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. said its annual operating profit fell 57 percent, weighed down by charges for lay-offs and film production cuts, and it forecast a slower-than-expected recovery this year, reports Reuters. The company also said in a press release it would adopt a new company name, Fujifilm, in line with its brand name for camera film in October, when it plans to create a new holding company. The world's second-largest camera film maker after U.S.-based Eastman Kodak suffers from a shrinking camera film market, even though that business now accounts for less than 10 percent of its sales.

Booming digital camera and color copier sales lifted Canon's net profit 16 percent in the first quarter to a record ¥108.3 billion (US million), keeping Japan's top precision equipment maker on track for a seventh year of record earnings, reports The Associate Press. Canon Inc. said the strong dollar and euro also lifted its group net profit for the quarter ended March 31 well above the ¥93.1 billion it booked a year ago. The quick rollout of new products and cost-cutting efforts helped offset the effect of falling prices in the fiercely competitive digital goods market, Canon said. Canon plans to broaden its business by entering the TV market next year using a new kind of flat-panel technology it's developing with Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp.

Sony Corp. announced sales for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2006, were ¥1,845.4 billion (US,773 million), an increase of 8.7 percent compared with the same quarter of the previous fiscal year; on a local currency basis sales increased 2 percent. In the Electronics segment, although there was a decrease in intersegment sales, sales to outside customers increased 9.0 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. Restructuring charges, which are recorded as operating expenses, for the fourth quarter amounted to ¥75.3 billion (US million) compared to ¥48.6 billion in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. In the Electronics segment, restructuring charges were ¥63.4 billion (US million) compared to ¥46.2 billion in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. As a result, a net loss of ¥66.5 billion (US million) was recorded, a ¥10.1 billion deterioration compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.