Operating income was 48.2 billion yen ($495 million) in the year ended March 31, beating an average market estimate of 42 billion yen from 17 brokerages surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
For the current financial year, Nikon, which launched a new entry-level digital single-lens reflex camera this month, forecast a loss of 12 billion yen, smaller than an average estimate from analysts of a 17 billion yen loss.
The world’s No.2 maker of chip steppers after Netherlands-based ASML (ASML.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has been hurt by spending cuts by chipmakers amid a prolonged downturn and is looking increasingly to its cameras to cover the shortfall.
Steppers are multi-million dollar machines used to scan circuitry onto silicon wafers to make semiconductors. Canon Inc (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) also competes in the market.
Shares of Nikon shed 58 percent in the year ended in March, while Canon lost close to 39 percent and Olympus Corp (7733.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) lost 48 percent. (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Bilo je za očekivati da će i foto industriju da pogodi talas krize. Ovde doduše jeste u pitanju drugi segment poslovanja Nikona, ali nisam siguran da je i u samom foto odelenju posebno veselo.
Naravno, jasno je da ova vest nije vezana samo za Nikon. Ostali zasad mudro ćute, a dokle će - videćemo.
S druge strane i oni (proizvođači foto opreme) su malo zabrazdili sa bespotrebnim štancovanjem novih modela svakih mesec dana. Vek jedne generacije je drastično skraćen i očekivano je bilo da će korisnici te opreme malo okratiti investicije u opremu, kada realno imaju sasvim dobru i savremenu opremu iz prošle godine. Posebno bi zanimljivo bilo videti "masovnost" prodaje EOS-a 50D, za koji mislim da je Canonov najveći fijasko poslednjih godina.
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