Nikon profit jumps 53% on strong sales of D40, D40x and D80

[anubis]

But Nikon forecast a small decline in its operating profit in this fiscal year due to the adverse effect of a firm yen.

The company posted operating profit of 102.01 bln yen for the last fiscal year, up sharply from 66.59 bln yen the year before. Its net profit rose nearly 89 pct to an all-time high of 54.82 bln yen and its revenue rose 12.6 pct to a record 822.81 bln yen.

Nikon chief financial officer Ichiro Terato told a press conference: "High-margin single-lens reflex digital cameras and interchangeable lenses are selling well thanks to the aggressive release of new models such as the D-80, D-40 and D-40X." He remarked: "The entry into the SLR digital camera market of Sony and Matsushita Electric helped increase the size of the market." Nikon sold 2.09 mln SLR digital cameras in the last fiscal year, up from 1.34 mln the year before.

It sold 2.64 mln interchangeable lenses for SLR digital cameras, up from 2.02 mln.

"Brisk sales of high-end digital cameras and interchangeable lenses more than offset sluggish sales of our compact digital cameras," Terato said. The company sold 5.92 mln compact digital cameras, down from 7.11 mln the year before, because of a lack of hit products.

The increased sales of high-margin digital cameras helped the firm's imaging equipment division to make an operating profit of 45.7 bln yen, up from 34.4 bln yen.

Sales of steppers also helped buoy the company's earnings, with the operating profit of its precision equipment segment rising to 49.3 bln yen from 26.4 bln yen.

"We managed to deliver seven immersion lithography machines, the most advanced stepper machine in the world, in the last fiscal year," Terato said.

Nikon sold 180 steppers for making ICs, down from 188 the year before, and 80 steppers used in making liquid crystal displays, up from 67 the year before.

"While sales of LCD steppers will decline, higher sales of IC steppers and high-end models will help offset reduced sales of LCD machines," Terato said.

Nikon said it had lowered the lead time for its steppers to around 150 days from one year.

The company plans to sell 190 IC steppers and 40 LCD steppers in the fiscal year ending March 2008. It aims to sell 21 immersion lithography systems.

It also aims to sell 2.5 mln SLR digital cameras and 7.5 mln compact digital cameras.

The company forecasts a rise of 0.3 pct in net profit in this fiscal year to 55 bln yen, a 2.0 pct dip in operating profit to 100 bln yen and a 9.4 pct rise in sales to 900 bln yen.

Nikon assumes that the US dollar will average 115 yen and the euro will average 150 yen in this fiscal year, less than its average export hedging cost of 118.05 yen to the dollar and 157.33 yen to the euro in the last fiscal year.

"Against all odds, such as the firm yen, high levels of investment and a decline in sales of LCD steppers, we hope to achieve flat or even higher profit than last year by enhancing sales of high-end steppers and by selling more digital cameras," Terato said.



http://www.sharewatch.com/story.php?storynumber=407476

[Raskill]

Well, that shows what they think of the Pro market, and where the dollar lies.....

[tbgphoto]

Makes me glad that I'm a Canon user, at least they care about the pro market.

[Trieu]

Anyone know what the figures are for Canon

[tbgphoto]

Looks reasonable healthy.

http://japan.seekingalpha.com/article/33312

[Trieu]

It's people like us I reckon that make Canon profits so high....

[tbgphoto]

It's people like us I reckon that make Canon profits so high....

Very true and as long as they keep producing the goods I will keep on adding to their profits

[moz]

It's people like us I reckon that make Canon profits so high....

Indirectly... they make a lot more from photocopiers and printers than cameras. But I'm happy to help boost the profits from the camera division when I can

[Greg B]

It would appear that Nikon's strategy is sound - a 53% jump in profit is significant - and they were already doing very well.

[tbgphoto]

There is no doubt that Nikon is doing well financial and I'm glad to see that, I think the concern that has been raised on the forum a number of times is their lack of interest in the pro market and their failure to come up with new products in that area, as compared to Canon who regularly bring out new high end products.

[Oscar]

Perhaps someone should also advise Nikon how much their sales of upper level gear can be affected by those who are choosing to change camps and are off-loading their Nikon gear (which may be as new)....if only I could afford more. Still we continue to see lots of premium Nikon gear on the second hand market!

Cheers, Mick

[tbgphoto]

The advantage that Canon has in the long term is that if someone buys a 400D now they can stay with Canon all the way to a pro level FF body and a large selection of high end lens, all of which is being upgraded regularly.

On the other hand if someone buys a D40, they are more likely to have to swap brands if they want to go to the pro level. It isn't because what Nikon have is bad, it just isn't keeping up with what Canon is producing.

[jamesw]

who careS?

if nikoon and canon shut up shop tomorrow, id be perfectly happy. there are enough lenses in the nikon lineup for my needs,

i think people get a little confused between NEEDS and WANTS............

and, of course, the grass is always greener, eh?

[Steffen]

Well, that shows what they think of the Pro market

Where does it say what they think of the Pro market?

Besides, Pro markets have traditionally been the ones with slower release cycles (compared to consumer markets). That's because pros don't feed on the constant stream of new marketing buzzwords and fad-driven feature lists that keeps the consumer market going.

Do Leica, Hasselblad etc replace their top-end model every year? Neither does Nikon. If Canon does then they'd be the odd one out here.

Bottom line for me: I don't care, I can't afford the latest and greatest anyway, and there is plenty of stuff out there for me to buy if I had the money.

Cheers
Steffen.

[padey]

Do Leica, Hasselblad etc replace their top-end model every year? Neither does Nikon. If Canon does then they'd be the odd one out here.

Not really a fair comparison. Blad basically went under and Imacon snapped them up. Leica delivered a recent product, but it was plagued with problems and Blad have the completely different market.

Canon can do it. Sony will to, once they get up and running. Nikon rely on soccer-mums to make their cash. Soccer mums won't keep updating.

I don't mind them cashing in on the soccer-mums, but they will need to diversify, give the pros something, as pros will update every 2-3years, soccer-mums wont.

[Greg B]

There is no doubt that Nikon is doing well financial and I'm glad to see that, I think the concern that has been raised on the forum a number of times is their lack of interest in the pro market and their failure to come up with new products in that area, as compared to Canon who regularly bring out new high end products

On the other hand if someone buys a D40, they are more likely to have to swap brands if they want to go to the pro level. It isn't because what Nikon have is bad, it just isn't keeping up with what Canon is producing.

Perhaps someone should also advise Nikon how much their sales of upper level gear can be affected by those who are choosing to change camps and are off-loading their Nikon gear (which may be as new)....if only I could afford more. Still we continue to see lots of premium Nikon gear on the second hand market!

All valid points - but the primary function of a business is to make money. How best to achieve that end - the business strategy - varies from company to company. Canon have catered strongly to the pro market, and hold the lion's share of it. Nikon has done what it has done and increased sales by 53% on one year - no mean feat coming off strong market shares beforehand. I would imagine that while Nikon continues to experience strong growth, it is likely to continue the strategy that created the growth. Ditto Canon.

Personally, I like the Nikon DSLRs (the D200 makes me happy) and the Canon PHDs (just got the Powershot S3 IS as a travel camera - excellent) so I am the exact opposite of the market I guess.

[gstark]

Canon can do it. Sony will to, once they get up and running. Nikon rely on soccer-mums to make their cash. Soccer mums won't keep updating.

And this is where, about a week or two back, I said that Nikon, today, were in danger of doing what Pentax did in the 70s when they started to make volkscameras. It's a short-ish term strategy, and they're seeing great results in their bottom line today. Anybody seen Pentax do anything of interest (like make a profit) recently?

Sony won't succeed in this market, btw. They have the marketing budget, but they have neither the products to succeed, nor the discipline neccessary to take the products to market and leave them there for the requisite period in order to permit them to succeed. They want the bottom line profit, and they want it yesterday. That ain't gonna happen.

It's a two horse race, and one of those horses needs to be taken before a stewards' inquiry.

Here's my connnnnunnnnnnndrum. Well, one of 'em.

I think that Nikon's ergonomics are way superior to Canon's. Likewise their build quality used to be superior. Personal opinion, based on about 30 years' experience using both (plus many other) marques.

I suspect my next body purchase will not be from the jolly yellow giant.

[jamesw]

to everyone that is stressed about nikons non-apparent to the pro market,

what a lot of experienced commentators and nikon pros have said is that nikons strategy is somehting like this:

1.release a pro body, with latest greatest technology. at this point in time there is limited supply of sensors and new bits and pieces for the model, so they can be sold at a premium. so they are sold at big $$$. eg. d1x, d2x, d1h, d2h, etc.

2. let the technology film into pro-sumer type bodies. strip back a few features and lessen the build quality slightly. sell for good cash. eg. d100, d200.

3. keep filtering the technology down, eg d70s, d80. strip back a few more features, lessen the build quality further.

4. collect the scraps. strip back features, compact and cheap build quality, but maintaiining the same inherent technology and innovations from the pro level bodies.

5. start over.

we are at point four now. its clear that nikon has scraped the bottom of the barrel, and it would be unlikely for there to be another consumer camera released in the near future (i hope!).

and more importantly, what we are seeing is economics. nikon are milking as much cash from the market as they can. it is called selective pricing - sell at a high price to those who are prepared to pay it, and then move down. this is often seen in airlines, too (if you book 6 months ahead of time your ticket is reasonably cheaper than one month prior to flight, significally than one week before and much cheaper than booking on the day.)


further to this, several reliable sources have been saying that there are at least two d3x prototypes floating around - one 18mp and one 22mp (it may be 24mp, i cannot recal). they are apparently FF with crop capabilities.

it is also popular belief amoung those with inside access that the d3h is very, very close to release.

sorry for bringing out the rumours -- i am just repeating stuff that all the reliable guys have been saying. if you want some out of control rumours, just check out dpreview! hahaha.

[tbgphoto]

Having technology filter down is a good thing, but if it is what Nikon are doing, why is it that only their pro level bodies have CMOS sensors while all the others have to make do with CCD's.

The other thing is that in order to make the whole cycle work you need to keep the top end moving forward at a rate sufficient to keep users at the level from changing brands.

I've said it before, I want to see Nikon put in the effort because it can only be of benefit to everyone, my concern is that they are focusing on short term gains at the expense of their long term viability.

[Killakoala]

Nikon has a well thought out strategy and they are sticking to it. Whatever their plans are, are only known to them and they will try to keep it that way.

[Yi-P]

Probably they are still making their way to match up with Canon's new MkIII with further improvement to their previous D3H designs?? Therefore the late announcement? hmm... I'd love to see what does the new toy has to offer to compete with the MkIII

[jamesw]

Probably they are still making their way to match up with Canon's new MkIII with further improvement to their previous D3H designs?? Therefore the late announcement? hmm... I'd love to see what does the new toy has to offer to compete with the MkIII

i highly doubt that the release of the MkIII has had any impact on what the d3h is going to look like. the only 'surprise' that the mkIII had was the live view... eveyrthing else was natural progression.

plus, it is so late in the design process (it has been said protos are floating about) at this point in time, that even a minor change in design would push back release dates considerably. but like i said - the MkIII was just a natural progression, no huge suprises in there, the only thing that was unexpected was live view.

i suspect nikon will do what nikon is good at doing -- keep their cards close to their chest, and not change strategy.

...i read way too much of what thom hogan has to say...

[the foto fanatic]

Do Leica, Hasselblad etc replace their top-end model every year? Neither does Nikon. If Canon does then they'd be the odd one out here.

Not really a fair comparison. Blad basically went under and Imacon snapped them up. Leica delivered a recent product, but it was plagued with problems and Blad have the completely different market.

Canon can do it. Sony will to, once they get up and running. Nikon rely on soccer-mums to make their cash. Soccer mums won't keep updating.

I don't mind them cashing in on the soccer-mums, but they will need to diversify, give the pros something, as pros will update every 2-3years, soccer-mums wont.

To me, it's like the fashion market.

Do the couturiers make their money from fashion models?

No, they make their money from people who want to look like fashion models.

These people think that they will look like a fashion model if they buy a Versace or Chanel.

Just like people think that they will be a pro photog if they buy a Canon!

[who]

Just makes it hard for the person lurking around saving cash for a DSLR.

I do like the D200 + 18-200 as a day to day, then a 10.5mm fisheye.... a fast prime or two.... then I am committed to Nikon by $$.....

That is what I am doing, looking to see what is available and what people think of gear.

[tbgphoto]

Just makes it hard for the person lurking around saving cash for a DSLR.

I do like the D200 + 18-200 as a day to day, then a 10.5mm fisheye.... a fast prime or two.... then I am committed to Nikon by $$.....

That is what I am doing, looking to see what is available and what people think of gear.

There's no reason not to buy Nikon gear, the D200 is an excellent camera. I don't see Nikon disappearing anytime soon, I do fear though that over time they will become more and more focused on the mum's and dad's market at the expense of the pro's.

One thing I struggle to understand about Nikon's strategy is why do they need to have so many entry level cameras compared to Canon. Nikon has the D40, D40x, D50, D70, and D80 compared to Canon which cover this whole range with the 400D. I also don't understand why they continue to persist with the CCD sensor instead of going to the superior CMOS sensor across the range.

Just my thoughts.

[jamesw]

Just makes it hard for the person lurking around saving cash for a DSLR.

I do like the D200 + 18-200 as a day to day, then a 10.5mm fisheye.... a fast prime or two.... then I am committed to Nikon by $$.....

That is what I am doing, looking to see what is available and what people think of gear.

as someone who used to think along similar lines to yourself...

remember, although the price of a body tends to depriciate fairly rapidly (ie, worth nothing within about 2 years... or at least, not worth selling if you stick with the same brand)

but lenses do not tend to depriciate as rapidly. a lot of the time, you see lenses around for about 75% of their brand new value, regardless of age, as long as they have been well taken care of.

i would advise you to buy a camera now, don't wait around for new stuff - in the time you wait, you are missing out on lots of shots, opportunities, and experience... heck, i shoot with a nikon d70 and nikon d70s - i have photos published a lot, even though a lot of people would consider the d70 obsolete.

people dont worry so much about the camera you use, as long as you are shooting good shots!

go out and buy a camera, nOW! (hahaha.)

[gooseberry]

As to what/when the next camera announcement will be - Nikon's 90th anniversary is July 2007. So I'd think they'd make an announcement about a new camera to coincide with that anniversary (like they have done previously with other pro camera releases).

Also, speculation is that the next generation pro camera might not be a D3H/D3X, but just a D3 - ie. high MP 35FF with a high speed 1.5x crop mode - but that is just pure speculation - take it with a huge lick of salt from the slat block.

[Reschsmooth]

Just makes it hard for the person lurking around saving cash for a DSLR.

I do like the D200 + 18-200 as a day to day, then a 10.5mm fisheye.... a fast prime or two.... then I am committed to Nikon by $$.....

That is what I am doing, looking to see what is available and what people think of gear.

To paraphrase (badly) a quote I read a while ago, if new technology comes out, is that going to make your existing camera/lenses take bad photos?

To put it another way, if Nikon didn't release anything new for 10 years, are there, say, Nikon cameras and lenses available today that will help you get the photos you want?

If the answer is yes, then get it!

We jumped in with the D200 (my wife used to use Nikon) and started from scratch - I had never really used Nikon, had no lenses and probably couldn't even tell you why we went for the D200 (even though the decision was only about 18 months ago). Yet, we love it and love a lot of the photos it has helped us capture.

To stop my rambling, I just don't believe people should GENERALLY continue to wait for new announcements before their purchase as the rumour mill (as pointless as it is) runs a hell of a lot faster than product cycles.

P

[jamesw]

To paraphrase (badly) a quote I read a while ago, if new technology comes out, is that going to make your existing camera/lenses take bad photos?

EXACTLY!

once you can afford what you want, buy it, dont worry about future releases. whats here is here - don't get stuck in the trap of waiting...

[gstark]

I just don't believe people should GENERALLY continue to wait for new announcements before their purchase as the rumour mill (as pointless as it is) runs a hell of a lot faster than product cycles.

Absobloodylutely.

Now, y'all, go forth and make fotos.