Strong sales of DSLR cameras are seen to be driving an earnings recovery at Canon Inc., putting the company on track for an 84% operating profit gain and a two-digit growth in fiscal year 2010 that ended in December 2010, and two-digit growth in 2012.
Its group net profit for the fiscal 2010 appears to have surged 86 percent to 245 billion yen (US$2.916 billion).
Approximately 400 billion yen (US$4.762 billion) has been reported as operating profit
for the fiscal year ended December 31, beating a previous forecast by about 10 billion yen (US$119 million). DSLRs see good sales in China, and the year-end sales are better than
expected even in Japan, the US and Europe, where there were fears of a slowdown. Canon’s overall sales are seen to have jumped 17 percent to 3.75 trillion yen (US$44.6 billion).
The company said that it plans to raise its annual dividend for the fiscal year ended December 31 from 10 yen on the year to 120 yen (US$1.42). For fiscal 2011, sales of digital cameras and copiers are projected to grow, pushing overall sales by 10 percent to more than 4 trillion yen (US$47.6 billion).
