Canon Inc. has reported a group operating profit of around 80 billion yen (US$976 million) for the Jan-March quarter, which is an 8 percent drop year-on-year, in the wake of the disaster of March 2011.
The tragedy damaged eight of Canon’s manufacturing bases in Japan. The shortage of components brought production to a standstill in a camera factory located in the Kyusyu region, down south of Japan. All bases have resumed operations since then, but the capacity utilization rate declined sharply in March. Net profit is also seen to have dropped from a year earlier. A rise in sales has been noted by more than 10 percent to 850 billion yen (US$10.36 billion), buoyed by strong demand for mainstay D-SLR cameras in China and other emerging countries. Sales of office equipment and inkjet printers were also strong worldwide.
Canon’s full-year operating profit is expected to jump 21 percent to 470 billion yen (US$5.73 billion) according to the standing projections. But with plants likely to remain below capacity in the April-June quarter, the profitability is seen to decline.