Nikon Corp. reported a drop in the net profit in the fiscal first quarter from April through June by around half, due to the fierce price wars in the digital camera segment.
It posted a net profit of 15.77 billion yen (US$199.6 M) in the quarter, down 48.6% year-on-year, and operational profit of 23.37 billion yen (US$259.8 M), down 36.9%. Sales increased 5.6% to 259.4 billion yen (US$3.28 B).
Sales of the Imaging Business Unit posted 13.8% gain to 190.1 billion yen (US$2.4 B). Digital cameras posted the record high in the first quarter with 1.67 million units of D-SLRs including mirrorless models, 2.3 million interchangeable lenses and 4.43 million units of compact D-cams. In unit bases sales growth was 23%, 15% and 12%, respectively. For the full fiscal year through March 2013, the company expects a net profit of 60 billion yen (US$764.3 M), compared with its previous forecast of 65 billion yen (US$828 M).
