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TOKYO: Canon Inc. said Tuesday its net profit grew 21.2 per cent in the quarter to March and revised up its full-year forecast thanks to the popularity of its high-end digital cameras and printers.
Canon, seen as one of the companies leading Japan's economic recovery, said it expected sustained growth due to rising demand in developing countries and emerging economies such as Russia.
Canon posted a net profit of 131.25 billion yen (US$1.1 billion) for the first three months, up from 108.27 billion in the same period a year earlier.
It saw sales of 1.04 trillion yen, up 12.5 per cent from the previous year.
"A significant rise in sales of digital cameras and of laser-beam printers contributed to this growth," Canon vice president Toshizo Tanaka told reporters.
A weaker yen "contributed by adding 3.61 billion yen to sales and 2.31 billion yen to operating profit," he said.
Operating profit jumped 21.9 per cent from a year earlier to 207.4 billion yen and pretax profit went up 22.6 per cent to 207.8 billion yen.
For the full-year to December, Canon now predicts a net profit of 505 billion yen and pretax profit of 800 billion yen on sales of 4.54 trillion yen, upgraded from 495 billion, 775 billion and 4.45 trillion yen respectively.
"We see the global buying boom of digital cameras will continue for a while, especially in developing countries, countries in Eastern Europe and Russia," Tanaka said.
But the company said that severe price competition and shifting demand towards lower-priced models were expected to continue for its network digital multifunction devices (MFDs) and laser beam printers.
For the three months to March, sales of business machines - including MFDs and laser beam printers - rose 13.3 per cent from a year earlier to 715.4 billion yen, while sales of cameras grew 15.8 per cent to 222.4 billion yen.
Canon assumes an exchange rate of 117 yen to the dollar and 155 yen to the euro for this year.
"Although uncertainty over such factors as future interest rates in major countries makes it difficult to predict the direction of currency exchange rates, significant changes in rates are not anticipated," it said in a statement. - AFP/yy
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