Canon Announces Strong First-Quarter Financials

On April 26, Canon announced its consolidated results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017. Net sales of ¥972.8 billion were up 22 percent from the same period a year ago, while net income of ¥55.1 billion were up 96.8 percent.

Canon’s earning statement noted that demand for office multifunction devices (MFDs) remained at around the same level as the previous year, while demand for laser printers exceeded the level of the previous year due to the recovery of emerging countries where the market had been sluggish.

Looking at Canon’s first-quarter performance by business unit, beginning with the Office Business Unit, unit sales of office MFDs increased from the same period of the previous year, supported by steady sales of A3 (12”x18”) imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5500-series models, which were launched in the previous year, and small-office/home-office color A3 (12”x18”) imageRUNNER ADVANCE C3300-series models. Among high-speed continuous-feed printers, sales of the Océ-produced VarioPrint i300, a high-speed sheet-fed color inkjet press, increased year on year. As for laser printers, sales increased steadily for new models introduced to expand the product lineup, while sales of consumables started to recover, having bottomed out in the second half of the previous year. Consequently, the sales of both printers and consumables increased year on year. These factors resulted in total sales for the business unit of ¥457.7 billion, a year on year increase of 0.7%, while operating profit totaled ¥55.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 24.0%.

Outlook

As for the outlook in the second quarter onward, the U.S. economy is expected to continue driving the recovery of the global economy. The European economy is expected to recover more slowly due to increasing uncertainty surrounding the U.K.’s decision to leave the EU and the risky political climates of principal countries. Looking at China, the economy is expected to stabilize through changes in fiscal policy, while emerging economies, such as those of Southeast Asia, Russia and Brazil, are expected to recover along with the rising price of natural resources. With regard to the Japanese economy, the outlook indicates a trend of gradual recovery supported by improved employment conditions and corporate earnings. Overall, the global economy is expected to recover from the previous year, although concerns are mounting over the rise in protectionism and increasing geopolitical risks in the Middle East and East Asia. In the businesses in which Canon is involved, for office MFDs, demand for color models is expected to grow moderately, despite the contraction of the market for monochrome models. Looking at the laser printer market, although demand for printers is expected to remain at the same level as the previous year, demand for consumables is expected to expand, as color models increase in the market.

Canon revised its projected full-year consolidated net sales to ¥4,020 billion, up 18 percent.

See the full financial announcement here.