Update #1: Nikon issued a statement denying any layoffs.
Update #2: Nikon to “re-assign” 1,550 employees in Japan, total headcount will be reduced by 1,000
This just in from Nikkei – “Nikon to cut 1,000 jobs in Japan“:
Nikon plans to eliminate about 1,000 jobs in Japan, or 10% of its domestic workforce, as the company shifts resources away from once core businesses to medical devices and other growth areas.
The cuts over the next two to three years will mostly affect Nikon’s money-losing semiconductor equipment operations and its shrinking digital camera business.
Nikon is seen missing its forecast of a 64% jump in net profit to 30 billion yen ($287 million) for the fiscal year ending in March. Its net profit has fallen from a peak of 75.4 billion yen in fiscal 2007 to 18.2 billion yen last year.
From Reuters – “Nikon drops sales forecast as high-end camera market stalls“:
Nikon Corp cut its full-year unit sales forecast for high-end cameras for the second quarter in a row on Thursday, as a dramatic fall in demand among photography hobbyists that began last year accelerated faster than expected.
The company posted a 41 percent drop in operating profit to 21.9 billion yen ($222 million) for the six months ended September, saying overseas demand for pricy single-lens reflex models had remained depressed.
It cut its unit sales projection for interchangeable lens cameras to 6.20 million from a previous forecast of 6.55 million, which had predicted the first fall in sales of the format since Nikon’s first digital SLR in 1999.
I will have a separate post on the latest Nfinancialncial results.
