Today Nikon announced their financial results for the year that ended March 2018. As previously reported, profits are up for the entire company – here are the key numbers with relevant data from the Imaging Products Business:
Operating Profit: ¥56.2 billion (¥55.5 billion increase from last year, ¥3.2 billion above estimates)
Annual dividend increased to ¥36 per share from previously forecasted ¥31 in (previous year: ¥16, more info here).
More details on the Imaging Products Business – revenue is down, profits are up YoY:
Here is the 2019 forecast by segment:
2019 forecast for the Nikon Imaging Products Business – decrease of unit sales across the board due to continuous market shrinkage:
For those of us without any understanding of financial statements, I will be adding quotes from different websites to better understand those numbers:
The profitability of the image business improved, securing operating profit of 76.2% increase. Sales of interchangeable lens digital cameras decreased from 3.1 million units in the previous fiscal year to 2.62 million units in the current fiscal year. The interchangeable lens also decreased from 4.62 million to 4.1 million, while the number of compact digital cameras decreased from 3.19 million to 2.51 million. However, due to the strong performance of D850, sales of high-end machines are expected to increase. (DC.Watch)
Nikon’s focus on high-end cameras as the company restructures appears to be paying off, and could mean more advanced cameras like the D850 in the company’s future. In its 2017-2018 fiscal year results, announced on May 10, Nikon posted more than eight times the profit of the previous year overall, with the imaging division posting a 76.2-percent increase over the previous year. With the D850 (shown above) driving much of that increase, the company says it will continue to focus on high-end cameras — and that mirrorless could be an opportunity for the company in the future. (DigitalTrends)
Nikon restructuring and strong D850 sales lead to 8x increase in annual profit.
Of course, this reflects Nikon Corporation as a whole, but the news out of the Imaging division was also positive. While overall unit sales fell—due to the continued demise of the compact camera segment—strong demand for the D850 is said to have increased the sales of “high-class” cameras “significantly,” leading to a 76.2% year-on-year increase in operating profit. Restructuring helped here, too. (Dpreview)
Update – see how other camera companies are doing:
The latest financial results from Panasonic, Olympus, Nikon, Kodak, Canon and Ricoh
