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Nikon Corporation held its latest earnings call earlier today and has since published the full financial details for its fiscal year (FY) 2019, which ran from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019. Though many numbers were positive, Nikon’s Imaging Products Business segment was the glaring exception with a substantial revenue decrease of 17.9% compared to FY 2018.
The Nikon Imaging Products Business reports revenue of ¥296.1B for its most recent fiscal year, a ¥64.6B decrease year-on-year. Though sales and revenue for full-frame cameras experienced growth over the last two years, Nikon reports falling ¥8.9B short of the sales forecast for its interchangeable lens cameras and lenses.
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The Imaging business segment reports a fiscal year operating profit of ¥22.6B, a year-on-year drop of ¥8.2B. In comparison, Nikon saw revenue and operating profit increases across both its Precision Equipment and Healthcare businesses, and only a slight 1% drop in revenue across its other segments.
Looking forward, Nikon plans to expand its product line over the fiscal year that will end on March 31, 2020, but expects ‘substantial revenue reduction’ during the same time period ‘due to unit sales decrease of the existing products mainly in DSLR.’ In regards to the Imaging segment’s operating profit forecast, Nikon said, ‘Further cost-effective measures shall offset the profit reduction partially.’
The numbers follow a CIPA report published last month that revealed a year-on-year decrease in the interchangeable lens camera market, which fell from 798,014 global shipments in February 2018 to 521,217 shipments in February 2019. That decrease was part of an overall downward trend that saw total global digital camera shipments fall from 1,001,398 units in January 2019 to 935,148 units in February.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)