Kinko Optical Co (今國光), a supplier of glass-lens kits used in products including Canon Inc’s digital single-lens reflex cameras, yesterday posted record revenue of NT$683.22 million (US$22 million) for last month.
The figure for last month was up 4.05 percent from a month ago and a jump of 12.05 percent from the same month last year, with Kinko saying it has gained strong orders from customers such as Canon and Nikon Corp.
Global shipments of digital cameras are expected to fall 12.5 percent this year from last year as the slowing global economy cut customer demand and smartphone cameras erode market share, Digitimes Research said in a report issued earlier this week.
However, Kinko is riding the wave of a still-strong demand for high-end digital cameras from Canon and Nikon.
The Taipei-based market researcher forecast Canon would become the No. 1 vendor this year and Nikon would overtake Samsung Electronics Co to become the third-largest vendor.
Kinko’s cumulative sales for the first eight months of this year totaled NT$4.5 billion, up 21.1 percent from NT$3.71 billion for the same period of last year, the company said in its filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Separately, Largan Precision Co (大立光), the nation’s leading maker of handset lenses, on Wednesday reported strong sales of NT$1.53 billion for last month, which was up 30 percent from July and 4.39 percent higher than the year before.
“The figure is exceeding our market expectations of NT$1.3 billion to NT$1.4 billion,” Jeff Pu (蒲得宇), an equity research analyst at Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券), said yesterday.
“Given competitors’ weakness and the upcoming iPhone 5 launch on September 12, we expect Largan’s September sales to grow month-on-month,” he added.
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