Canon Inc, the world's third-largest maker of digital cameras, said profit rose 35 percent in the second quarter on surging sales of cameras and color printers and after lowering manufacturing costs.
Net income rose to Japanese Yen 56.2 billion (US$469 million) in the three months ended June 30, from Japanese Yen 41.6 billion, or Japanese Yen 47.4, a year ago, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement. Sales rose 9.7 percent to Japanese Yen 804 billion from Japanese Yen 733 billion.
Canon, which posted record profits the past three years, has cut costs by improving efficiency at its factories and by shifting workers to new and more profitable businesses.
Second-quarter operating profit rose 31 percent to Japanese Yen 98.6 billion from Japanese Yen 75.5 billion in the year-ago period, buoyed by production cost cuts and strong sales of high-speed laser printers and digital cameras.
Canon's leading position in the laser printer market also generated sales of toners and other components. Canon has 72 percent of the global market for laser printers, including those it makes for Hewlett-Packard, said Merrill Lynch Japan Securities analyst Richard Kaye.
The company had a 14.7 percent share of the digital camera market last year, lagging Sony and Olympus Optical Co, according to market researcher IDC.
First-half net income totaled Japanese Yen 127.8 billion on an 11 percent gain in sales for the period to Japanese Yen 1.54 trillion, the company said.
The company raised its fiscal-year profit forecast, saying it now expects group net income of Japanese Yen Y263 billion.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique