Canon reports third-quarter income drops

Canon Inc. reported third-quarter net income dropped 37.2 percent to 16.66 billion Japanese yen from 26.52 billion yen in the prior year. Quarterly net sales decreased by 12.7% year-on-year to 758.9 billion yen. Net income per share was 15.93 yen, down from 24.93 yen last year. Third-quarter operating profit dropped 50.1% to 19.2 billion yen from the prior year.

According to the company, operating expenses decreased by 12.2% to 308.4 billion yen, due to the further promotion of efficiency for expenses throughout the entire group, despite negative effects of foreign currency fluctuation.

In the imaging sector, Canon raised their full-year projecting for interchangeable lens cameras by 500,000 units to 5.9 million for 2020:

Imaging System – Cameras:
As for camera demand, amid ongoing market contraction, we expect a significant drop in demand due to COVID-19 this year. However, in the third quarter, the camera market was stronger than expected thanks to a gradual increase in image capturing opportunities as people became more active. Taking this into account, we raised our full-year projection for the interchangeable-lens camera market by 0.5 million units to 5.9 million units.

Although we expect our full-year sales to decline in line with the market to 2.7 million units, the EOS R5 and EOS R6, new cameras equipped with full-frame sensors that we launched in the third quarter, have recorded strong sales since their introduction thanks to the high marks they have received for their revolutionary video recording function, AF performance, and image stabilizing function.

Furthermore, for our enhanced lineup of lenses, we are achieving sales growth and improving product mix through synergy with camera bodies.

In addition to shifting to high value-added interchangeable-lens cameras like the EOS R5, we will expand sales of other cameras based on new design concepts that actively incorporate the various ideas of our young employees.

A recent example of this is the PowerShot Zoom, a handheld camera that combines the functions of a telescope and camera. We started crowdfunding this camera on a Japanese site in September. This gave us access to a new user base that was able to make advance purchase reservations for a limited number of cameras which was reached soon after we started taking orders.