Nikon Reports 1st-Half Profit Despite Tight Pricing, Yen's Rise
Dow Jones Newswires
TOKYO -- Japan's Nikon Corp. said Friday it posted unconsolidated pretax profit of 2.05 billion yen ($19.5 million) for the first half ended Sept. 30, compared with a year-earlier loss of 2.20 billion yen.
Sales in the six-month period grew 5.9% to 135.17 billion yen($1.285B).
In the first half, the company said it felt the debilitating effects of the yen's rapid advance and increasingly stiff price competition in the domestic market.
However, due to the recovery in the semiconductor market, demand for steppers, devices used in making semiconductors, shifted to more advanced, higher-priced types, which boosted Nikon's stepper sales in value terms even as unit sales dropped, the company said.
Against that backdrop, Nikon successfully swung into the black across the board, due to efforts to scale down operating expenses and introduce a new line of products.
Nikon said it posted an operating profit of 1.63 billion yen($15.5M), compared with a loss of 5.99 billion yen a year ago. It posted a net profit of 1.17 billion yen($11.1M), compared with a loss of 1.37 billion yen in the same period a year ago.
Sales of semiconductor-related equipment, including steppers, climbed 10% to 60.37 billion yen($5.74B), which accounted for 45% of total sales. Stepper sales, which made up 44.7%, the largest portion by product category, of Nikon's total parent sales in the first six months, rose 10% from a year ago in the first half, Nikon said.
Unit sales of steppers dropped to 130 in the six months to Sept. 30 from 140 a year ago. However, the more sophisticated steppers, priced around 800 million yen($7.6M) on average, enjoyed a sharp rise in unit sales, replacing the type which is priced at around 300 million yen($2.85M), a Nikon spokesman said.
In the second half of the year, Nikon expects to report a parent pretax profit of 6.50 billion yen on parent sales of 300.00 billion yen. It also sees a parent operating profit of 9.00 billion yen, Nikon managing director Yasujiro Hara said at a news conference.
The company expects semiconductor sales to continue improving while the possible continuation of strong yen conditions through the rest of the year keeps Nikon wary of potential deterioration in its outlook, he said.
Nikon expects the dollar to average 105 yen and the euro to average 110 yen in the second half through March 31. As of Oct. 25, Nikon has set aside reserves equal to 49% of the dollars it expects to need and 50% of the euro it expects to need for the rest of the year, it said.
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