Nikon says its stepper business has bottomed out
TOKYO, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Nikon Corp president Shoichiro Yoshida told a news conference on Wednesday that Nikon's stepper business had bottomed out.
But he added no clear sign of recovery was in sight yet.
''I have a feeling that the (stepper) business has bottomed out, at least we don't have to revise downwards our sales forecasts day-by-day as we did last December,'' Yoshida said.
Yoshida said orders from South Korea for semiconductor production equipment have recovered since February.
''Apparently the worst days are over in South Korea and the situation for manufacturers there has stabilised,'' Yoshida said.
Yoshida became the chairman of the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, an international trade association, in
July.
biz.yahoo.com
ALSO, Canon released earnings last night, but no mention of the semi-equipment business
TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Canon Inc. (CANNY or 7751) Wednesday reported that parent pretax profit rose 9.3% to Y85.66 billion for the half-year ended June 30 as sales grew 9.9% to Y805.72 billion. Operating profit jumped 17% to Y96.49 billion while net profit decreased 13% to Y42.60
billion.
The company said the weak yen and strong sales in the U.S. and Europe helped pretax profit grow.
The net impact on sales and operating profit from the weaker yen was Y10 billion, the company said.
Canon forecast that for the current fiscal year through Decmber 1998, parent sales will amount to Y1.650 trillion, pretax profit will be Y168 billion and net profit will total Y85 billion.
Canon Inc. is a major Japanese maker of office automation and precision optical equipment.
Headquarters: 3-30-2, Shimomaruko, Ohta-ku Tokyo 146.
Significant developments:
In August, the company forecast for the full fiscal year through Dec. 31, 1998 parent sales of Y1.650 trillion, pretax profit of Y168.00 billion and net profit of Y85.00 billion. On a group basis, it forecast in February sales of Y2.950 trillion, pretax profit of Y255.00 billion and net profit of Y125.00 billion.
In April, Canon said it had set up joint venture software development company in Beijing with help from Peking University.
In January, Canon said it took a majority equity stake in Tokyo Denshi Sekei KK, a maker of electronic components and software, in a bid to strengthen its ability to create networking and systems software technology.
In December, the company said it will pay a dividend of Y17 to stockholders for calendar 1997, up Y2 from a year ago.
In August, it said it purchased land in Kyushu to build a Y30 billion chemical products plant. |
