Tough times at Olympus prompt SLR focus
By
Mike Tomkins
(Wednesday, November 9, 2005 - 09:32 EST)
Japan's Olympus Corp. has released its financial results for the half year ending September 30th 2005.
Net income for the company as a whole was reported as ¥2.2 billion, a whopping 67.7% below figures for the same period last year. The fall was attributed to operating losses for the company's Imaging division, which more than doubled to ¥6.7 billion, as the company attempted to cut inventories and review its workforce levels. According to company documents, total digital camera sales revenue fell some 15.6% from year ago levels. Japanese domestic sales took the hardest hit with a 20.9% drop, while overseas sales slid 14.9%.
Looking to improve the situation, the company is planning to significantly change its overall product mix for the digital camera market, which is currently dominated by compact models (72%), with digital SLRs making up just 3% of sales, and other products the remaining 25%. In three years, the company is forecasting 20% of its digital camera sales to be DSLR models, with compact models constituting 60%. Two years later, the mix is expected to be 30% DSLR, and 40% compact models.
The company also noted that it would cease production of digital music players, having faced strong competition from Apple and Sony in that segment.
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