Fujifilm Profits Take A Dive Of 22 Percent

Updated - Friday, 29th July 2005

Fujifilm Profits Take A Dive Of 22 Percent: Today Reuters reported that Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. profits took a dive of 22 percent. Weak sales of color photo film and digital cameras, especially in North America, were to blame reported Reuters.

“The difficulty we have in North America is that we can’t do much face-to-face sales to explain our products’ sales points. But we are thinking of expanding our customer targets to more high-end users who purchase cameras at camera specialty stores,” said Chief Financial Officer Toshio Takahashi.

By Nathan Layne

TOKYO (Reuters) - Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. posted a 22 percent fall in quarterly operating profit on Friday on weak film demand, a loss in its digital camera business and higher raw materials prices, but the world’s second-largest photo film maker stuck to a 3 percent full-year growth forecast.

Fuji Photo has struggled to maintain profitability on digital cameras amid intense price competition in compact models. Unlike rivals Canon Inc. and Nikon Corp., it does not have a big presence in the high end of the market, where margins are fatter and price falls less severe.

The tough transition to digital products faced by analog film makers was highlighted last week when U.S.-based Eastman Kodak Co. posted its third quarterly net loss in a row. The global photo film leader said it would cut up to 10,000 jobs…

[Read the Full Reuters Article]