Fujifilm quarterly profit declines 9.2 percent on restructuring costs

Fujifilm Holdings Corp., Japan's biggest film maker, booked a 9.2 percent decline in net income for the October-December period Tuesday as restructuring costs countered rising sales.

Photo: Fujifilm quarterly profit declines 9.2 percent on restructuring costs

Profit at Tokyo-based Fujifilm dropped to 24.6 billion yen (US$203.3 million; Ђ157.3 million) in the company's fiscal third quarter, compared with 27.1 billion yen a year earlier, the company said in a release.

Sales climbed 5.1 percent to 716.5 billion yen (US$5.92 billion; Ђ4.58 billion), from 681.7 billion yen.

Rising demand for medical imaging equipment helped drive overall revenue higher, but the gains were offset by one-time costs of 24.2 billion yen (US$200 million; Ђ154 million) to restructuring the companies ailing color print and photosensitive materials division.

The expenses come as Fujifilm and U.S. rival Eastman Kodak Co. struggle to adapt to the shift to digital imaging.

Fujifilm's restructuring costs included measures to trim the work force and streamline Fujifilm's research and development unit, marketing operations and photoprocessing laboratory, the company said. Operating profit meanwhile rose 70 percent to 70.7 billion yen (US$584 million; Ђ452 million) in the third quarter.

Sales of color film and digital cameras fell in the latest quarter but total revenue was bolstered by gains in medical products such as flat panel display systems and endoscopes. Revenue was also helped by the weakening of the yen versus the euro, reports AP.

Overseas sales accounted for more than half of Fujifilm's revenue in the third quarter and booked an 11 percent increase, compared with a 1.3 percent decline in domestic sales.

Kodak, also scrambling to spin larger profits from digital photography as its fabled film business erodes, said in October that its two straight years of quarterly losses narrowed in the July-September period despite heavy restructuring costs.

For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Fuji reported a 20 percent tumble in net income to 48.4 billion yen (US$400 million; Ђ309 million), from 60.2 billion yen. Sales rose 4.2 percent to 2.07 trillion yen (US$17.1 billion; Ђ13.2 billion).