Laser printers maintained “steady growth”, while inkjet printer sales decreased.
The OEM’s results saw MFD and laser printer sales continue to grow as the overall market for inkjet printers decreased, due to “the increase in consumption tax in Japan”.
Net sales fell by 4.1 percent to ¥926.8 billion ($9.176 billion/€6.812 billion) for the quarter, but increased 0.6 percent over the first half of the year to ¥1,795.1 billion ($17.773 billion/€13.198 billion). Efforts to reduce spending saw operating expenses fall by 1.6 percent to ¥373.0 billion ($3.693 billion/€2.721 billion), and operating profit grew by 12.4 percent to ¥110.5 billion ($1.095 billion/€806 million).
Other income grew by ¥5.9 billion ($59 million/€43 million) due to “foreign currency exchange gains”, and income before tax increased by 18.3 percent to ¥117.0 billion ($1.158 billion/€853 million). Additionally, operating profit for the first half of 2014 grew by 26.2 percent to ¥193.2 billion ($1.913 billion/€1.409 billion).
Sales of MFDs allowed the Office Business Unit’s sales to “remain the same level” as the year before, largely thanks to the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5200 series, whilst high-speed continuous-feed printers and wide-format machines were boosted by “solid growth” thanks to sales of the Océ ColorStream 3000.
Laser printers saw monochrome remain “sluggish”, but colour grew, with sales for the quarter increasing 0.5 percent to ¥522.5 billion ($5.173 billion/€3.81 billion), and for the first six months of the year growing by 4.8 percent to ¥1,031.7 billion ($10.215 billion/€7.583 billion), while operating profit increased by 17.8 percent to ¥160.6 billion ($1.590 billion/€1.180 billion).
Inkjets meanwhile saw sales volumes fall thanks to “market contraction in Japan”, though consumable sales “remained at the same level”, meaning that overall inkjet sales fell by 13.9 percent to ¥332.4 billion ($3.291 billion/€2.443 billion), and operating profit fell 9.4 percent to ¥51.0 billion ($505 million/€374 million). For the half-year, sales fell 8.6 percent to ¥625.2 billion ($6.190 billion/€4.959 billion), and operating profit grew by 9.7 percent to ¥93.0 billion ($921 million/€683 million).
The OEM stated that demand for MFDs is “projected to expand moderately”, and mainly in colour, whilst laser printers are “expected to continue growing moderately” with an emphasis on MFPs. In turn, inkjet is expected to see “an end to dwindling demand”.