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Canon Inc.,

Tokyo, Japan, posted a 21.2 percent rise in quarterly net income due to strong demand for copiers, laser printers, and digital cameras. Net income in the first quarter was ¥131.25 billion (US$1.11 billion), compared to a net income of ¥108.27 billion in the previous year’s first quarter. Net sales were up 12.6 percent at ¥1.04 trillion (US$8.81 billion), compared to previous first-quarter net sales of ¥923.27 billion.

  Canon is headed for its eighth straight year of profit growth as it expands sales of high-end digital cameras, color office copiers, and laser printer engines supplied to HP Co., while a soft yen helps boost profits overseas, reports Reuters.

  Canon was the first to report earnings among Japan’s camera and office equipment makers, which on average are expected to post strong growth for the past business year but issue conservative outlooks given worries over the U.S. economy and signs that demand for digital cameras might be cooling, says Reuters.

  Canon predicted a tough going in the video camera market amid fierce competition with rivals such as Sony Corp., but expressed confidence that it would be able to compensate by selling more digital cameras.

  “We expect sluggish growth in camcorders, reflecting the harsh market environment,” Canon Vice President Toshizo Tanaka said at a news conference, according to Reuters. “But overall the camera division will post 9.7 percent sales growth, driven by digital camera demand.”

  Overall camera sales for the first quarter increased by 15.8 percent from the year-ago period to ¥222.4 billion (US$1,885 million). The gross profit ratio for the camera segment also rose substantially, boosted by such factors as suppressing price decline through strong sales of high value-added products, including newly introduced products, and cost-reduction efforts realized through production-reform and procurement-reform activities. As a result, operating profit for the camera segment increased by 37.4 percent year on year to ¥60.5 billion (US$513 million). Canon stuck by its forecast to sell 24 million digital cameras this year, reports Reuters.

  Canon raised its operating profit forecast for the year to December to ¥790 billion from ¥765 billion as the softer yen more than offset larger-than expected research and development outlays and sales promotion costs. That compares with the market consensus of ¥784 billion, according to a poll of 19 analysts by Reuters Estimates, but falls short of a projection of ¥810 billion by the Nikkei business daily last week