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Nikon Press Release 29/01/04

[Dow Jones and Company, Inc.] Dow Jones News Service via NewsEdge Corporation : “The digital SLR market is where we have a competitive advantage over our rivals,” said Yoshida. “The market will help us expand our digital camera sales, and it will become a big pillar of our overall imaging business.”

With the worldwide release of the D70 March 19, Nikon hopes to match the success of its archrival Canon Inc. (7751.TO), whose “EOS Kiss digital” SLR proved extremely popular.

For the fiscal year through March, Nikon’s global market share in digital SLR cameras is expected to have fallen to around 30%, behind Canon.

Nikon expects the global SLR market to grow to 5 million units a year in the next three years from about 1 million now.

For the year through March, Nikon’s in-house imaging company is expecting to book Y315.0 billion in sales, up from Y271.9 billion last fiscal year.

In the digital camera market, including SLR models and compact models, Nikon reckons its global shipments will reach 5.5 million units for the year through March, up about 64%. That would mean it maintained a 12% global market share during the year in shipment terms, while its share in value terms remained flat at 15%.

For the business year starting in April, Makoto Kimura, Nikon’s imaging company president, said the company would target worldwide digital camera shipments of 8.6 million units, giving it a 14% global share in unit terms. In value terms, that would translate to about a 19% global market share, Kimura added.

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