TOKYO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Japan’s Canon Inc said on Thursday that its net profit rose 45 percent in 2003 thanks to healthy demand for office copiers and booming sales of digital cameras and it forecast a fifth straight record profit this year.

Canon posted a consolidated net profit of 275.7 billion yen ($2.60 billion) for calendar year 2003, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of 264.5 billion yen, on revenue of 3.2 trillion yen, up 8.8 percent from the previous year.

Profits at Canon are being powered by healthy demand for multi-function network copiers and hot-selling digital cameras, where it commands about 20 percent of the global market, running neck and neck with Sony Corp for top spot.

Japan’s largest office equipment maker said it expected the good times to keep on rolling, projecting that group net profit would rise another 3.7 percent in 2004 to 286 billion yen. Revenue is seen up 4.1 percent at 3.3 trillion yen.

Earlier this week copier giant Xerox Corp posted its biggest annual profit since 1999 while printer firm Lexmark International Inc scored a 20 percent gain in quarterly income, reflecting greater demand for home and office machines.

Analysts expect that domestic rivals Ricoh Co, Seiko Epson Corp and Fuji Photo Film will also post upbeat quarterly results over the next few days, each benefiting from growing consumer and corporate demand for digital goods.

Shares in Canon fell 8.6 percent in the last three months of 2003, underperforming a 1.53 percent advance in the Tokyo stock market’s electric machinery index IELEC.Canon’s stock ended Thursday up 0.18 percent at 5,550 yen. ($1=106.18 Yen)