Canon posts their latest financial results

Canon just posted their first-quarter financial results, and as you may expect COVID-19 is front and center in their summarization of the quarter.  What is sure to be a common theme for all of the Japanese manufacturers, Canon faced severe supply chain issues and increased difficulty in selling products to a world distracted by the virus.

As far as cameras Canon faced a contraction of 28% in terms of raw units, and a sales loss of 24.8%.  With that, we can see that even though Canon is certainly down the product mix has changed a bit, as they were still selling higher value units, more than lower value units.

Inkjet printers, probably because of the fact that more people were working from home actually went up during the quarter having a 7.3% unit growth year on year.

In the first quarter, amid ongoing camera market contraction, we posted a significant drop in revenue. This was due to a shortage of products linked to supply-chain issues that arose in connection with COVID-19.

Going forward, we will make every effort to minimize the sales impact, carrying out flexible parts procurement that takes into consideration the operating status of suppliers and clarifying our priorities as it relates to the production of each model.

In addition to the impact on supply, sales of interchangeable-lens cameras were also greatly affected. One after another, life events were canceled or postponed and chances to use cameras decreased. In addition to this, we believe it will take time to see a recovery in the demand for cameras, which are considered luxury items, even after the global economic turmoil has subsided. As a result, we expect the rate of market contraction in 2020 to exceed that of 2019.

Canon in their quarter summary hyped the R5;

In the first-quarter of this year, we announced development of a new full-frame mirrorless camera, the EOS R5. This camera has garnered high acclaim from the market for its advanced features since being announced. In addition to 8K video shooting with an interchangeable lens camera, the EOS R5 also realizes a further improvement in image stabilization by taking the image stabilization mechanisms typically found in lenses, integrating them into the camera body, and fully coordinating the system from both sides. It is a powerful new product that provides a revolutionary shooting experience for all still image and video users.

Canon interestingly mentioned that they are going to bring more popular price products in terms of lenses this year.  A little glimpse perhaps into the lenses that are still forthcoming this year.

On top of this, we will work to enhance our lineup of dedicated full-frame mirrorless camera lenses, bringing the total to 19 with the launch of nine new models this year. We will also launch popular price range products, an area where we were not able to sufficiently cover up-to-now. Through this and the significant expansion of our lens selection, we will expand sales of camera bodies and stimulate demand for full-frame mirrorless cameras.

As far as Canon's outlook this is the first time that I can recall that Canon never gave a summary of the market and what their expected unit sales will be for the remainder of the year.  I think that's a good sign that Canon, like everyone else, is simply saying.. "we have no clue".  This is worrying, of course, since if the leader in the market has no idea, good luck for everyone else.

Overall as a Company, Canon isn't looking that bad, I mean let's face it, there's a ton of other large companies basically tanking right now.  Canon posted overall a -9.5% net sales, and a -30% decrease of Net Income (profit).  However, they were still a profitable company overall posting a 21.9 billion yen or 203 million USD profit for the quarter.

• Canon Financial Results