Web Analytics RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: Hoya Reported Net Loss in Running Pentax and Overall Profit Declined

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Hoya Reported Net Loss in Running Pentax and Overall Profit Declined

Here is the latest financial news from Bloomberg for the first financial quarter business results of Hoya:-

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a2INg8z8QZAQ&refer=asia

Two paragraphs in the report quoted:-

1. "Operating profit, or sales minus administrative expenses and the cost of goods sold, declined 3.5 percent to 21.9 billion yen ($199 million) in the three months ended June 30, Tokyo-based Hoya said today."

2. "Pentax had a 38 million yen loss in the quarter."

Besides, here is another more detailed report on the same news by the Tech-On! News of the Japanese Nikkei Business Publications:-

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20080812/156393/

The key paragraphs are also quoted, as follows:-

1. "Sales declined 6.1% to ¥130.156 billion (approx US$1.18 billion) and operating income decreased 8.2% to ¥21.857 billion, compared with the previous year's results including those of Pentax Corp, which Hoya bought out in March 2008."

2. "Digital camera business to be downsized"

3. "Concerning the digital camera business operated by Pentax, Hoya said it will aim to secure its profit by reducing the business scale from now on. Amid the market environment, where the price competition intensified and sales growth of SLR products slowed, financial results of Pentax also plunged with unit sales decreasing and unit price lowering in the April-June quarter."

4. "A sales decline of about 20% is anticipated to continue in the July-September quarter, as the business unit is building up inventory, lagging behind its rivals and market demand when releasing products, according to Hoya. The company is planning to cut costs by streamlining its bases in Japan by shifting production overseas and outsourcing, as well as reducing production to an appropriate level from now, it said."

Well, now, do some of the above statements sound very familiar (if you have read here just a little bit long enough). Those are what I have been talking about for quite some time now! Actually, the current situation is just somehow trivial and predictions are not really difficult.

But, the most worrisome thing as learnt from these news reports is not about those obvious things and facts (which are just so obvious except for those particular group of stupidly brand-blinded fanboys who are either not knowing the facts or not been unable to face them) BUT about the attitude and new direction/policy that will be taken by Hoya which will affect Pentax directly and of course their existing users much.

Now, even the Press and Media generally have the same view and have given a tone that Pentax is just like a burden to Hoya and have caused Hoya to earn less (but undoubtedly it is just a fact), what the shareholders of Hoya will think and (decide to) do - none of us will know exactly but of course they will! Really rather worrisome afterall.. :-(

Anyway, my own simple view is: to make Pentax profitable, Hoya MUST FIRST INVEST, which is the ONLY way to save Pentax (and to get Hoya themselves out of the current trouble for acquiring Pentax, as well). Otherwise, Pentax will inevitably die eventually (it just cannot survive in this cruel market). IF Hoya is just so mean NOT to invest, why not just decisively close down that dying camera division one-off and move on??

Afterall, I think there is nothing on Earth that one never invest (and so does he/she not have such a will, neither) but will eventually get a harvest, will one?

10 comments:

  1. You absolutely right, "Hoya MUST FIRST INVEST", but if they dont? I say Samsung is god buyer of Pentax, probably Samsung will buy only system, just like Sony did with Konica/Minolta. Seeing how Samsung is aiming for market share in almoust any electronics segment, I can't expect them staing out of DSLR market.

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  2. Anonymous14/8/08 12:39

    highRice could barely contain his boner on reporting the drop in Hoya's profitability.

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  3. Anonymous14/8/08 14:08

    Ricehigh
    I find it interesting that you see people that object to your medically obsessive negative rants as "fanboys". Maybe they just don't like the fact that this blog is not a Pentax blog but a Pentax bashing blog. If you even attempted some sort of balance you might get less crap from people.
    Jon

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  4. Anonymous14/8/08 14:10

    Does this news mean you get a bonus from the company paying you drag Pentax through the mud at every opportunity?

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  5. Anonymous15/8/08 10:35

    This is the same period in which Canon's profit dipped by 10%, and Nikon's by 23%.

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  6. Anonymous15/8/08 10:40

    I've got two questions for you.
    1. Do you want Pentax to succeed or fail?
    2. Do you think that your constant bashing of Pentax will have an effect on your answer to question 1?
    Jon

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  7. I don't know the plan about hoya about investing in pentax to make it profitable again. DO they communicate on this ? From now i don't understand why they bought Pentax : even if they are interested in non-photography business of Pentax, why continuing with the same Pentax markting when it prove to failed ? DO they think making Pentax smaller will make it more profitable in the future?

    From now i see no proof that Hoya wants Pentax back in the business of photography, this would have required massive investment.

    Maybe they just have (want ?) to sell it to Samsung now i'm afraid. The problem is that if they do that i think we will loose the name !

    Having the same reflex branded as Pentax and as Samsung is a long term non-sens to me anyway. Do you see Apple selling iMac under the HP's name ? They tried it with the iPod anyway… !

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  8. Anonymous20/8/08 01:47

    38,000,000 yen is less than $350,000 US. We have CEO's who spend more than that on coffee and hookers.

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  9. I hope Pentax's CEO hasn't wasted 350k US dollars for the luxuries after his camera division has already lost all the money that were earned by the endoscope division, then.

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  10. http://photo.net/columns/mjohnston/pentax-35mm-lens/optical-discussion/

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