Nikon has confirmed that two of its factories will be closing. Its Aizu and Nagai facilities in Japan, which both focused on lens production, will close this March. The move follows the company’s plans for transferring all of its camera manufacturing to Thailand, where it is already established, as part of wider cost-cutting and streamlining measures.
Nikon is keeping some lens production in Japan but shifting camera production to Thailand
The company has also released its latest financial results. Revenue for the Imaging Products Business (quarter one to quarter three of the 2021 financial year) was ¥116.7 billion/about £807 million, down a steep 38% year-on-year. Meanwhile Nikon’s operating profit for the period was ¥28 billion /nearly £193 million, a fall of 24% – see chart below.
While this might make for worrying reading for Nikon fans, the company puts a sizeable chunk of the losses down to fixed asset impairment and disposal/write down of inventory and associated expenses as it focusses on moving more of its manufacturing from Japan over to Thailand.
The Z series of mirrorless cameras is helping the bottom line
As we’ve mentioned before, the company is now aggressively prioritising mirrorless cameras, particularly at the higher end of the market – the “shift to mid to high-end models for pro/hobbyist has been progressing smoothly, and unit sales price has risen,” it reports. “Mirrorless bodies and lenses reached a record high for quarterly sales volume and revenues, on contribution from new products (such as the) Z6 II and Z7 II.”
So on a brighter note, for this latest financial reporting period, revenue was down a relatively modest 38.3% year on year, even though sales volume for interchangeable lens cameras and lenses was also down 52.2% – in other words, solid sales of more expensive, higher-end mirrorless cameras and lenses seem to be making a positive difference to Nikon’s books.
Further reading
Nikon doubles down on mirrorless
