The firm blamed ‘sluggish markets in Europe and Americas’, though it added that cost cuts boosted profit margin over the same quarter last year.

Nikon sold 1.1 million interchangeable-lens cameras, compared to 1.59m a year earlier.

Sales of interchangeable lenses fell 28%, while demand for Nikon’s fixed-lens compact cameras crashed 43%.

Earlier, we reported that worldwide shipments of compact system cameras jumped 12.8% in the first half of 2014, as DSLRs suffered a 22% decline.