Good news from Hoya - SLR sales "sharply increased"

gazonk · 05-07-2010, 07:42 AM

Every now and then somebody picks some Amazon sales numbers and it is claimed that even the K-x doesn't really sell well.

Now the quarterly report from Hoya is out, and it looks good. I quote from the PDF linked from this page:
"In the digital camera area, the number of single-lens reflex cameras sold sharply increased from the previous year, and overall sales rose despite fierce price competition with other companies."

Last edited by gazonk; 05-07-2010 at 07:55 AM. Reason: typo

lithos · 05-07-2010, 07:44 AM

"Bah. Pentax'll be dead in six months...can I interest you in a camera we actually bothered to stock?"

From the PDF:

Quote:

As a result, sales for the quarter in this segment stood at 25,920 million yen. As for operating income
and loss, the effects of cost cutting achieved via reorganization during the previous year produced an
operating profit of 1,331million yen, showing a significant improvement in profitability compared to a
huge operating loss for the same quarter one year ago.

unixrevolution · 05-07-2010, 08:02 AM

Is the comma a comma or a decimal seperator in that text? I can't tell if they mean twenty-five million yen or twenty-five-thousand-million yen!

whelmed · 05-07-2010, 08:25 AM

Considering that 10k yen is 100 USD, I would assume for a company the size of Hoya that it is 25000 million yen.

knoxploration · 05-07-2010, 08:27 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by unixrevolution

Is the comma a comma or a decimal seperator in that text? I can't tell if they mean twenty-five million yen or twenty-five-thousand-million yen!

They mean sales of 25.92 billion yen (US$283.5 million), and an operating profit of 1.331 billion yen (US$14.5 million).

macTak · 05-07-2010, 08:32 AM

Get ready for the new claim "Hoya made Pentax profitable, so they'll try to sell the now-profitable company"

Anyway, good news, and I think there is ample cause to be optimistic.

Two things to note: Pentax shed 1/5th of it's workforce in the year (from 5003 to 3979). Also, R&D cost dropped quite sharply from 1,219 million Yen to 407 million yen (so one third of a year ago). Of course, we can't say exactly how those numbers bear on the camera division of Pentax.

youky63 · 05-07-2010, 08:43 AM

Originally posted by macTak

Get ready for the new claim "Hoya made Pentax profitable, so they'll try to sell the now-profitable company"

Anyway, good news, and I think there is ample cause to be optimistic.

Two things to note: Pentax shed 1/5th of it's workforce in the year (from 5003 to 3979). Also, R&D cost dropped quite sharply from 1,219 million Yen to 407 million yen (so one third of a year ago). Of course, we can't say exactly how those numbers bear on the camera division of Pentax.

For the workforce, they mostly moved in the electro-optics department (+907). But for the R&D... I don't know... Maybe not a good sign... Or maybe R&D was exceptionally expensive last year for the final development of 645D (and a potential FF?)...

goubejp · 05-07-2010, 01:31 PM

If you have a look on the part 2 "annual results" you see that the R&D expense on one year from 1st April 2009 to 31 March 2010 raise from 4,820 to 5,201; apparently there are stron variations from one quarter to another.

writeb · 05-07-2010, 08:45 PM

Either way, excited to hear real results of them doing well. If last year with the K-x and K-7 being released didn't yield good results, I would have finally started getting nervous about the brand.

kytra · 05-08-2010, 07:19 AM

R&D cuts does not necessarily mean lesser products but a more efficient and innovative process. I am in pharma and it is common knowledge that small companies with small budgets often yield better results from R&D than multi BILLION dollars R&D budgets (for example my company's R&D budget was a whooping 5+ BILLION dollars last year yet they did not come with any entirely new entity worth mentioning - the same in all the big ten pharmacos - tens of billions and quite few results)

mattdm · 05-08-2010, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by kytra

R&D cuts does not necessarily mean lesser products but a more efficient and innovative process. I am in pharma and it is common knowledge that small companies with small budgets often yield better results from R&D than multi BILLION dollars R&D budgets (for example my company's R&D budget was a whooping 5+ BILLION dollars last year yet they did not come with any entirely new entity worth mentioning - the same in all the big ten pharmacos - tens of billions and quite few results)

For every small company with a small budget that yields great results, a thousand fail. So while that works across the marketplace, not so good a bet for any individual company.

Fl_Gulfer · 05-08-2010, 08:07 PM

They will get greedy and ship assembly to China and then they will go out of business from REAL POOR QC.

Blue · 05-09-2010, 12:15 AM

Originally posted by Fl_Gulfer

They will get greedy and ship assembly to China and then they will go out of business from REAL POOR QC.

I don't see them doing that given they are already in The Philippines and Vietnam.

**RobA_Oz** · 05-09-2010, 01:58 AM

Originally posted by Fl_Gulfer

They will get greedy and ship assembly to China and then they will go out of business from REAL POOR QC.

That's built on the assumption that every business (or at least most) operating in China has poor quality control. Aside from a doubtful understanding of quality on the part of many people who use the term, this sort of negative comment doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

If it were true, it would obviously mean that anything manufactured in China by every large European or Japanese company there has poor quality control, and that simply isn't true. The evidence is in stores all around us in Western societies. Even some high-end products designed and made in China by indigenous companies are well-respected in Western markets. None of this means that there isn't rubbish made in China, but frankly, there's rubbish made in every country, too.

I've been fortunate enough to work in China, if only briefly, but it was clear to me when I was there that, while some of their industries have very large strides to make, others are doing very well indeed, both in terms of profits and in terms of the standards of the products they make.

People in the US and elsewhere once held the same view of Japanese industries, too. Then along came Pearl Harbour.

Keep smiling...

lithos · 05-09-2010, 02:59 AM

Originally posted by RobA_Oz

People in the US and elsewhere once held the same view of Japanese industries, too. Then along came Pearl Harbour.

That view held right up until the late fifties-early sixties. Japanese cameras were just mass-produced crap. Japan was the China of its time. Part Orientalism, part who-the-hell-are-these-guys, everyone was sceptical until Nikon, Canon and Pentax started mopping the floor with the Germans.

05-07-2010, 07:42 AM	#1
gazonk Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Oslo area, Norway Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,746	Good news from Hoya - SLR sales "sharply increased" Every now and then somebody picks some Amazon sales numbers and it is claimed that even the K-x doesn't really sell well. Now the quarterly report from Hoya is out, and it looks good. I quote from the PDF linked from this page: "In the digital camera area, the number of single-lens reflex cameras sold sharply increased from the previous year, and overall sales rose despite fierce price competition with other companies." Last edited by gazonk; 05-07-2010 at 07:55 AM. Reason: typo

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05-07-2010, 07:44 AM	#2
lithos Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Brisbane, QLD, AUS Posts: 3,261	"Bah. Pentax'll be dead in six months...can I interest you in a camera we actually bothered to stock?" From the PDF: Quote: As a result, sales for the quarter in this segment stood at 25,920 million yen. As for operating income and loss, the effects of cost cutting achieved via reorganization during the previous year produced an operating profit of 1,331million yen, showing a significant improvement in profitability compared to a huge operating loss for the same quarter one year ago.

05-07-2010, 08:02 AM	#3
unixrevolution Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Waldorf, MD Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,861	Is the comma a comma or a decimal seperator in that text? I can't tell if they mean twenty-five million yen or twenty-five-thousand-million yen!

05-07-2010, 08:25 AM	#4
whelmed Inactive Account Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: UK Posts: 57	Considering that 10k yen is 100 USD, I would assume for a company the size of Hoya that it is 25000 million yen.

05-07-2010, 08:27 AM - 1 Like	#5
knoxploration Veteran Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Knoxville, Tennessee Posts: 846	Originally posted by unixrevolution Is the comma a comma or a decimal seperator in that text? I can't tell if they mean twenty-five million yen or twenty-five-thousand-million yen! They mean sales of 25.92 billion yen (US$283.5 million), and an operating profit of 1.331 billion yen (US$14.5 million).

05-07-2010, 08:32 AM	#6
macTak Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 759	Get ready for the new claim "Hoya made Pentax profitable, so they'll try to sell the now-profitable company" Anyway, good news, and I think there is ample cause to be optimistic. Two things to note: Pentax shed 1/5th of it's workforce in the year (from 5003 to 3979). Also, R&D cost dropped quite sharply from 1,219 million Yen to 407 million yen (so one third of a year ago). Of course, we can't say exactly how those numbers bear on the camera division of Pentax.

05-07-2010, 08:43 AM	#7
youky63 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Osaka Posts: 143	Originally posted by macTak Get ready for the new claim "Hoya made Pentax profitable, so they'll try to sell the now-profitable company" Anyway, good news, and I think there is ample cause to be optimistic. Two things to note: Pentax shed 1/5th of it's workforce in the year (from 5003 to 3979). Also, R&D cost dropped quite sharply from 1,219 million Yen to 407 million yen (so one third of a year ago). Of course, we can't say exactly how those numbers bear on the camera division of Pentax. For the workforce, they mostly moved in the electro-optics department (+907). But for the R&D... I don't know... Maybe not a good sign... Or maybe R&D was exceptionally expensive last year for the final development of 645D (and a potential FF?)...

05-07-2010, 01:31 PM	#8
goubejp Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: France Photos: Albums Posts: 804	If you have a look on the part 2 "annual results" you see that the R&D expense on one year from 1st April 2009 to 31 March 2010 raise from 4,820 to 5,201; apparently there are stron variations from one quarter to another.

05-07-2010, 08:45 PM	#9
writeb Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: San Jose Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 150	Either way, excited to hear real results of them doing well. If last year with the K-x and K-7 being released didn't yield good results, I would have finally started getting nervous about the brand.

05-08-2010, 07:19 AM	#10
kytra Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Bucharest Posts: 482	R&D cuts does not necessarily mean lesser products but a more efficient and innovative process. I am in pharma and it is common knowledge that small companies with small budgets often yield better results from R&D than multi BILLION dollars R&D budgets (for example my company's R&D budget was a whooping 5+ BILLION dollars last year yet they did not come with any entirely new entity worth mentioning - the same in all the big ten pharmacos - tens of billions and quite few results)

05-08-2010, 02:02 PM	#11
mattdm Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Boston, MA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,948	Originally posted by kytra R&D cuts does not necessarily mean lesser products but a more efficient and innovative process. I am in pharma and it is common knowledge that small companies with small budgets often yield better results from R&D than multi BILLION dollars R&D budgets (for example my company's R&D budget was a whooping 5+ BILLION dollars last year yet they did not come with any entirely new entity worth mentioning - the same in all the big ten pharmacos - tens of billions and quite few results) For every small company with a small budget that yields great results, a thousand fail. So while that works across the marketplace, not so good a bet for any individual company.

05-08-2010, 08:07 PM	#12
Fl_Gulfer Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Florida Gulfer Photos: Albums Posts: 3,054	They will get greedy and ship assembly to China and then they will go out of business from REAL POOR QC.

05-09-2010, 12:15 AM	#13
Blue Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Florida Hill Country Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,377	Originally posted by Fl_Gulfer They will get greedy and ship assembly to China and then they will go out of business from REAL POOR QC. I don't see them doing that given they are already in The Philippines and Vietnam.

05-09-2010, 01:58 AM	#14
RobA_Oz Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Tasmania, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,197	Originally posted by Fl_Gulfer They will get greedy and ship assembly to China and then they will go out of business from REAL POOR QC. That's built on the assumption that every business (or at least most) operating in China has poor quality control. Aside from a doubtful understanding of quality on the part of many people who use the term, this sort of negative comment doesn't stand up to scrutiny. If it were true, it would obviously mean that anything manufactured in China by every large European or Japanese company there has poor quality control, and that simply isn't true. The evidence is in stores all around us in Western societies. Even some high-end products designed and made in China by indigenous companies are well-respected in Western markets. None of this means that there isn't rubbish made in China, but frankly, there's rubbish made in every country, too. I've been fortunate enough to work in China, if only briefly, but it was clear to me when I was there that, while some of their industries have very large strides to make, others are doing very well indeed, both in terms of profits and in terms of the standards of the products they make. People in the US and elsewhere once held the same view of Japanese industries, too. Then along came Pearl Harbour. Keep smiling...

05-09-2010, 02:59 AM	#15
lithos Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Brisbane, QLD, AUS Posts: 3,261	Originally posted by RobA_Oz People in the US and elsewhere once held the same view of Japanese industries, too. Then along came Pearl Harbour. That view held right up until the late fifties-early sixties. Japanese cameras were just mass-produced crap. Japan was the China of its time. Part Orientalism, part who-the-hell-are-these-guys, everyone was sceptical until Nikon, Canon and Pentax started mopping the floor with the Germans.