[Kunzite]

The financial reports for Q1 2019 (April-June) were posted on the Ricoh website.
Overall we're talking about some decrease in sales, but an increase in profit. And Ricoh is switching from the RESURGENT phase to the IGNITE phase, whatever that means.

Note that the D FA* 50mm f/1.4 effective sales didn't start in that period.

Nothing much is said about cameras, except for:
- "improvement of profitability relating to industrial optical components/modules and cameras"
- "Demand solid for the Ricoh Theta and other digital cameras (about the same as year earlier)"
Smart Vision sees a slight boost in sales, actually.

Financial Announcement | Global | Ricoh

[beholder3]

Lets wait for the first lonely internet moron to interpret something intentionally made up into the generic numbers (not the above quoted texts which clearly do relate to the camera part) .
I bet on some other site there will be enough of those. Not here, though.

[rangercarp]

I bet on some other site there will be enough of those. Not here, though.

Of course not. We don't have any resident naysayers that would do that.
Cue resident naysayers in 3, 2, 1...

[ffking]

I don't see how you can justify the assertion that Pentax isn't doomed on the basis of ANY financial figures - financial figures are firmly grounded in measurable reality.

[clickclick]

I don't see how you can justify the assertion that Pentax isn't doomed on the basis of ANY financial figures - financial figures are firmly grounded in measurable reality.

Yeah, what would be the fun in basing something like that on reality?

I read it on the Internet. It must be true....

[johnmflores]

This is old news: BROKEN NEWS! PENTAX DOOMED! | New Camera News

[Not a Number]

Come on now. Financial reports that indicate Pentax is not doomed is absolute proof that Pentax is doomed.

The only thing that will save Pentax is if they drop the K-mount and the Q and come out with FF and APS-C mirrorless bodies and replace the Q with an 43rds based body all in Pro, Intermediate and entry-level versions all with 8K video.

[mlt]

Come on now. Financial reports that indicate Pentax is not doomed is absolute proof that Pentax is doomed.

The only thing that will save Pentax is if they drop the K-mount and the Q and come out with FF and APS-C mirrorless bodies and replace the Q with an 43rds based body all in Pro, Intermediate and entry-level versions all with 8K video.

And make the ff mirrorless mount a 42mm screw thread mount to simplify using all the old Practica glass :-)

[lablabu]

I've been out of the loop for a while... would you say the pentax/ricoh marriage has been positive overall? I was always a fan of both brands.

[Kunzite]

Things don't go as well/fast as we'd like, but yes, going from an owner who didn't care about the camera business (Hoya) to one that does to some extent (Ricoh) is pretty much positive.
Because of this, we have the FF - the K-1 and associated lenses.

[lablabu]

Yes, the lure of the K-1 is what has brought me back to the forums today . I'm already feeling the urge to reinvest in photography after a dry spell of a few years.

[RGlasel]

Note that the D FA* 50mm f/1.4 effective sales didn't start in that period.

But the K-1 upgrade did. This is only relative to the period of April to June 2017, so if there were new products released (including Theta) in the prior period, that would offset K-1 II sales. Surprising to me is that quarterly sales in Other is relatively stable, I would expect Q2 (October to December) to be much larger than Q4 and Q1, but starting with Q1 FY2018, the results are 44.9 billion yen, 53.5, 53.3, 52.8 and 44.6. This is much steadier than CIPA results.

In terms of net margin, I have to think that Theta and stereoscopic cameras for automobiles account for less than convential digital cameras and lenses. So if profitability for the Other segment is up slightly, that is largely a result of what is happening with Pentax, which is good news for the future of the product line. The negative news is that EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) sales are down 22% over previous Q1 and Other regions (Asia outside Japan along with Australia) are down 31% (before currency changes). The domestic market is up 6.3%, so the Japanese market now accounts for 84% of Other sales compared to 78% in the previous Q1 and Other is the only segment where the domestic market accounts for more than 53% of Ricoh's business (the entire corporation does 39.4% of its business in Japan). Sales in the Americas is up 3.3% (before currency changes), but is less than 2% of the Other segment! Any guesses as to what positive sales trend for Pentax and Ricoh cameras is occuring in Japan and nowhere else? The product lineup is the same globally, so this is a mystery to me.

---------- Post added 07-27-18 at 12:00 PM ----------

Ricoh is switching from the RESURGENT phase to the IGNITE phase, whatever that means.

Resurgent is cutting costs and capital expenditures, Ignite is increasing profitability on existing business and starting to spend money on capital again. R&D expenses are stable, but capital expenses grew from ~2 billion Yen in Q1 FY2018 (virtually zero in a company the size of Ricoh) to 40 billion in Q1 FY2019; profitability before income taxes is up slightly, so indications are that Ricoh's new CEO has been able to successfully implement his plan to turn around Ricoh.

[RonHendriks1966]

But the K-1 upgrade did. This is only relative to the period of April to June 2017, so if there were new products released (including Theta) in the prior period, that would offset K-1 II sales. Surprising to me is that quarterly sales in Other is relatively stable, I would expect Q2 (October to December) to be much larger than Q4 and Q1, but starting with Q1 FY2018, the results are 44.9 billion yen, 53.5, 53.3, 52.8 and 44.6. This is much steadier than CIPA results.

In terms of net margin, I have to think that Theta and stereoscopic cameras for automobiles account for less than convential digital cameras and lenses. So if profitability for the Other segment is up slightly, that is largely a result of what is happening with Pentax, which is good news for the future of the product line. The negative news is that EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) sales are down 22% over previous Q1 and Other regions (Asia outside Japan along with Australia) are down 31% (before currency changes). The domestic market is up 6.3%, so the Japanese market now accounts for 84% of Other sales compared to 78% in the previous Q1 and Other is the only segment where the domestic market accounts for more than 53% of Ricoh's business (the entire corporation does 39.4% of its business in Japan). Sales in the Americas is up 3.3% (before currency changes), but is less than 2% of the Other segment! Any guesses as to what positive sales trend for Pentax and Ricoh cameras is occuring in Japan and nowhere else? The product lineup is the same globally, so this is a mystery to me.

---------- Post added 07-27-18 at 12:00 PM ----------

Resurgent is cutting costs and capital expenditures, Ignite is increasing profitability on existing business and starting to spend money on capital again. R&D expenses are stable, but capital expenses grew from ~2 billion Yen in Q1 FY2018 (virtually zero in a company the size of Ricoh) to 40 billion in Q1 FY2019; profitability before income taxes is up slightly, so indications are that Ricoh's new CEO has been able to successfully implement his plan to turn around Ricoh.

Camera sales in last quarter where 4,4 billion yen. Just a little shy to 40 million $. Sales to The America's looks like 7.5 million $.

[lytrytyr]

Things don't go as well/fast as we'd like, but yes, going from an owner who didn't care about the camera business (Hoya) to one that does to some extent (Ricoh) is pretty much positive.
Because of this, we have the FF - the K-1 and associated lenses.

That's your spin.

Spun the other way,
we went from an owner who really pushed the photographic envelope with the Q system,
to one who didn't care enough about photography to keep it going,
let alone develop it with cross-fertilization from automotive camera technology,
or even bring on the Telephoto Macro that was already waiting in the wings.

[Kunzite]

Spin: "a way of describing an idea or situation that makes it seem better than it really is"
You're not spinning anything, but being obviously and intentionally unfair. You're describing the year where no K-mount product was announced as something truly glorious for the brand. Perhaps in an alternate universe - did you see people wearing goatees, by chance?
And... automotive? Do you want your camera to brake when it's closing to some object? To keep the lane? What precisely are you expecting?
OTOH Ricoh Imaging is benefiting from Ricoh technologies. The D FA* 50mm f/1.4 was designed using Ricoh's simulation tech, for instance.

It's amazing how people are screaming, "X is a bad idea! Why on Earth did they do that?" and then, after X is phased out, they're getting upset, "why don't they continue with X?". Happened with K-01 and the Q.

---------- Post added 27-07-18 at 10:15 PM ----------

But the K-1 upgrade did.

I don't think they're getting much money on the upgrade - it's a tedious operation made by third party service units.