Fall in Ricoh profits prompts concerns
One of the biggest players in the printer manufacturing market has announced a sizeable drop-in profit. Ricoh Electronics of Japan announced a drop of more than 85 percent in profits for the quarter ending on September 30.
Friday, 11 Nov 2016 16:04 GMT
Problems: Ricoh has seen a fall in profits this year
The Toyko-based firm, which has a sizeable share of the digital print market in the UK, saw profits fall from £37.2m to around £2.5m for the same period last year. However, its Imaging and Solutions sector witnessed a 14.4 percent dip in profits despite the group making up more than 87 percent of total sales. Projections by the firm suggest a further fall in profits in the next quarter with a slowing down in the rate of fall by March 2017 with an overall fall of less than 10 percent next year in sales.
The reasons given by Ricoh include an unpredictable economy in Japan, concerns over the impact of Brexit, and exchange rate factors between Asia, Europe and America. Uncertainties of the USA’s new president-elect Donald Trump were not included in Ricoh’s analysis as the results came out before the election. A backdrop of a fraud investigation into Ricoh’s operation in India could be another factor for the fall in profits.
I do not believe that the 3D printing bubble has burst, indeed it probably has not yet been fully inflated”
One area missing in the quarterly fiscal report are any notes on digital printing. Ricoh has produced the AM S5500P signing a deal this year with Laser Zentrum Nord to stock it. The news has prompted speculation about the future of 3D printing with the American business website Benzinga saying three manufacturers had seen a sharp drop in sales this autumn. The US website reports in America the market had peaked in 2016 due to unrealistic expectations.
However Brett Hershman of the website says: “It appears that the excitement around the industry has gotten ahead of itself, but don’t expect 3D printing to go anywhere anytime soon; it has just yet to hit a critical mass.”
And in the UK Sidney Bobb of the British Association for Print and Communication says: “I do not believe that the 3D printing bubble has burst, indeed it probably has not yet been fully inflated. 3D printing is a totally different market - producing replacement parts, prototypes, and one-off objects. This is a diverse challenge than print businesses currently face. The whole aspect of the 3D market is different - different customers - different requirements and possibly more critical a different way of charging.”
Although profits overall were down for Ricoh with sales in Network Systems Solutions, Imaging and Solutions, and Industrial Products seeing a drop, their Other Segment featuring its leasing and camera business saw a rise in sales and profits suggesting some good news for the firm.
