Summary of Document-Imaging Companies First-Half Financial Results

In this post, we’ll be presenting financial results for printer/MFP companies’ first half – that is, the last six months of their current fiscal year. Most of these companies are based in Japan, and their fiscal year begins April 1st, so that their first half, or first two quarters, was from April 1 to September 30, 2024.

Again, we’re looking not at the entire company, but at their printer and copier/MFP businesses, which includes both office print, and sometimes production and commercial print.

In a nutshell, it was an overwhelmingly good time for the majority of companies, with the majority of companies reporting increases for both net revenue and operating profit.

Net Revenue Increases and Declines

These companies reported net revenue year-over-year increases for their print businesses:  Brother, Canon, Epson, Fujifilm Business Solutions, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, Ricoh, Sharp, Toshiba, and Toshiba Tec.  These companies reported year-over-year net revenue declines for their print businesses: HP Inc. and Xerox. All of the companies reporting net-revenue increases are based in Japan and reported that they benefited from favorable foreign-currency exchange rates. They also reported that parts and shipping costs continued to decline, contributing to a better bottom line.

Operating Profit Increases and Declines

When it came to operating profit, these companies reported increases: Brother, Canon, Epson, Ricoh, Sharp, and Toshiba Tec.

These companies reported declines for their print businesses: HP, Konica Minolta, and Xerox.

Best Performers

Of note was that these companies reported exceptionally good results for their print business, with Sharp’s Smart Office business reporting net revenue up 21.4 percent year-over-year, and operating profit up 83.8 percent year-over-year.

Canon also reported that its print business’s operating profit was up 31.8 percent year-over-year, while Epson reported that operating profit for its print business was up up 69.9 percent year-over-year.  Toshiba Tec also reported stellar results, with operating profit for its print business up 59 percent year-over-year.

The worst performer was Xerox, which for its third quarter, reported a loss of $1.2 billion, with net revenue down 7.5 percent year-over-year.

Brother International

First-half net revenue for Brother’s Printing and Solutions business was ¥2,663 billion ($17.23 billion), up 6.6 percent year-over-year, and operating profit was ¥332 billion ($2.15 billion), up 3.61 percent year-over-year.

Canon

(Canon uses the traditional financial-year schedule of January 1st to December 31st. Its most recent financial period was its third quarter, the three months that ended on September 30, 2024.)

For Canon’s Printing business, third-quarter net sales were ¥610.9 billion ($4.01 billion), up 7.1 percent year-over-year, and operating profit was ¥60.7 billion ($398.87 million), up 31.8 percent year-over-year.

For the first nine months of the year, net sales for the Printing business were up ¥8.3 percent year-over-year, and operating profit was up 31.7 percent year-over-year.

Epson

For Epson’s Printing Solutions business, net revenue was ¥476.5 billion ($3.08 billion), up 9.0 percent year-over-year, and profit was ¥63.5 billion ($410.74 million), up 69.9 percent year-over-year. 

Fujifilm Business Solutions

First-half net revenue for Fujifilm Business Innovation was ¥567.7 billion ($3.70 billion), up 1.5 percent year-over-year, and operating income was ¥31.9 billion ($208.31 million), down 28.8 percent year-over-year.

HP Inc.

(HP’s fiscal year runs from November to October. It’s most recent quarter was its third quarter, which ended on July 31st.)

For its third-quarter, HP’s Printing net revenue was $4.1 billion, down 3 percent year-over-year, and operating profit was $715 million, down 10 percent year-over-year.

Konica Minolta

The company’s Digital Workplace Business reported first-half net revenue of ¥307.6 billion ($2.02 billion), up 4 percent year-over-year, and operating profit was ¥6.6 billion ($43.46 million), down 34 percent year-over-year. Hardware revenue was up 2 percent year-over-year, and non-hardware revenue was up 6 percent year-over-year.

Konica Minolta said operating profit decreased due to one-time costs related to global structural reforms and ending production activities at Konica Minolta Business Technologies, the company’s manufacturing subsidiary in China.

First-half net revenue for the Professional Print business was ¥139.1 billion ($916.04 million), up 4 percent year-over-year, and operating profit was ¥4.9 billion ($32.27 million), up 34 percent year-over-year.

Kyocera Document Solutions

First-half revenue for Kyocera’s Solutions Business (which includes Kyocera’s Document Solutions business) for the first half was ¥546.18 billion ($3.57 billion), up 1.7 percent year-over-year. Business profit was ¥33.29 billion ($217.67 million), up 6.1 percent year-over-year.

Lexmark 

(Lexmark is owned by Ninestar Corporation and other investors. Ninestar uses the traditional financial-year schedule of January 1st to December 31st. Ninestar and Lexmark’s most recent financial period was its third quarter, the three months that ended on September 30, 2024.)

Lexmark third-quarter revenue was $1.655 billion, up 7.83 percent year-over-year, and printer sales were up 29.49 percent year-over-year; operating profit was not provided.

Ricoh

For Ricoh’s print business, first-half net revenue was ¥275.4 billion ($1.79 billion), up 17.5 percent year-over-year, and operating profit was ¥14.0 billion ($91.08 million) versus ¥1.8 billion ($11.71 million) a year ago. MFP manufacturing volumes recovered, with earnings rising on an improved product mix. Operating profit improved due to an improvement in the product mix resulting from an increase in the production volume of A3 MFPs.

Sharp

Sharp’s Smart Office business reported first half net revenue of ¥329.6 billion ($2.13 billion), up 21.4 percent year-over-year, and operating profit was ¥18.2 billion ($117.64 million), up 83.8 percent year-over-year.

Toshiba 

Since Toshiba is now a privately owned company, it isn’t required to provide financial results. However, it did report greatly improved entire results for the entire company, and said revenue was up for its Retail & Printing business.

Toshiba Tec

Toshiba Tec’s Workplace Solutions Business Group reported first-half net revenue of ¥126.49 billion ($828.90 million), up 9 percent year-over-year, and operating profit of ¥7.96 billion ($52.16 million), up 59 percent year-over-year.

Xerox

Xerox uses the traditional January to December reporting schedule. It’s most recent financial period was its third quarter, which ended on September 30, 2024).

Xerox reported a net loss of $1.2 billion, a decrease of $1.3 billion year-over-year, while net revenue was $1.53 billion, down 7.5 percent year-over-year.

Our Take

These recent financial results continue a trend for document-imaging companies for the last several years: higher year-over-year net revenue increases. But in the past, operating profit was typically down year-over-year. With these results, however, operating profit is now up year-over-year, due for the most part to substantial lower costs for most companies, including lower inflation rates, as well as favorable exchange-rate effects.