The operating income declined 49.5 percent to Yen 15.7 billion; net income dropped 69.9 percent to Yen 4.8 billion, mainly due to the impact of structural reform measures. Without the influence of restructuring costs, the operating income increased 27.8 percent to Yen 43.1 billion, compared with the first quarter of fiscal 2006.
Sales of Fujifilm‘s Imaging Solutions segment were negatively affected by the shrinking demand for color films and digital minilabs as well as decreasing revenues of the company‘s wholesale laboratories. As a result, total sales in this segment declined 10.8 percent to Yen 149,9 billion, with a negative operating result of Yen 15.9 billion, compared with a slight profit of Yen 352 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2006.
While the sales of Frontier digital minilabs were affected by market saturation, the increasing use of these minilabs and other factors sustained Fujifilm‘s color paper sales at the same level as in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year, the company said. As for digital cameras, Fujifilm reported strong sales of the FinePix F30, but the result in this segment suffered from fierce price competition in North American and European markets.
Separately, Fujifilm has announced a new corporate brand logo that will be introduced on October 1, 2006, when the company will adopt its previously announced new holding structure, which includes two major operating companies, Fujifilm Corporation and Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., under the umbrella of Fujifilm Holdings Corporation. According to a press release, the new logo design clearly reflects the transformation and expansion in business of the company, and will function as a bold symbol for Fujifilm, the corporate brand. Fujifilm will continue to use green as its corporate color, inheriting its established brand assets.