Good Times for Noritsu by Ian Wareham

Sales are stated “to have greatly exceeded the original projection, due to the impact of factors including the World Supply Agreement which was formed with Kodak”. This applied particularly in North America, Asia, Oceania and other regions. This improvement has been sufficient to fully compensate for sales in Japan, “which are expected to fall far short of the original projection”.

There have been improvements on the costs side too. The increase in sales has also affected the cost base, with both an improvement in the ratio of the cost of sales, and there has been a decrease in selling and administrative expenses. These positive trends will have an even more dramatic impact on net income. In 2001/02 it reached only 1,500 million yen, a return of just 2.3 percent. But with the improvement in 2002/03, net income should now nearly triple to 4,110 million yen, representing a return of 5.2 percent.

Noritsu finishes its statement by cautiously pointing out that the information is based on predictions made at the time (mid-March), and that actual out-turn may be different. But even if it is, the statement tells us a lot about the current status of Noritsu’s business in a “normal environment” – also about the mini-lab sector as a whole.