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19
NIKON CORPORATION ANNUAL REPORT 2012
and clinical fields were up
slightly. As a result, despite
the contraction in demand in
Europe and the United States, we were able to boost
our share of the overall bioscience market.
In the field of industrial instruments, demand for
optical measuring systems in electronic component
and semiconductor industries fell sharply during
the second half of the year, particularly in Asia,
but sales related to smartphones and tablet
computers remained firm. Demand for non-contact
3D measuring systems made by Nikon Metrology
NV—established following the October 2009
acquisition of a Belgian manufacturer of measuring
equipment—remained strong, especially in the
automobile sector, with unit sales growing more
than 30% compared with the previous year. As a
result, year-on-year sales of industrial instruments
were largely unchanged compared with the
previous fiscal year.
With regard to Nikon Metrology NV, we recorded
an impairment of goodwill of approximately ¥6,500
million during the fiscal period under review. This
is because, while sales of the Nikon Metrology
Group are growing steadily, we have reached the
conclusion that prospects for market growth in
the United States, Europe and developed countries
are weaker than we had forecast at the time of
acquisition, causing us to shift
to a lower growth model. The impairment
also reflects the fact that we have revised
and refocused the Nikon Metrology product
line, in order to generate more stable cash flows.
Market Prospects and Medium Term
Management Plan Strategies
Bioscience: Enter Live Cell Research Field and
Strengthen Presence in Emerging Markets
Most of the demand for our bioscience-related
products comes from government agencies and
public institutions, and conditions in the bioscience
sector are expected to remain severe for some
time. To improve our sales and profits under these
conditions, it is essential that we move into new fields
and develop new markets in emerging countries.
One new field attracting much interest is live
cell research. As aging populations and rising
health care costs become serious social problems
worldwide, there is increasing recognition of the
need to remain healthy. This need is closely linked
to regenerative and preventive medicine. Live cell
research is particularly important in regenerative
medicine, an area in which demand for highly
advanced microscopes is strong. Nikon is already the
market leader in high-end microscope systems for
advanced research, but as interest in regenerative
medicine grows, we expect that live cell research will
become an increasingly important market for the
Instruments Company.
Increasing our sales of high-end systems
and high-volume products in emerging
markets remain important goals. We
aim to expand sales of the latter,
particularly in the emerging
markets of Asia by increasing
our sales locations in China, and
expanding the localized direct sales
in Brazil and Mexico that Nikon
established during the fiscal year
ended March 2012.
Super Resolution Microscope
N-SIM