Nikon 2010 Annual Report Download - page 19

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 19 of the 2010 Nikon annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 62

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62

17
Nikon Corporation Annual Report 2010
Review of the Fiscal Year Ended
March 2010
Sales in the bioscience fi eld recorded steady
growth during the fi scal year ended March
2010, particularly in Japan and Asia, although
conditions remained severe in the industrial
instruments fi eld due to weakness in the
overall market. As a result, segment sales rose
a slight 0.9% from the previous fi scal year to
¥45,051 million, but the operating loss
increased to ¥9,331 million compared with
¥2,724 million in the previous fi scal year
because of one-off expenses related to the
conversion of measuring instruments busi-
ness affi liates into consolidated subsidiaries.
Sales in the bioscience fi eld, which specializes
in biological microscopes, grew by more than
10% year on year, primarily because of
continued demand for products in areas
working with live cells. Sales of the confocal
microscope A1 and the inverted research
microscope ECLIPSE Ti were especially healthy.
In contrast, the business environment for
industrial instruments was extremely severe
as weakness in the overall economy forced
many companies to scale back their capital
expenditure. However, some signs of recovery
appeared during the second half of the year,
mainly in the Asian market, and sales
improved in comparison with the same period
in the previous year. The recovery in demand
was particularly strong in the fi eld of
electronic components.
Moreover, as part of our strategy to broaden
our business domain, the Instruments
Company completed a friendly takeover of
the Belgian measuring equipment manufac-
turer Metris NV (currently Nikon Metrology
NV), which became a wholly owned consoli-
dated subsidiary in October 2009. This com-
pany owns proprietary technologies in the
fi eld of non-contact, three-dimensional
measurement systems and produces products
for a wide range of industries, so this move is
expected to generate powerful synergies with
the Instruments Company both in terms of
marketing and technology.
Bioscience
Super Resolution Microscopes to
Support Cutting-Edge Research
The bioscience market depends primarily on
publicly funded projects undertaken by
universities and research institutes. The
annual budgets for such projects are deter-
mined well ahead of time, and as a result this
sector is not subject to sharp fl uctuations in
demand. Future demand is expected to
remain relatively stable, and we forecast
2008 2009 2010
163
16
18
63
19
18
57
14
23
19
43
Sales Value Ratio by Product
Years ended March 31
(%)
0
100
80
60
40
20
Semi-
conductor
Inspection
Equipment
Measuring
Instruments
Industrial
Microscopes
Biological
Microscopes
Others
TOSHIYUKI MASAI
Director, Member of the Board and
Executive Offi cer
President of Instruments Company