Canon slashes profit forecast on strong yen
Canon chopped its annual profit forecast Tuesday as the camera and copier maker warned that a sharp rise in the yen was taking a bite out of its bottom line.
The company said it now expected weaker sales and a net profit of 180 billion yen ($1.7 billion) this year, down 10 percent from a previous forecast that had also been downgraded due to slowing growth in China and a pickup in Japan's currency.
Canon's latest six months-to-June net profit fell 20 percent to 81.4 billion yen, while operating profit dropped nearly 37 percent from a year ago.
Sales fell almost 10 percent to 1.66 trillion yen for the half-year period, it said.
Canon cut its full-year target owing to the "prolonged economic slowdown in developing countries, along with the negative impact of the revised foreign exchange rate assumptions on sales and gross profit".
The yen -- traditionally seen as a safe-haven currency -- rose sharply at the start of the year as fears over global growth hammered financial markets.
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