Nikon 97-98 Profit Plunges 50%

Japan's Nikon Corp yesterday reported a nearly 50 per cent drop in profits for fiscal 1997-98, citing sluggish sales of its mainstay steppers and predicting another gloomy year ahead. The company said falling sales of steppers that map out circuits on silicon wafers used to make semiconductors were behind a 49.2 per cent drop in Nikon's parent current profit to 8.36 billion yen in the year ended March 31. Nikon said it expected profits to fall 76.1 percent in the current business year to two billion yen with its dividend payout dropping to five yen per share from fiscal 1997-98's eight yen. "Softening prices for 16-megabit DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips weakened the whole chip market and we faced a severe situation because of restraint in capital spending in the aftermath," Nikon said. As for the current business year, "the business environment will remain tough due to an uncertain outlook in Asian economies, including South Korea, and a weak semiconductor market," the company said in a statement.

Sales of semiconductor-related equipment fell 7.7 per cent in 1997-98 from a year earlier to 157.28 billion yen. Sales of cameras grew 13.1 per cent to 78.88 billion yen as a weakened yen helped exports, the company said.