Fuji's financial year has just come to an end, so they have released their financial data. A copy is available here:
https://www.fujifilmholdings.com/en/pdf/investors/finance/materials/ff_2019q4_001.pdf
If you want to cut to the chase, you go straight to the imaging division, then look at Electronic Imaging. That includes all Fuji's digital cameras and lenses. Optical refers to other devices, photo imaging to Instax and analogue products, so those can be ignored.
There is good and bad news in the full year accounts. On a year by year basis, Fuji managed to best their 2017 annus mirabilis, in which their revenue increased 27% in one year. On the other hand, their revenue increased by only 2% this year, though ignoring currency fluctuations that would be 3.4%.
On a quarter by quarter basis, they are actually slightly down on last year, though only imperceptibly once currency fluctuations are taken into account (-0.6%). The big fluctuations in quarterly data make it hard to draw reliable conclusions from quarterly data, however.
In short, it seems that Fuji are still growing at present, but only slowly. In a shrinking market is not necessarily a bad thing - Canon's recent results showed strong contraction, and Sony only showed growth of around 2% over the year, with a much weaker final quarter. As for the others, Nikon and Olympus are yet to report, Pentax and Leica are now a rounding error in the market, and Panasonic don't split out digital cameras and lenses in any meaningful way.
As I explained in similar posts of this type, I concentrate on revenue because that is more relevant to us as photographers.
Although not many mounts have actually disappeared, In a shrinking or at best static market, the default reaction of manufacturers is to cut costs and R&D investment to ensure they remain profitable despite falling revenues. As consumers, we want Fuji to be successful not in milking a core market (us!) but in expanding or at least maintaining their position at the expense of their rivals. That means pricing and iterating technology aggressively, which we benefit from, while Fuji take the risk.
On the other hand, profit is a double-edged sword for photographers. We want Fuji to make a profit on cameras and lenses, so that it stays in the market. However, we really want it to be investing its income in R&D and tooling for new products, which suppresses profit, not to pay out big dividends to its shareholders.
https://www.fujifilmholdings.com/en/pdf/investors/finance/materials/ff_2019q4_001.pdf
If you want to cut to the chase, you go straight to the imaging division, then look at Electronic Imaging. That includes all Fuji's digital cameras and lenses. Optical refers to other devices, photo imaging to Instax and analogue products, so those can be ignored.
There is good and bad news in the full year accounts. On a year by year basis, Fuji managed to best their 2017 annus mirabilis, in which their revenue increased 27% in one year. On the other hand, their revenue increased by only 2% this year, though ignoring currency fluctuations that would be 3.4%.
On a quarter by quarter basis, they are actually slightly down on last year, though only imperceptibly once currency fluctuations are taken into account (-0.6%). The big fluctuations in quarterly data make it hard to draw reliable conclusions from quarterly data, however.
In short, it seems that Fuji are still growing at present, but only slowly. In a shrinking market is not necessarily a bad thing - Canon's recent results showed strong contraction, and Sony only showed growth of around 2% over the year, with a much weaker final quarter. As for the others, Nikon and Olympus are yet to report, Pentax and Leica are now a rounding error in the market, and Panasonic don't split out digital cameras and lenses in any meaningful way.
As I explained in similar posts of this type, I concentrate on revenue because that is more relevant to us as photographers.
Although not many mounts have actually disappeared, In a shrinking or at best static market, the default reaction of manufacturers is to cut costs and R&D investment to ensure they remain profitable despite falling revenues. As consumers, we want Fuji to be successful not in milking a core market (us!) but in expanding or at least maintaining their position at the expense of their rivals. That means pricing and iterating technology aggressively, which we benefit from, while Fuji take the risk.
On the other hand, profit is a double-edged sword for photographers. We want Fuji to make a profit on cameras and lenses, so that it stays in the market. However, we really want it to be investing its income in R&D and tooling for new products, which suppresses profit, not to pay out big dividends to its shareholders.
