Pentax Plans to Double Operating Profit Over 3 Years (Update2)
By Hiroshi Suzuki
May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Pentax Corp., Japan's oldest maker of single-lens reflex cameras, plans to double earnings over three years by focusing on businesses such as cameras and endoscopes, as part of efforts to appease its largest shareholder.
The company, which last month scrapped an agreement to be acquired by Hoya Corp., plans to raise operating profit to 11.2 billion yen ($94 million) for the year ending March 2010, Tokyo- based Pentax said today. Sales may climb 21 percent to 191 billion yen over the three-year period, it said.
The target comes after Sparx Group Co., the largest stockholder, criticized Pentax for rejecting Hoya's December buyout offer. Pentax should provide alternative options to raise the company's value, said the Tokyo-based asset manager, which owned a 24 percent stake in Pentax as of March.
''I don't think Pentax shareholders will be happy about the plan,' said Tetsuya Wadaki, an analyst at Nomura Securities Co., who doesn't have an investment rating on Pentax. ''Former President Urano was targeting an operating profit margin of 10 percent, while today's plan targets 5.8 percent, suggesting management has given up.'
Pentax forecast operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, will rise 24 percent to 7 billion yen this fiscal year, after climbing 89 percent to 5.65 billion yen in the just-ended 12 months. Sales may rise 8 percent to 170 billion yen after increasing 11 percent last year, it said.
Shares of Pentax fell 1 percent to 761 yen at the close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today, before the three-year target was released. The stock has advanced 10 percent since Dec. 21, when Hoya announced the acquisition plan, beating a 3 percent gain in the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average.
'On Our Own'
The company said it plans to focus on profitable businesses, including medical equipment, DVD lenses and digital cameras. Pentax also said it plans to close a factory in October, relocate about 200 workers, and has started shutting down about 20 business projects.
''This plan is to show investors how much we can do on our own,' Pentax President Takashi Watanuki told reporters in Tokyo, without providing details. Pentax will meet Sparx officials ''sometime next week' to explain the business plan, he said.
Pentax will use stricter standards for selecting businesses and operations to close, the company said in a statement.
Watanuki declined to identify any businesses to quit. He denied a report in the Nikkei newspaper this week that Pentax plans to sell its headquarters building and the surrounding land.
Managing Director Shinichiro Mitsuhashi estimates the company will produce 4 million digital cameras in the year ending March 2010, rising from 3 million this fiscal year.
Looks like Pentax plans for a robust digital camera offering in the future so maybe this will help keep everyone from saying Pentax is dead.
