Kyocera joins ranks of profit warning firms

Japanese printer manufacturer Kyocera has joined the long list of firms issuing profit warnings, by revealing that its profits will be cut.

According to Japanese reports, Kyocera?s profit is expected to be a third less than predicted. The environmentally friendly printer company, which is better known internationally for its semiconductor ceramics and telecoms kit, is expected to report a profit of Y36 billion ? Y13 billion less than previously expected.

Sources said Kyocera?s growth will slow for the first time in four years, predicting its profit for the year to March 1998 will be about Y90 billion, a seven per cent fall, despite the company?s earlier forecast of Y106 billion profit. However, the company?s telecoms services group is expected to grow.

Kyocera?s profit warning sees it join the likes of Intel, Cyrix and Acer, which have also issuing profit warnings. Hewlett Packard?s figures for its third quarter, ended 31 July, were hit by higher costs of sales, but the manufacturer?s pre-tax profit showed a slight increase to $617 million on a turnover of $10.5 billion (PC Dealer, 20 August).

Both HP and Kyocera have launched a dealer programme to attack the small and medium enterprise market. Kyocera introduced a leasing scheme, Page Plan, which it claims will make it easier for dealers to sell printers, while HP wants to sign small dealers to form a nationwide network of 350 HP Office Centres to focus on the needs of the SME market.