Cash Flow
During the first nine months of 2019, cash flow from operating activities totaled ¥194.5 billion, an increase of
¥0.8 billion compared with the same period of the previous year, owing mainly to improvements in working capital, despite a decrease of profit. Cash flow used in investing activities increased by ¥21.4 billion year on year to
¥157.8 billion mainly due to an increase in investment in production equipment. Accordingly, free cash flow totaled positive ¥36.7 billion, a decrease of ¥20.6 billion compared with the same period of the previous year.
Despite an increase of short-term loans, cash flow used in financing activities recorded an outlay of ¥96.4 billion, mainly
owing to the dividend payout and the repurchasing of treasury stock.
Owing to these factors, as well as the impact from foreign
currency translation adjustments, cash and cash equivalents decreased by ¥72.3 billion to ¥448.3 billion from the end of the previous year.
Outlook
As for the outlook from the
fourth quarter onwards, despite being underpinned by changes in monetary policy and favorable employment conditions, the U.S. economy is expected to slow down due to bearish conditions for manufacturing industries. The pace of recovery of the
European economy is expected to slow down due to a prolonged recovery for exports as well as uncertainty surrounding the U.K.s exit of the EU. The Chinese economy shows clear signs of a slowdown, particularly for manufacturing industries, due
to prolonged trade friction with the United States, and the growth rate for emerging countries is expected to decline. With regard to the Japanese economy, the outlook indicates a trend of steady growth supported by relief measures to reduce the
impact of an increase of consumption tax and solid domestic demand based on favorable employment conditions. Looking at the global economy, there are concerns of further economic slowdown occurring due to such phenomena as long-drawn-out trade friction between China and the United States and rising political instability.
In the businesses in which Canon is involved, sales of office MFDs are expected to be slightly below level compared with the previous year,
supported by the solid demand for color models. Demand for laser printers is expected to remain below that of the previous year due to prolonged economic slowdown. As for interchangeable-lens digital cameras, although demand for entry-class models
is expected to continue to shrink, demand for mirrorless cameras is expected to grow steadily, particularly for advanced amateur models, including those equipped with full-frame sensors. Projections indicate the overall inkjet printer market is
expected to continue to shrink. As for the medical equipment market, although capital expenditure for medical equipment is expected to be postponed in emerging markets due to sluggish economic conditions, demand is expected to continue growing in
developed markets. For semiconductor lithography equipment, the market is expected to improve as the price of memory products shows signs of bottoming out. For OLED panel manufacturing equipment, capital investment in small- and medium-size display panels is expected to recover. As for network cameras, the market is expected to continue expanding due mainly to the increasing demand for enhanced security and replacement demand from users
shifting from analogue to digital models.
With regard to currency exchange rates for the fourth quarter onwards, on which Canons
performance outlook is based, Canon anticipates exchange rates of ¥105 to the U.S. dollar and ¥117 to the euro, representing appreciation of approximately ¥2 against the U.S. dollar and appreciation of approximately ¥9 against the
euro as the annual average rates of the previous year.
Despite the persistently harsh business environment, upon taking into
consideration the effect of new products, the continuous expansion of new businessesincluding medical equipment and network camerasand the trend of recovery seen in Canons third-quarter performance from the first half, Canon
projects full-year consolidated net sales in 2019 of ¥3,625.0 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 8.3%; operating profit of ¥188.0 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 45.2%; income before income taxes of ¥216.0 billion, a
year-on-year decrease of 40.5%; and net income attributable to Canon Inc. of ¥140.0 billion, a
year-on-year decrease of 44.6%.
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