Olympus sales declined. But future looks good?

Olympus has revised it’s business results forecasts for the fiscal year that ended on March 31. The net sales are 2,1% lower than expected and the net income has fallen by 50%. Olympus said the decline of digital camera sales is caused by intensifying market competition and by the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Yesterday I had a talk with three of my best sources. All do confirm that Olympus and Panasonic will soon go back to 100% full production capability. There are only minor problems with external suppliers that could delay the way back to the “normality”. Olympus and Panasonic plants were not particularly damaged by the Tsunami disaster. They don’t have to face the huge problems Nikon Canon and Sony do have. I don’t want to sound cynical (that’s just a pure marketing and business information) but Olympus and Panasonic could take advantage of the situation because it looks like Canon-Nikon-Sony too will not be able to produce enough cameras to avoid a price increase on their cameras. Is that a chance for Oly and Pana to increase their market share?

P.S.: I expect new product announcements next week by Panasonic and in June by Olympus. So stay tuned!