Turnover for the period was up 3.4% on ¥1.6tr in 2009, although the highlight was the return to profitability, with Fujifilm's ¥109.1bn pre-tax profit (compared with the previous year's ¥741m pre-tax loss) the reward for its structural reforms.
Fujifilm's Information Solutions' division, which includes its graphic arts business, recorded an operating income excluding exceptional items of ¥85bn (2009: ¥46bn), on total revenues of ¥671.8bn (2009: ¥652bn).
Graphic arts revenues were flat at ¥171bn, with sales growth – particularly in wide-format – mitigated by yen appreciation. Fujifilm UK managing director Keith Dalton said that the company had put in a "creditable performance" in a tough year worldwide.
He added: "We're part of a strong overall company. In graphics where there's been a lot of growth has been in the emerging economies of China and India. Parts of Europe are doing better than others; Germany and France is doing better than UK, which is a tough market at the moment.
"I think you'd have to say the UK is lagging a little bit; I don't think anyone would say that we're seeing any real recovery yet but we're not seeing any decay either so I think we're probably bouncing along the bottom of the recession at the moment.
"In equipment it's been a good year, as a result of Ipex and the growth in the wide-format area. It was better than expected given the state of the economy, but we probably had more optimism coming towards Ipex that we were coming out of the recession.
"Post Ipex though the market has stayed flatter than people thought. This January and February is looking very similar to last year; we're forecasting a slow first half but I think the second half will be better than last year."
Dalton added that Fujifilm had maintained its market share in plates in the UK and that it had grown its market share in wide-format and in its screen business. In inkjet, the firm is still on target to begin the European beta of its JetPress in the first half of 2011.
Dalton also stressed the fact that Fujfilm has maintained its R&D spend throughout the recession (R&D investment for the first nine months of the current financial year was ¥124bn, compared with ¥128.7bn in 2009/10). "Managing to get through the recession without cutting back on R&D is very important, because R&D today is the product of tomorrow," he said.
