Canon went public with its full year results in Japan this morning. The company announced a six per cent growth in sales to 2.7 trillion yen ($24 billion).

Operating profit, pre-tax income and net income were all up on 1999 figures. Net income showed a 91 per cent increase over the year before, reaching 134 billion yen ($1.17 billion).

The company said it had sustained healthy demand in its core areas of interest - such as printers and copying machines - despite a general economic slowdown, particularly in the US. It said that sales of computer peripherals and laser printers especially, had soared over the year.

Activity in the semiconductor devices market had also helped sales of optical devices as manufacturers invested in new equipment.

However, it said that operations in general, and camera sales and business systems in particular, had been hurt by the strength of the yen. It also blamed strong competition in the fax machine market.

It warned of a further slowdown in the US next year, but said that it expected to see growth of 12.2 per cent in its net sales figures. ®

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