Click on the appropriate question to view the answer.

• Q1

  What is your current thinking about dividend payments?

• Q2

  Are your personnel realignments the main reason for the forecasted reduction in companywide expenses?

• Q3

  Why are you behind schedule in your cost cutting plan for inkjet printers?

• Q4

  Will there be any impact on ink revenues from your forecast reduction in inkjet printer unit sales?

• Q5

  Your competitors are also focusing on the office market. Won’t this make for a tougher competitive environment?

• Q6

  Why has the previously forecast demand for serial impact dot matrix (SIDM) printers slipped back until next year?

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• Q1

  What is your current thinking about dividend payments?

• A

  Although we will pay an interim dividend of 13 yen per share as originally announced, we have decided to postpone a decision on the year-end dividend. We are now forecasting a net loss for the year, and will make our decision based on the results of the third quarter, and our outlook for business results and financial situation.

• Q2

  Are your personnel realignments the main reason for the forecasted reduction in companywide expenses?

• A

  The personnel realignments are one reason. We are also expecting to receive some income from patent licensing.

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• Q3

  Why are you behind schedule in your cost cutting plan for inkjet printers?

• A

  Our new inkjet printer models are being created to an extremely challenging design. Not only are they much more compact than previous models, but we have also reduced the number of parts as we have sought to reduce costs. The difficulty assembly process has been a challenge, as has the establishment of production efficiencies in the startup of new products.

• Q4

  Will there be any impact on ink revenues from your forecast reduction in inkjet printer unit sales?

• A

  We have reduced our unit sales targets in light of the current market environment and because of our decision to focus on certain strategic products. Our aim is to increase the proportion of premium models for the home, enterprise models for the office, and high-capacity ink tank models for sale in emerging economies. We believe that improving the composition of our install base in this way will drive an increase in future ink revenues and will improve profitability in the emerging markets.

• Q5

  Your competitors are also focusing on the office market. Won’t this make for a tougher competitive environment?

• A

  Laser printers are presently the most common type of office printer. We believe that other companies' focus on office inkjets will help promote the benefits of inkjet, and will lead to an expansion of the market.

• Q6

  Why has the previously forecast demand for serial impact dot matrix (SIDM) printers slipped back until next year?

• A

  Much of the demand for SIDM printers comes from China, where there has been reduced demand for new models for the tax collection system. Reduced investment is often a temporary phenomenon in China when there is a change in government. However, with new demand for these printers having started on the east coast and now spreading into the inland areas, we don't see a long-term decrease in latent market demand.
  We will keep a close watch over demand trends going forward.

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