Business News

SATO announces 2008 first half-year results

Tuesday 23. December 2008 - SATO, a pioneer in the Automatic Identification and Data Collection (AIDC) industry and a leader in barcode printing, labelling, and EPC/RFID solutions, announced its financial results for the first half of fiscal year 2008; the consolidated sales for April to September 2008 was JPY 42.8billion (US$ 403million), declined by 1.8% from year-earlier, while the operating income was JPY 1.8billion (US$ 17million), down by 25.3% from the previous.

Despite the volatility of the global economy, SATO achieved 2.5% growth in Japan sales, continuing to show market presence by enabling customers to maximise their data capturing methods and operational efficiency. However, outside Japan, SATO faced several challenges including a slowdown in demand, with lower revenues further exacerbated by severely fluctuating exchange rates. Sales of consumables remained fairly stable, but hardware sales were heavily affected in industrial sectors, thus diminishing the momentum of our ongoing restructuring efforts in Europe. SATO is reviewing all possible areas of accounting procedures in Europe to restore the financials to a prudent and conservative state.

“These are challenging times. However, customers’ drive for efficiency and enhanced productivity will continue to create opportunities for SATO. Our “Data Collection Systems (DCS) & Labelling” business model enables operational optimisation and cost reduction, allowing customers to remain competitive. We will focus our efforts on offering innovative solutions grounded in this proven business approach to sustain our success in the long run,” said Kaz Matsuyama, Managing Director of SATO International.