Nikon lowered its forecast because of Thailand and the yen

Nikon said it had revised down its forecast of 22% of annual operating income due to both the consequences of floods in Thailand on its production and the strong yen.

The Japanese maker of digital cameras indicated that the activity of its factory in Thailand could not resume until January and had to wait until March for a return to normal.

Thailand is affected by the floods, the worst in 50 years, the weather that has already killed more than 420 dead.

Nikon, which had anticipated annual sales record before the disaster, said it would cut its results by 25 billion yen (232 million) despite projects to transfer production to other sites to meet the demand for year-end.

The group, whose main competitors are Canon and Sony now expects an operating profit of 67 billion yen for the year 2011-2012, ending in late March.

Analysts on average expected 81 billion yen, according to the consensus Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.