Booming digital camera and color copier sales lifted Canon’s net profit 16 percent in the first quarter to a record ¥108.3 billion (US$942 million), keeping Japan’s top precision equipment maker on track for a seventh year of record earnings, reports The Associate Press. Canon Inc., Tokyo, Japan, said the strong dollar and euro also lifted its group net profit for the quarter ended March 31 well above the ¥93.1 billion it booked a year ago.

Group sales for the period jumped 9.5 percent to ¥923.3 billion (US$8.0 billion). Digital camera and camcorder sales were especially strong, surging 84.9 percent from a year ago to ¥192.1 billion (US$1.7 billion). Sales of copy machines, computer peripherals and other office equipment also posted a 6.3 percent rise to ¥631.2 billion (US$5.5 billion).

Canon also revised upward its projected earnings for 2006 to ¥432 billion (US$3.8 billion) from ¥415 billion for a seventh consecutive year of record earnings, citing robust demand in digital cameras, especially overseas. In 2005, net profit rose 12 percent to a record ¥384.1 billion (US$3.3 billion).

Canon’s profitability has been especially lauded because other Japanese electronics makers, including Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., saw their profits tumble about five years ago as prices on digital gadgets plunged. Competition from cheaper Asian rivals have also chipped away at Japanese makers’ domination on the global market.