Japanese camera makers Konica, Minolta merge
(08/05/2003 -- 21:05GMT+7)

Tokyo, Aug. 5 (VNA) - Konica Corp., a camera and film maker, and Minolta Co. Ltd., a camera, copier and printer firm, merged on Tuesday to set up Konica Minolta Holdings Inc., becoming the fourth largest camera and office equipment producer after Canon, Fuji Photo Film and Ricoh.



Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. plans to cut 4,000 jobs from the combined workforce of 38,500

and close down some plants by the end of the 2005-2006 fiscal year.



The newly-merged company is scheduled to turn out its first products including digital cameras and office equipment with new brand names some time next year, said a company spokesman.



Konica Corp and Minolta Co. Ltd. have jointly developed and produced copiers since 2000.



The new company is targeting a net profit of 150 billion JPY on sale of 1.3 trillion JPY in the fiscal year ending March, 2006.-Enditem

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