SHAH ALAM: Canon Asia Marketing group has set a RM1 billion sales revenue target by 2012 for its Malaysian operations.

President and chief executive officer Hideki Ozawa said on July 3 that the Malaysian operations currently contributed about 3%-4% of Canon's total sales in Asia.

For this year, Canon Marketing (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd set a target of RM700 million in sales revenue for 2009, of which RM330 million already been achieved in the Janaury-June period.

Canon Malaysia president and chief executive officer Liew Sip Choon said he expected the Malaysian operations to record RM370 million in sales revenue in the second half of 2009.

"We are on track to meet the 2009 target of RM700 million (in sales)” he said at a press conference to announce its performance in the first half and the increase in the company’s paid-up share capital.

The Canon group had also increased Canon Malaysia’s paid-up share capital to RM27 million from RM2 million by injecting an additional RM25 million.

Liew said Canon would spend RM5 million on advertising and promotions (A&P) in the second half of the year as it sought to gain an edge over its competitors during the sluggish economic conditions.

"We will spend RM1 million a month on average to maintain our No. 1 position in the Image Communication Products (ICP) division," he said.

Earlier, Ozawa said the RM25 milion capital injection into the Malaysian operations by the group was in recognition of the booming imaging market in Malaysia.

"The additional capital will be utilised to support business expansion especially on the internal leasing business," he said. "We want to strengthen our position in Malaysia and expand our operations here."

At the press conference, Canon Malaysia also unveiled two compact photo printer models -- the Selphy CP780 and Selphy CP790 -- which could increase print speed by 10% from previous models.

It expects to launch at least another 15 products in the second half of 2009 including digital cameras, DSLRs, video cameras and lenses.

Assistant director Simon Wong said the consumer sentiment was still firm and “we've seen a 2% growth in sales of digital compact cameras, and a 50% growth in sales of DSLRs".

Canon Malaysia also announced its official sponsorship of local rock celebrity Ella’s promotional tour, which kicks off on July 31.

"We hope that by signing this agreement with Ella, we will be able to appeal to the Malay market," said Liew.