Nikon posts Q1 profit, sees bigger full-year loss

TOKYO, Aug 5 - Japanese precision equipment and camera maker Nikon Corp reported a surprise quarterly profit after offseting weak demand for its chip equipment with cost cuts, but said it expects wider losses this year.

Its operating profit came to 730 million yen ($7.68 million) for April-June, against a profit of 28.7 billion yen last year and beating an average estimate for a loss of 3.7 billion yen by 3 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

For this full financial year to next March, Nikon, which also makes digital single-lens reflex cameras and compact cameras, lowered its forecast to an operating loss of 30 billion yen, compared with its previous forecast for a 12 billion yen loss and below an average estimate by analysts of a 4.9 billion yen loss.

The world's No.2 maker of chip steppers after Netherlands-based ASML is restructuring its stepper operations as it awaits a recovery in spending by major chipmakers, who are just emerging from a prolonged downturn.

Steppers are multi-million dollar machines used to scan circuitry onto silicon wafers to make semiconductors. Canon Inc also competes in the market.

Shares of Nikon rose 51 percent in April-June while Canon rose 12 percent and rival precision equipment and camera maker Olympus Corp gained 45 percent.