Business-Related and Other Risks

The following types of risk have the potential for affecting the Fujifilm Group's financial condition and business performance. Text referring to the future is written from the perspective of the end of the fiscal year under review.

The Fujifilm Group provides products and services in diverse markets throughout the world, and the share of consolidated sales accounted for by overseas sales was 53.3% in the fiscal year under review. There is a possibility that performance will be greatly affected by economic conditions throughout the world and particularly by currency exchange rates.
To reduce the impact of currency exchange rates on performance, Fujifilm undertakes hedging measures, primarily using forward exchange contracts for the U.S. dollar and the euro, but currency exchange fluctuations, depending on their degree, still could have an impact on performance.

In the business fields where the Fujifilm Group operates, the intensification of competition with other companies may lead to declines in the selling prices of products, shorter product lifecycles and the emergence of alternative products. These phenomena may negatively impact the Company's sales and, consequently, profit, forcing the Company to increase R&D expenses and revaluate goodwill and other intangible assets it holds. In the future, Fujifilm will continually work to develop products incorporating new technologies and to support the sales of such products with marketing activities, and the success or failure of these activities is expected to have an influence on performance.

The Fujifilm Group has diverse patents, know-how, and other intellectual property that enable competitive benefits, but such future events as the expiration of patents and emergence of replacement technologies may make it difficult to maintain competitive superiority.
In the wide range of business fields with which Fujifilm is associated, there are numerous companies with sophisticated and complex technologies, and the landscape regarding these technologies is changing rapidly. Developing Fujifilm's business operations sometimes may require the use of other companies' patents, know-how, and other intellectual property, and when negotiations for the use of such intellectual property are not successful, there is a potential for performance to be affected. In addition, Fujifilm is developing its business while constantly taking care not to infringe on the intellectual property of other companies, but it must be recognized that in reality it is difficult to completely eliminate the risk of becoming involved in litigation. If Fujifilm becomes involved in litigation, not only litigation costs would arise, but also the potential for compensatory payment costs that could have an influence on performance.

In the regions where the Fujifilm Group is developing its business, diverse government regulations exist that apply to Fujifilm's operations, such as business and investment permits as well as limits and regulations related to imports and exports. Moreover, Fujifilm is subject to commercial, fair trade, patent, consumer protection, tax, foreign exchange administration, environmental, pharmaceutical, and other laws and regulations.
If Fujifilm were not to strictly comply with one of these laws or regulations, it could be subject to fines. Moreover, it is possible that these laws and regulations might be tightened or greatly changed, and in such cases it is impossible to deny the possibility that Fujifilm's activities could be limited or that Fujifilm might have to bear greater costs to attain compliance or respond to the changes, including abolishment. Accordingly, these laws and regulations have the potential to affect Fujifilm's performance.

In connection with the Fujifilm Group's manufacturing activities, natural or human-made disasters, discontinuation by vendors of the manufacture of raw materials and components, and confusion caused by other factors may prevent the Group from delivering its products as well as cause major facility and equipment failure. It is also possible that a rapid rise in the price of raw materials could affect Fujifilm's performance.
Fujifilm manufactures its products in conformance with rigorous quality control standards, but the possibility of defective products does exist. If Fujifilm were to have to respond to such an event by undertaking product recalls or other actions, Fujifilm's performance may be affected.

The Fujifilm Group operates a variety of information systems in the ongoing execution of its operations and business. In this context, steps are taken to put in place an appropriate information system management framework as well as all relevant security countermeasures. Despite these initiatives, a wide range of factors including interruptions in electric power, disasters and unauthorized access may impair the Group's information systems or lead to the leakage, modification or falsification of personal data. In each of these events, Fujifilm's performance may be affected.

The Fujifilm Group engages in production, sales and related business activities worldwide. In the event of a large-scale natural disaster including earthquake, typhoon or flood as well as a fire, terrorist attack, war or new influenza virus epidemic, Fujifilm's business activities may be affected as well as its operating performance.

The Fujifilm Group has reaccelerated its structural reforms from the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 for more intensive implementation. Through these structural reforms, the Fujifilm Group has implemented comprehensive cost and expense reductions, while pursuing further reductions in fixed costs and assets for optimized Group-wide operations. The Group will continue implementing effective measures to constantly improve its management efficiency in the future. However, the implementation of structural reforms and related measures may cause the Group to incur contingent expenses associated with organizational changes and business and operational reforms, and in such cases, Fujifilm's performance may be affected.