佳能(Canon)昨日称，美国经济问题致使其未能达到本财年盈利目标，并导致其季度业绩意外下滑。这是日本大型出口商首次承认美国经济减缓影响其盈利。

　　佳能高管大泽正宏(Masahiro Osawa)表示：“事实证明，次贷问题比我们预料的严重。”他补充指出，大部分部门的销售均不如预期。

　　佳能预计，在截至12月份的本财年，美国销售额将下降0.3%，为近10年来首次下降。

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CANON PUTS FOCUS ON FALTERING US ECONOMY AS IT MISSES TARGETS 
By Mariko Sanchanta in Tokyo

　　Canon yesterday blamed problems in the US economy for failing to meet its profit target for the fiscal year and an unexpected shortfall in its quarterly results, the first time that a big Japanese exporter has admitted that the slowdown in the US economy has hit its bottom line.

　　“The subprime loan problems have turned out to be worse than we had anticipated,” said Masahiro Osawa, a managing director at Canon, who added that sales across most divisions had been worse than expected.

　　In the current year ending December, Canon expects US sales to decline 0.3 per cent, the first drop in nearly a decade.

[时间：2008-01-31  作者：马里科?桑查塔　译者/徐柳  来源：《金融时报》]