Fuji Photo Film Co. said Tuesday it will reorganize its businesses under a holding company next month, diversifying into new areas such as cosmetics and drugs from its traditional photo film business.
Fujifilm Holdings Corp. will be set up Oct. 1 and will hold under its wing Fujifilm Corp., which will manage the group's photo film business, and Fuji Xerox Co., which will handle office equipment manufacturing and sales.
The Fujifilm group will expand operations into such fields as the cosmetics, health supplement and medical sectors, it said.
"We'd like to further develop our business activities aggressively and dynamically," Shigetaka Komori, president and chief executive officer of Fuji Photo Film, told a news conference. "We'd like to offer products and services with new values."
Komori will head the new holding company, which will be responsible for business strategies and supervising operations for the whole group.
Komori said the Fujifilm group aims to post a record 200 billion yen in operating profit in the 2007 business year through March 2008, supported by improvement in the photo film business and expansions in office and industry equipment businesses.
Photo film had been Fuji Photo Film's mainstay product since it was founded in 1934. It accounts for only 3 percent of total sales due to digitalization of cameras.
Komori said the firm would not withdrawal from the color photo film market.