Net profit at Ricoh Co. Ltd. grew to 22.3 billion yen, while pre-tax profit increased 15.6 percent to 37.3 billion yen.

Revenue inched up 2.1 percent to 437.4 billion yen.

Improved earnings were due to "an increase in revenues of high-margin, high-value-added products such as digital plain paper copiers, multifunctional printers, and printers," the firm said in a statement.

A 15.5 percent gain in the value of the euro from a year earlier to 134.67 yen helped boost the yen-denominated value of European sales while the dollar's fall by 6.7 percent to 118.52 yen caused American sales to slip.

Overall, the company said exchange rate factors helped the bottom line. It also cited new product offerings and continued cost cutting.

Ricoh upgraded its full-year forecast, with net profit seen at 85 billion yen rather than the May estimate of 79 billion yen, with pre-tax profit put at 145.5 billion instead of 137 billion yen and revenue unchanged at 1.81 trillion yen.

"This upward revision reflects stronger first quarter results than initially forecast and our anticipation of a further improvement in profitability," it said.

SPACE.WIRE