Its recurring profit in the six months to September totalled 4.67 billion yen, reversing a recurring loss of 515 million yen a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Sales rose 29.6 percent year-on-year to a record 312.2 billion yen.

"Our sales of digital cameras rose sharply, boosting our overall revenue in the first-half," said a Nikon spokesman.

The company sold 3.5 million digital cameras in the six months, up 57 percent from a year earlier, the spokesman said.

For the full-year to March 2005, Nikon estimates sales of 6.6 million digital cameras worldwide, up 22 percent.

Nikon said it also saw brisk sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment as well as manufacturing equipment for liquid crystal displays used for TVs, laptops and mobile phones.

The company forecast a net profit of 28.6 billion yen in the full year with recurring profit seen at 19 billion yen on revenue of 660 billion yen.

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