LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y.--Oct. 28, 2004-- Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. and a leader in imaging technologies, today announced Canon Inc. third quarter 2004 consolidated net sales of 838.3 billion yen (US$ 7,552 million), which represents an increase of 9.2% over the third quarter of fiscal year 2003. Canon reported third quarter net income of 101.8 billion yen (US$ 917 million), a significant increase of 39.4 % over the same period last year and an earning per share of 114.79 yen (US$ 1.03). "In terms of net sales, Canon recorded year-on-year growth of 9.2% for the third quarter. This was mainly due to the fact that we exceeded our projections for both monochrome and color laser beam printers. In addition to this, we continued to achieve significant net sales growth in semiconductor production equipment, digital cameras and color copying machines," said Toshizo Tanaka, Senior Managing Director and Group Executive for Finance and Accounting Headquarters, Canon Inc.