First, we will examine the factors behind the 4.0 billion yen decrease in profits during the third quarter in the Business Technologies Business.
The ongoing uncertainty towards the European economy has begun to affect the US and China and the impact of the downturn is being experienced on a global level. Against this backdrop, in our Business Technologies Business, we have implemented sales expansion measures focused on our core color products in both Japan and overseas. In addition to the markets in North America and Europe that provide the Group with high sales levels, we have actively strengthened marketing in Japan and other regions with an eye to further business expansion and the transformation of our business portfolio in the future.
Sales have steadily increased for office color MFPs, with third-quarter sales volumes up 15% year on year. Meanwhile, sales of monochrome MFPs decreased significantly by 21%. The impact of the economic slowdown in China, where the monochrome ratio is still high, has been felt. One other underlying factor is believed to be the decrease in large deals for large companies and public agencies for which demand for monochrome units has traditionally been strong. While sales of color digital printing systems similarly increased in the production print field, sales of monochrome units decreased, making sales sluggish overall for the third quarter. As a result of these sales-related factors, profits decreased by 1.6 billion yen.
Next, in terms of manufacturing, cost plans were not achieved in the production launch of new color MFPs in the office field, and this factor caused profits to decrease by 0.6 billion yen. The details will be described in a slide that follows.
SG&A increased by 2.1 billion yen year on year. Efforts were made to strengthen our business foundations in the Business Technologies Business worldwide in preparation for the transformation of our business portfolio. Efforts were made in the production print field, IT services, global OPS, and major account business to strengthen sales while M&As were conducted. Although we fell slightly short of plans due to sales- and cost-related factors, marketing investments for future growth were conducted according to plan.
The ongoing uncertainty towards the European economy has begun to affect the US and China and the impact of the downturn is being experienced on a global level. Against this backdrop, in our Business Technologies Business, we have implemented sales expansion measures focused on our core color products in both Japan and overseas. In addition to the markets in North America and Europe that provide the Group with high sales levels, we have actively strengthened marketing in Japan and other regions with an eye to further business expansion and the transformation of our business portfolio in the future.
Sales have steadily increased for office color MFPs, with third-quarter sales volumes up 15% year on year. Meanwhile, sales of monochrome MFPs decreased significantly by 21%. The impact of the economic slowdown in China, where the monochrome ratio is still high, has been felt. One other underlying factor is believed to be the decrease in large deals for large companies and public agencies for which demand for monochrome units has traditionally been strong. While sales of color digital printing systems similarly increased in the production print field, sales of monochrome units decreased, making sales sluggish overall for the third quarter. As a result of these sales-related factors, profits decreased by 1.6 billion yen.
Next, in terms of manufacturing, cost plans were not achieved in the production launch of new color MFPs in the office field, and this factor caused profits to decrease by 0.6 billion yen. The details will be described in a slide that follows.
SG&A increased by 2.1 billion yen year on year. Efforts were made to strengthen our business foundations in the Business Technologies Business worldwide in preparation for the transformation of our business portfolio. Efforts were made in the production print field, IT services, global OPS, and major account business to strengthen sales while M&As were conducted. Although we fell slightly short of plans due to sales- and cost-related factors, marketing investments for future growth were conducted according to plan.