Both Ricoh G900 and Canon SX420 IS have 20.0 MP resolution sensors but Ricoh G900's sensor is (1/2. ) and Canon SX420 IS's sensor is 1/2.3 (6.17 x 4.55 mm ).
Since Canon SX420 IS's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Ricoh G900.
Below you can see the G900 and SX420 IS sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon SX420 IS has a infx Larger sensor area than Ricoh G900. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.