Panasonic profit plunges, but says FY earnings on target

[TOKYO] Japanese electronics giant Panasonic said on Tuesday its nine-month net profit plunged 42 per cent to US$1.19 billion, but it blamed the drop largely on one-off gains it booked a year earlier and said it was still on track to hit its full-year profit forecast.

The Osaka-based company's earnings for the April-September period came to 140.4 billion yen, while revenue ticked up 1.0 per cent to 5.7 trillion yen.

The firm left unchanged its fiscal year to March profit forecast of 140 billion yen, pointing to strength in its energy and auto units, while a sharp drop in the yen also provided strong support.

"Sales of solar panels for homes continued to be stable in Japan, and demand (in the) automotive-related business steadily increased in its global market," the firm said in a statement.

"Yen depreciation also contributed to the overseas sales increase."

Japan's consumer electronics giants, including Sony and Sharp, have struggled with years of massive losses and are undergoing painful restructurings to recover as falling prices in the television business weigh on their bottom line.

Panasonic is pulling the plug on its last remaining TV manufacturing factory in China and is reportedly to sell its plant in Mexico owing to a sharp decline in television prices - its TV business has lost money over the last six years.

The company's shares rose 0.74 per cent to close at 1,357.5 yen in Tokyo on Tuesday, before the results were published.

AFP