Economic Calendar

Monday, October 31, 2011

Panasonic Forecasts $5.3 Billion Annual Loss on Stronger Yen, Competition

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By Mariko Yasu - Oct 31, 2011 1:59 PM GMT+0700

Panasonic Corp. forecast an annual net loss of 420 billion yen ($5.3 billion), citing the impact of the strong yen and stronger competition in its overseas digital products business.

Panasonic reversed an earlier projection for profit of 30 billion yen for the year ending March 2012, the Osaka-based electronics maker said in a statement today.

The maker of Viera TV was affected by floods in Thailand just months after restarting domestic plants that were crippled by Japan’s magnitude-9 temblor on March 11. Falling prices of TVs, sluggish demand in developed countries and a stronger yen are adding pressure on the company even after it disclosed plans in April to eliminate 17,000 jobs to revive profitability.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, Panasonic reported a net loss of 106 billion yen, compared with the 5.6 billion yen average of four analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mariko Yasu in Tokyo at myasu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net




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