Panasonic headed for $10 billion annual loss

 

Japanese electronics' giant Panasonic says it expects to post a loss of more than $10 billion US dollars for the fiscal year ending March 31st, citing hefty restructuring costs in its loss-making television business.

Japan's Panasonic is forecasting a record annual net loss of over $10 billion U.S. dollars for the year to March. The projection is well beyond previous expectations for a loss of around $6.2 billion.

A general view at the Panasonic booth at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, in January.

At a briefing in Tokyo, company president Fumio Ohtsubo says it was a difficult year on multiple fronts, including costly restructuring.

Panasonic president, Fumio Ohtsubo said: "In order to renew the business and rebuild our company we have taken reform that has caused pain. In addition to that there has been the effects of the earthquake, the floods and the strong yen which all came together to make these difficult results."

The company also missed forecasts for the third quarter, tumbling to a loss of 2.6 billion dollars from a profit in the same quarter a year ago.

It's in the process of cutting 17,000 jobs which should be completed by the end of March.

Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo (L) and managing director Makoto Uenoyama bow their heads after a news conference in Tokyo February 3, 2012.

Weak demand and a strong yen have also hit forecasts by Japanese competitors Sony and Sharp

Ohtsubo gave no indication that Panasonic planned to ditch its struggling TV department but did note that there could be points to learn from its overseas rivals such as South Korea's Samsung.

Ohtsubo said: "There are indeed a lot of things that can be learned from the Korean makers that we compete against, both on the technical side and the design side. But at the same time the exchange rate has had a very large influence on the market. These sort of factors have combined to bring our TV department to where it is now."

Panasonic, which trimmed its forecast for the number of flat-screen TVs it will sell, does expect to make an operating profit for the year, though this is now seen at just $393 million dollars down from a previous estimate of $1.7 billion.