Panasonic sales, profits rise for fifth year in a row

Healthy demand for digital consumer electronics products particularly overseas helped Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) achieve higher sales and profits in the fiscal year just ended.

Martyn Williams

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:00:00 UTC

The company said sales rose 2 percent to ¥9.1 trillion (US$77.2 billion as of the last day of the period being reported) and net profit jumped 41 percent to ¥217.2 billion in the period from April 2006 to March 2007. It was the fifth straight year that Panasonic managed to increase both sales and profits.

The core electronics business benefitted from strong sales of digital audio-visual products including flat-panel TVs and digital cameras, particularly overseas. Digital camera sales rose 55 percent over the previous year and TV sales were up 10 percent. The division was hit by sluggish demand for its mobile phones worldwide.

One of the few dim spots was the performance of Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. (JVC). The Panasonic-affiliated company saw sales drop 9 percent to ¥638.6 billion. JVC recorded a loss of ¥5.7 billion for the year, which is almost unchanged on the prior year. Matsushita is currently in talks with several parties on a possible sale or reduction of its stake in the struggling audio-visual products maker.

On a regional basis the company saw profit rise in all parts of the world and sales climbed too in every region except the Americas, where they were off 1 percent.

The company expects the good times to continue in the current fiscal year and forecast a 2 percent increase in sales and a 15 percent rise in net profits.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Earnings Table

All figures in billions of yen

April 2006 to March 2007 April 2005 to March 2006 Year-on-year change

Net sales 9,108.2 8,894.3 +2 percent

Operating profit 459.5 414.3 +11 percent

Net profit 217.2 154.4 +41 percent

Source: Matsushita Electric Industrial