Panasonic has announced that its third quarterly net profit rose by 24pc on the back of group sales for the third quarter increasing 21pc to 2,285.5bn yen.
Overseas sales increased to 1,084.9bn yen, up 23pc from 881.7bn yen.
As a result of “strong sales, and streamlining of material costs and other general expenses, offsetting severe price competition, appreciation of the yen and rising material costs”, Panasonic managed to increase the operating profit, pre-tax income and net income.
Sales in Digital AVC Networks increased to 2,585.4bn yen, from 2,578.2bn yen a year ago. This was largely due to the sales of Blu-ray Disc recorders and flat-panel TVs, however, there was a decline in sales of mobile phones and digital cameras.
SANYO sales totalled 1,223.0bn yen. The sales of solar cells, car-related equipment and general electronic components rose, while the sales of digital cameras and rechargeable batteries showed poor sales results.
Home appliances sales increased from 8pc to 974.2bn yen, and components and devices sales increased to 713.8bn yen, up 1pc from 703.7bn yen a year ago.
PEW and PanaHome sales increased 8pc to 1,280.5bn yen, from 1,184.4bn yen a year ago. Panasonic reported that “the recovery in Japanese housing market conditions and stable sales of housing construction, such as detached housing and rental apartment housing, led to the increase in overall sales.”
Panasonic, however did not escape the economic crises entirely, as it suffered from the negative impact of the strong yen along with a dramatic decline in product prices. The effect of this is demonstrated in comparison to the third quarter of 2009, as “the operating profit for the third quarter was 95.3bn yen, down from 101.0bn yen”.
As a consequence of the poor economic climate, Panasonic established “Green Transformation 2012 (GT12), a management plan to incorporate environmental protection and business with an overall objective of becoming a ‘Panasonic Group filled with significant growth potential’ in fiscal 2013.”
