Panasonic forecasts net profit to fall this year

TOKYO: Japan's Panasonic on Monday said it expects net profit to tumble 59.5 percent in the current fiscal year through March 2012 due to the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami on production.

The Japanese electrical giant said it expects to post a net profit of 30.00 billion yen ($374 million) this fiscal year, down from 74.0 billion a hear earlier. Panasonic expects to incur a group net loss of 70 billion yen in the first half alone.

Panasonic forecast operating profit for the current fiscal year to drop 12 percent to 270 billion yen from 305.25 billion in the last fiscal year on flat sales of 8.70 trillion yen from 8.69 trillion a year earlier.

The major electrical home appliance maker delayed its earnings forecast for fiscal 2011 as it assessed the impact of the March 11 disaster, which ravaged Japan's northeast coast and left 23,000 dead or missing.

The tsunami crippled a nuclear power plant, leading to reactor meltdowns and power shortages that along with supply chain problems sent Japanese production levels plunging as the economy tipped into technical recession.

In April Panasonic said it aimed to cut its global workforce to 350,000 in two years, a reduction of about 17,000 positions, in a bid to streamline its operations.

The planned job cuts will mean roughly a 10 percent reduction from March 2010 when Panasonic had 384,586 employees.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011