Panasonic interim net profit halves as virus hits sales

TOKYO: Japan's Panasonic said Thursday that first-half net profit more than halved from a year earlier as the coronavirus pandemic weighed on its businesses at home and overseas.

The consumer electronics giant said its bottom-line profit dropped to 48.9 billion ($469 million) for the six months to September from 100.9 billion yen in the same period last year.

Sales sank 20.4 percent at 3.1 trillion yen.

"Domestic sales decreased due to the impact of the spread of Covid-19... despite increased sales in products such as air purifiers," the company said in a statement.

Overseas sales were also battered by the virus crisis while demand for power-storage systems and industrial motors remained brisk, it added.

However the firm recovered from the first quarter, when it fell into the red and logged 9.8 billion yen in net loss.

Panasonic left its full-year forecast unchanged, projecting a net profit of 100 billion yen for the fiscal year to March 2021, a drop of 55.7 percent from the previous year.

Full-year sales are still expected to fall 13.2 percent to 6.5 trillion yen.

"It continues to be difficult to forecast the economic outlook surrounding the management environment in fiscal 2021," it said.

Rival Sony on Wednesday said net profit doubled in the April-September period and revised up its full-year forecast, citing growth in key sectors including gaming.