TOKYO: Japanese electronics firm Panasonic Corp cut its full-year outlook for operating profit on Wednesday due to concerns over weaker home appliances sales in China, where economic growth is slowing.
Panasonic forecast group an operating profit of 410 billion yen ($3.42 billion) for the year ending March 31, down from a previous estimate of 430 billion yen.
"In China, sales of home appliances slackened due to excessive inventories in the market," Senior Managing Director Hideaki Kawai told reporters. "It will take some time for the inventories to come down to an appropriate level."
Slumping global sales of laptop computers also dampened demand for its batteries, he said.
Panasonic also lowered its full-year sales estimate to 7.55 trillion yen from 8 trillion yen previously forecast. It new forecast would represent a 2.1 percent year-on-year decline.
In the October-December quarter, Panasonic said operating profit increased to 119.8 billion yen from 113.3 billion yen year-on-year, thanks to brisk sales of high-end home appliances in Japan.
The profit, however, was slightly lower than an average forecast of 122.9 billion yen made in a Thomson Reuters survey of six analysts.
Panasonic has reinvented itself as a maker of high-end home appliances and high-tech parts for cars and energy-efficient homes, shifting away from the highly competitive smartphones, plasma TVs and semiconductor chips businesses.
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