Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp shares plunged to their lowest levels in more than three decades yesterday as investors fretted about the future prospects for two of Japan’s most iconic firms amid massive losses.
Sony, which reported a record US$5.7 billion annual loss on Thursday, dived 6.43 percent to ¥1,135, while Panasonic closed down 1.55 percent at ¥570 shortly before posting a record US$9.67 billion annual loss yesterday.
The firms’ shares stood at their lowest level since at least 1980, taking into account previous stock splits, according to the online edition of the Nikkei business daily.
Meanwhile, shares in Sharp Corp, which has posted a record US$4.7 billion annual net loss, also ended at their lowest level in decades, down 5.1 percent at ¥390.
The sell-off came after Sony said on Thursday it lost ¥456.66 billion (US$5.7 billion) in the year to March, its fourth consecutive year in the red, but vowed to swing back to profitability this year.
Sony has struggled to stem losses at its television division, and it counted a strong yen and natural disasters among the reasons for its disastrous results.
RECORD SHORTFALL
Shortly after the closing bell yesterday, Panasonic confirmed earlier warnings of a record loss, among the worst-ever shortfalls recorded by a non-financial Japanese company.
“This result was due mainly to price declines and the appreciation of the yen, in addition to a sales decrease affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the flooding in Thailand,” the company said in a statement.
However, Panasonic also projected it would return to the black in the current fiscal year to March 2013 with a net profit of ¥50 billion.
“Although the company expects some risks to continue, the global economy is expected to show a slow recovery in fiscal 2013,” the firm said. “Under such business conditions, Panasonic regards fiscal 2013 as the first year in which it will achieve positive results following large-scale structural reforms and reorganization.”
The latest results stand in stark contrast to Panasonic’s net profit of ¥74 billion in the year to March 2011, and its first forecast for the current year, which was for a ¥30 billion profit.
Panasonic, along with Sony and Sharp, has been fighting a losing battle for years against fierce competition from the likes of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co and US-based Apple Inc.
Japan’s electronics sector has also been badly hit by the appreciation of the yen, which makes exporters’ products less competitive overseas, while falling prices and slow demand at home have also eaten into profits.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”