Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, the world's biggest consumer-electronics maker, posted a third consecutive quarterly profit on job cuts and increased sales of video cameras and DVD recorders.
The maker of the Panasonic, Technics and National brands posted group net income of ¥20.9 billion (US$176 million), or Y8.65 a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a ¥172 billion loss, or ¥82.74, in the year-ago period. Sales rose 8 percent to ¥1.87 trillion.
Third-quarter gains were the result of cost savings after the company cut 2,500 jobs worldwide in the period and higher sales of newer products such as DVD players and digital cameras, which typically have higher margins, the company said. Matsushita raised its annual sales forecast by 3.5 percent to ¥7.3 trillion.
"Matsushita is ahead of its competitors in terms of restructuring and sales growth," said Hisako Furuta, who helps manage ¥4.5 billion at ING Mutual Funds Management Co, and holds the company's shares. Still, "there are concerns that growth momentum is going to slow down."
Matsushita, which posted a record loss last fiscal year, has vowed to revamp or close unprofitable businesses, concentrate on products with the greatest potential for growth and boost sales.
Citing investment losses and costs related to shuttering overseas units, the company cut its annual net income forecast by about a third to ¥25 billion.
Matsushita Electric's shares rose ¥8, or 0.7 percent, to 1,168 at the 3pm close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday ahead of the release of third-quarter earnings. The shares have declined 23 percent the past six months, compared with an 11 percent drop for Sony Corp, Matsushita's next-biggest rival.
Led by its president, Kunio Nakamura, the company has closed plants in places such as Shikoku Prefecture in southern Japan and offered financial incentives to entice workers to quit.
Nakamura has pledged to boost the company's operating profit -- the amount left over after production and administrative expenses are subtracted from sales -- to ¥100 billion, or more, in the year ending March 31.
For the third quarter, Matsushita's industrial equipment division had an operating loss of ¥6.7 billion. Operating profits were posted at its appliances, electronic devices and audio-visual divisions.
In the six months ended Sept. 31, Matsushita posted group operating profit of ¥45.4 billion. In the quarter ended Dec. 31, Matsushita posted a group operating profit of ¥42.8 billion.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS