Panasonic who have been churning through senior staff in Australia as part of a major restructure has reported its first annual profit in three years.
In Australia the Company has slashed their headcount and cut marketing expenditure as the Company battles a slowing consumer electronics market and fall in demand for several of their products.
In its fiscal year, ended March 31, net income was 120.4 billion yen compared with a prior-year loss of 754.3 billion yen. Operating profit increased 90 percent to 305.1 billion yen, and consolidated group sales were up 6 percent to 7,736.5 billion yen.
Panasonic explained that there was growth in automotive-related and housing-related businesses, and “focusing on profitability rather than volume sales of digital consumer-related businesses decreased,” the company said.
Among the economic factors behind Panasonic’s improved financials were the stock market recovery, “robust consumer spending in the U.S.,” and yen depreciation.
In its AVC networks segment of consumer products, sales decreased by 3 percent to 1,573.4 billion yen; however, segment profit “significantly improved” by 159 percent to 21.5 billion yen.
Panasonic said that there were steady B-to-B sales, but B-to-C sales declined mainly due to the end of its plasma TV business. Profits were up due mainly to the B-to-B sales and business restructuring, especially in TVs and flat-panel businesses.
