TOKYO, Oct 29 — Japan’s Panasonic said today 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 (RM1.9 billion) for the six months to September from ¥100.9 billion in the same period last year.
Sales sank 20.4 per cent 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 in net loss.
Panasonic left its full-year forecast unchanged, projecting a net profit of ¥100 billion for the fiscal year to March 2021, a drop of 55.7 per cent from the previous year.
Full-year sales are still expected to fall 13.2 per cent to ¥6.5 trillion.
“It continues to be difficult to forecast the economic outlook surrounding the management environment in fiscal 2021,” it said.
Rival Sony yesterday said net profit doubled in the April-September period and revised up its full-year forecast, citing growth in key sectors including gaming. — AFP
