Tokyo - Sanyo Electric Co lowered its projections for operating profit and sales for the fiscal year 2008 that ends in March owing to the yen's advance and declining sales of electronics parts and semiconductors, the company said Thursday.

The Japanese home electronics maker revised downward its operating profit to 30 billion yen (335.78 million dollars) from an earlier projection of 50 billion yen.

Sanyo revised sales down to 1.9 trillion yen from 2.02 trillion yen.

Meanwhile, the Japanese media reported that Sanyo reached an agreement with Nippon Oil Corp to set up a joint venture in thin-film solar-cell panels.

The new company was expected to be set up in April for several hundred million yen.

The planned deal is expected to constitute a three-way solar-cell partnership because Panasonic Corp bought a controlling stake in Sanyo in December.

Sanyo and Nippon Oil reached a basic agreement on the joint venture in September, but they had not yet decided on the ownership share, according to Japan's business daily The Nikkei on Thursday. (dpa)