Panasonic might report a net loss of $9.6 billion
Japan’s second- biggest TV maker, Panasonic Corp is likely report a loss of 765 billion yen or about $9.6 billion in the year till March, which is about 30 times larger than expectations due to additional restructuring costs and weakening demand.
The company had earlier expected 50 billion yen in net income for the period. The company had recorded a loss of 24.7 billion yen during the previous year. The full-year loss will be the second-biggest in the company’s history. The company expects its restructuring costs to increase 11 times than earlier estimates at a time when business conditions are getting increasingly difficult. The company said that it won’t be paying any dividend this year, for the first time since 1950.
Panasonic is facing a slowing mobile-phone, lithium-ion batteries and system LSI chips businesses and the new president might be looking to cut back businesses that do not contribute to the bottom line of the company. The company said that the restructuring expense during the year till March totaled 440 billion yen.
The shares of the company rose 4.5 percent to 514 yen in Tokyo before the results were announced.