Tokyo - Sanyo Electric Co on Thursday reported a net loss of 14.33 billion yen (160.33 million dollars) during the quarter that ended December 31 amid the global economic downturn and the yen's surge against the dollar.

The Japanese electronics company logged a net profit of 12.78 billion yen during the same quarter a year earlier.

Sanyo's operating income plunged in its third quarter to 6.87 billion yen from 28.96 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales dropped 22.4 per cent to 427.52 billion yen.

For the first nine months on Sanyo's fiscal year, its net profit dropped 36.3 per cent to 18.32 billion yen.

Its nine-month operating profit also declined 44.9 per cent to 30.83 billion yen on sales of 1.43 trillion yen, down 6.4 per cent from the previous year.

Sanyo maintained its full-year earnings forecast from the projections it announced in January, expecting net income of 28.7 billion yen and operating profit of 30 billion yen on sales of 1.9 trillion yen. (dpa)