Panasonic’s Q3 profit tumbles 44% as sales of white goods, home appliances fall
Japan’s Panasonic Corp (6752.T) on Wednesday posted a 44% decline in third-quarter operating profit to 73 billion yen ($636.2 million) as sales of white goods and home appliances shrank in Japan and material costs rose.
The result for the three months to Dec. 31 was worse than an estimated mean 106.9 billion yen profit from 10 analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
Panasonic has shifted away from producing low-margin consumer electronics and appliances to making auto batteries for Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), production machinery, components and more recently providing supply chain management services.
However those consumer appliances, which saw a boom in sales during coronavirus lockdowns, still account for a big chunk of revenue.
Panasonic stuck with its full-year forecast for annual profit of 370 billion yen – a figure in line with analysts’ forecasts.
