Panasonic on track for second $10B loss

The Osaka-based company on Wednesday said it expected to end the financial year to next March with a net loss of Y765bn ($9.6bn), a dramatic reversal of its previous forecast for a Y50bn profit. It said it would not pay a dividend this year for the first time since 1950.

A loss of that scale would be only slightly smaller than Panasonic's record Y772bn deficit last year, and would bring its cumulative losses for the past five years to nearly Y2tn.

The company said it was writing down the value of past investments in solar panels, lithium-ion batteries and mobile phones, areas on which it had bet heavily only to be undone by cheaper or more innovative foreign competitors.

The decision broadens a restructuring that began with the company's unprofitable television division last year, CNN informs.

Panasonic is also taking a large tax charge, of Y412.5bn, related to its prolonged earnings slump.

Not all of its reversal came from one-time write-offs, however: it cut its annual sales forecast by 10 per cent, to Y7.3tn, and its projection for operating profit -- earnings before restructuring charges, taxes and other items -- by nearly half to Y140bn, citing weakening global demand for consumer electronics.

The company said it was writing down the value of goodwill and other intangible assets related to the solar, battery and phone businesses by a total of Y355.5bn.

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