Panasonic Corp. reported Friday an unexpected third-quarter profit because of the weaker yen and restructuring efforts.
Net income was ¥61 billion in the three months that ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of ¥198 billion a year earlier, the Osaka-based company said.
Analysts expected a ¥17 billion loss, based on the average of three estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Japan’s second-biggest television maker reiterated its forecast for a full-year loss of ¥765 billion.
Panasonic improved earnings in the period as the yen’s plunge boosted the value of overseas sales. The company has also eliminated more than 38,000 jobs since April as an anticipated second straight annual loss, slower TV demand and competition from Samsung Electronics Co. force President Kazuhiro Tsuga to reduce costs.
“Japanese TV makers remain in a tough environment,” Tetsuro Ii, president of Commons Asset Management Inc. in Tokyo, said before the announcement. “Investors are expecting to see President Tsuga take drastic measures.”
Panasonic is due to announce a new medium-term plan by the end of March.
Tsuga, who was promoted to president in June, has said the company may pull out of businesses with operating margins of less than 5 percent by March 2016.
The maker of Viera televisions and Lumix cameras made a third-quarter operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, of ¥34.6 billion.
It made an operating loss of ¥8.1 billion a year earlier, when earnings were hit by job cuts and production disruptions caused by floods in Thailand. Third-quarter sales fell 8 percent to ¥1.8 trillion.
In October, Panasonic said it expects ¥440 billion in restructuring charges this fiscal year, including writedowns of good will on businesses such as solar, lithium-ion batteries and mobile phones. That was wider than an earlier projection of ¥41 billion.
The company had a record net loss of ¥772 billion in the year that ended last March because of charges to overhaul its TV and semiconductor operations.