Panasonic Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit rose 49 percent from a year earlier to ¥179.49 billion ($1.5 billion) in the fiscal that ended in March, as its robust in-car device business abroad dispelled negative effects from last April's consumption tax hike in Japan.

Accelerating its restructuring efforts, the Japanese electronics-maker's consolidated operating profit increased 25.2 percent to ¥381.91 billion, while its sales fell 0.3 percent to ¥7.72 trillion.

Panasonic expects a 0.3 percent gain in group net profit to ¥180 billion and a 12.6 percent expansion in operating profit to ¥430 billion on sales of ¥8 trillion, up 3.7 percent, for the year through March 2016.