Panasonic Corp. revised upward Friday its full-year operating profit forecast for the second time on faster-than-expected cost-cutting efforts and strong global sales of flat-panel televisions.
For the whole of fiscal 2009 through March, Panasonic now anticipates a group operating profit of ¥150 billion, against a profit of ¥120 billion projected in October and amounting to more than double the figure from the year before.
It also revised upward its sales projection to ¥7.35 trillion, against an earlier-projected ¥7 trillion, but kept its net profit forecast unchanged at a net loss of ¥140 billion.
The latest forecast takes into account the merger with smaller rival Sanyo Electric Co., which was completed in December.
Makoto Uenoyama, a Panasonic director in charge of accounting, said TV sales, especially liquid crystal display TVs, were strong in all regions, particularly in Japan on the back of government stimulus measures.
Streamlining of material costs also helped to offset the impact from the erosion of TV prices, he added.
During the October to December quarter, the company saw sales of flat-panel TVs, including plasma and LCD, jump about 48 percent from a year earlier to 4.97 million units.