Panasonic Corp.'s group net profit in the fiscal first half declined 11.2 percent from a year earlier, as sluggish sales in China — amid its prolonged trade war with the United States — overshadowed a boost in domestic housing-related businesses.
The electronics maker said Thursday it posted a net profit of ¥100.92 billion ($928 million) in the first half, which ended Sept. 30. Its group operating profit stood at ¥140.29 billion, down 28.1 percent, while sales fell 4.1 percent to ¥3.84 trillion.
"We expected the negative impact from the U.S.-China trade frictions to moderately ease in the second half of this fiscal year, but it has become difficult to see it that way," the company's chief financial officer, Hirokazu Umeda, told a news conference Thursday in Tokyo.