Panasonic expects 59% drop in Profit

Panasonic Corp. expected its net profit to fall 59% in the current fiscal year through March 2012, as the Japanese electronics giant continues to cope with the impact of the March 11 disaster on the country's supply chain. Panasonic expects to post a net profit of Y30 billion this fiscal year, down from Y74.02 billion in the last fiscal year ended March 31.

The outlook signals a strong recovery expected in the fiscal second half starting October 1, as the company forecasts a net loss of Y70 billion for the first half from April to September.

Panasonic is one of many Japanese manufacturers that reported damage to production facilities as a result of the disaster. All of the company's affected facilities have since resumed operations, at least partially. But the company still expects the quake's impact on the supply chain to hurt revenue and operating profit, particularly in the six months through September.

For the April-September period, Panasonic expects to post an operating profit of Y10 billion, down sharply from Y168.97 billion for the same period last year. Counting on major improvements in the October-March period, the company forecasts an operating profit of Y270 billion for the entire fiscal year through March 2012, down 12% from Y305.25 billion in the last fiscal year.

The company forecasts a 8.4% drop in revenue for the April-September period to Y4 trillion, but expects revenue for the whole fiscal year to remain almost flat at Y8.7 trillion, compared with Y8.693 trillion a year earlier.