Panasonic has joined Sony in reporting a steep loss for its fiscal year. The Japanese electronics maker and world’s largest plasma-TV maker lost 378.96 billion yen (US$3.99 billion) for the fiscal year ended in March. It was Panasonic’s first loss in seven years.
The loss more than wiped out Panasonic’s record profit of 281.9 billion yen (US$2.97 billion) posted in the year-ago period.
A Rough Year Ahead
Like Sony, which reported a loss of 98.9 billion yen (US$1.03 billion) for its fiscal year, Pansonic sees a rough year ahead. It predicted a loss of 195 billion yen (US$2.05 billion) for the current fiscal year, compared to Sony’s expected loss of 120 billion yen (US$1.25 billion).
“Panasonic expects that the economic environment in fiscal 2010 will be more severe than the past fiscal year, as the global recession and shrinking demand triggered by the financial crisis coincide with changes in market structure, including the expansion of emerging markets and a shift to lower-priced products,” the company said.
Panasonic’s sales for the year fell 14.4 percent to 7.77 trillion yen (US$81.8 billion) from the year-ago period. Sony’s sales were down 12.9 percent to 7.73 trillion yen (US$80.8 billion).
‘Drastic’ Reforms
Panasonic promised “drastic” reforms to recover. The company plans to lay off about 15,000 workers worldwide, five percent of its workforce, and shutter 40 facilities worldwide in the current fiscal year.
The company blamed most of its loss on restructuring costs of 367.4 billion yen (US$3.9 billion).
While Panasonic focuses primarily on Japan, Sony has seen its primary market outside Japan eroded by rival consumer electronics and video-game console makers. Apple has taken the lead in the portable music player market, where Sony’s Walkman was once dominant. And Nintendo has taken the lead from Sony in video-game consoles, with Nintendo’s Wii outselling Sony’s PlayStation 3.