FILE PHOTO: A man is seen next to Panasonic Corp’s logo at Panasonic Center in Tokyo, Japan, February 2, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
October 28, 2021
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Panasonic Corp on Thursday raised its full-year operating profit outlook by 12%, helped by a share valuation gain and increased demand for automotive batteries and factory automation equipment.
Panasonic raised its profit forecast for the year to March 31 to 370 billion yen ($3.25 billion) from 330 billion yen. The prediction is higher than a mean 368.1 billion yen profit based on forecasts from 20 analysts, Refinitiv data shows.
That improved outlook was largely the result of a 58.3 billion yen gain in the value of the Japanese company’s 20% stake in Blue Yonder after it bought the rest of U.S. software company for $7.1 billion in September.
That acquisition is part of a strategy by Panasonic to shift away from producing low-margin consumer electronics. The conglomerate is also expanding its auto batteries business and bolstering sales of machinery and components to manufacturing companies.
Panasonic sold its stake in Tesla Inc for about 400 billion yen to help fund the acquisition of Blue Yonder, which uses machine learning to help companies manage their supply chains by connecting factories to warehouses and retailers.
Despite the decision to sell Tesla shares, it is seeing increased profits from its decade-old partnership supplying auto batteries to the U.S. company as global sales of electric vehicles surge amid stricter limits on carbon emissions.
The Japanese conglomerate on Monday unveiled a new large prototype battery that will help Tesla lower production costs and boost output. Tesla claims the power unit will halve battery costs and help it ramp up battery production 100-fold by 2030.
In the three months Sept. 30, Panasonic posted a profit of 96.8 billion yen compared with a profit of 92.8 billion yen a year ago. That result was worse than an estimated mean 105.9 billion yen profit from nine analyst surveyed by Refinitiv.
Profits from washing machines and other appliances, which had risen during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, fell during the quarter by more than 90%.
($1 = 113.7100 yen)
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Barbara Lewis and Gerry Doyle)
Source: One America News Network
