Struggling Sanyo CE Sales Slide In First Half
By Jeff Malester -- TWICE, 12/5/2005
Tokyo— Sanyo Electric saw sales in its consumer group — mainly consumer electronics and major appliances — drop to $4.7 billion in the fiscal first six months, down from a year-ago $5.2 billion.
The consumer group recorded an operating loss of $101.2 million in the first six months, compared with operating income of $144.3 million in the same six months a year ago.
Television sales in the first six months, ended Sept. 30, declined to $418.7 million, from $445.3 million in the same period the prior year. LCD projectors came in at $215 million in the first half, down from a year-on-year $255 million. Digital still cameras reported first half sales of $750.4 million, compared with last year's $858.6 million. Telephone sales in the first six months reached $1.5 billion, a drop-off from the $1.7 billion recorded in 2004.
Only rechargeable batteries moved ahead in the first half for Sanyo, with sales hitting $1.22 billion, up from $1.21 billion in the same six months last year. Operating income for the battery segment was one of the few product categories on the upswing during the first half, hitting $112.1 million, up from a year-ago $26.6 million.
Sales in North America also increased for Sanyo during the first half, climbing to $1.5 billion, from $1.4 billion the previous year.
Consolidated Sanyo sales for the first half dropped to $10 billion, from $10.6 billion the same period last year. Overseas sales for the time frame decreased to $5.1 billion, from $5.2 billion in the first six months of 2004.
Sanyo reported a consolidated operating loss for the first half, coming in at $222.6 million, compared with an operating profit of $327.3 million last year.
The net loss for the first half reached $1.2 billion, compared with net income of $28.5 million year-over-year.
The company reported it would wrap up 10,000 of its planned 14,000 job eliminations by January 2006. It also plans to raise $1.7 billion to $2.5 billion by issuing new shares of stock to a number of financial institutions.
