Osaka, Japan – Panasonic reported higher sales and profits in the fiscal third quarter, ended Dec. 31, 2013.
Consolidated group sales in the quarter increased 10 percent to 1,973.5 billion compared with the same quarter last year. Overseas sales increased by 13 percent to 1,003.2 billion yen compared with the same quarter last year.
Operating profit increased to 116.6 billion yen from 34.6 billion yen a year ago due to “significant profit improvement of unprofitable businesses,” the company said. Net income attributable to Panasonic was also higher, 73.7 billion yen compared with 61.4 billion yen a year ago.
Panasonic said that in spite of economic slowdown in some emerging countries, the economy continued to expand in the U.S. and Japan, and it moderately recovered in Europe.
In digital consumer products, sales decreased, and Panasonic said it was “focusing on profitability rather than sales volume.”
For the nine months, ended Dec. 31, 2013, Panasonic reported that sales in the AVC networks group decreased by 4 percent compared with a year ago, despite a steady rise in B to B sales. B to C decreased due to the company’s business restructuring and weak demand, Panasonic said.
The segment loss was better than the prior year, 6.4 billion yen for this year’s fiscal nine month period compared with the 24.1 billion yen loss last year, primarily due to a sales increase in B to B and business restructuring, especially in the TVs and panel businesses.
