NEW YORK –
Panasonic returned to the black, Canon
sold more cameras, LG had good appliance sales
and Samsung rode its smartphones to profitability in
the quarter ending June 30.
But Sony and Sharp reported wider losses for the
quarter due to lower TV sales, with the latter announcing
5,000 in layoffs by next March.
Here are the company-by-company details of their
results:
Canon
reported in its imaging system business
unit (formerly the consumer business unit), the performance
was upbeat, with sales and operating profits
up more than 20 percent for each, year on year. Its
second-quarter sales for the unit were up 22.3 percent
to $4.68 billion and quarterly profit was up 23.6
percent to $709 million.
Fujifilm
cited the weak global economy for lower
consolidated revenue and operating income during
its fiscal first quarter. Fujifilm reported revenue for the
quarter, ended June 30, was down 2.2 percent to 518
billion yen, or $6.6 billion. Operating income was 20.9
billion yen, or $2.7 billion, down 27.8 percent from the
same period in 2012.
LG Electronics
reported second-quarter net profit
increased 46 percent year over year to $138.02 million
while operating profit more than doubled to $302.95
million from the same period last year. Revenues,
while 5.2 percent higher than in the first quarter, declined
from last year’s second quarter by 10.6 percent
to $11.16 billion.
Stronger performance in home entertainment and
home appliances compared with the second quarter
last year helped offset profit declines in LG’s mobile
business.
Nintendo
said net sales were 84.8 billion yen, 9.7
percent lower than the prior year and the loss was 17.2
billion yen, an improvement over the 25.5 billion yen
loss in the prior year’s first quarter. The appreciation
of the yen is one of the reasons for the loss in its fiscal
first quarter, ended June 30. Nintendo added that during
the quarter the Nintendo 3DS had “robust” sales
in Japan but hardware sales only reached 1.86 million
units worldwide.
Panasonic
returned to profitability but also reported lower sales in its fiscal first quarter, ended June
30. The net income of 12.8 billion yen for the
quarter reduces a loss of 30.4 billion yen in the
prior year’s first quarter.
Consolidated group sales for the first quarter
decreased by 6 percent to 1,814.5 billion yen
due mainly to weak demand for A/V products
in Japan, compared with 1,929.5 billion for the
prior year’s first quarter.
Despite the sales decline and yen appreciation,
the results were due mainly to fixed cost reductions
and streamlining of material costs, the
company said.
Sales in the Americas were up 2 percent on a
yen basis and 5 percent in local currency compared
with the prior year’s fiscal first quarter due
to stable CE sales and good automotive systems
sales.
And while Panasonic did report that flat-panel
TV sales were down, it did turn an operating
profit of 25 billion yen in the quarter, reversing
the prior year’s 11 billion yen operating loss, due
to a restructuring, cost improvements and an emphasis
on larger screen sizes.
Samsung Electronics
rode the coattail of
its Galaxy smartphone sales to a $4.53 billion
profit for its second quarter. The profit was 21
percent higher than during the same period last
year and was made on revenue of $41.6 billion
for the quarter, ended June 30.
Samsung said it had success across all its
business sectors except in semiconductors.
Its mobile communications business generated
$17.9 billion in revenue and was strongly supported
by the launch of the Galaxy S III smartphone
and Note sales. The handset business
unit saw earnings rise 75 percent year over year.
Sharp Electronics
reported a wider net loss
in its fiscal first quarter and announced a plan to
lay off 5,000 employees by next spring.
Sharp reported a net loss of 138.4 billion yen
($1.8 billion) in its first quarter compared with
the prior year’s 49.3 billion yen loss. Net sales
were 458.6 billion yen, 182 billion yen lower than
last year’s fiscal first quarter.
Sharp said that it will cut 5,000 jobs worldwide
by March 2013, reorganize its business
groups among attempts to cut costs, and return
to profitability.
In its, audio/visual and communications equipment
sector, sales were down 54.9 percent to
134.1 billion yen due to much lower LCD TV
demand in Japan and a price drop, which offset
higher sales overseas.
Sony
posted a net loss of 24.6 billion yen ($312
million), which was 9.1 billion yen deeper than the
prior year’s fiscal first quarter loss. Corporately,
sales were up 1.4 percent to 1,515.2 billion yen
($19.2 billion) compared with the prior year.
By business segment related to CE products,
in home entertainment and sound, sales were
down 26.2 percent year on year to 251.8 billion
yen ($3.2 billion). This was primarily due to a
decrease in LCD television unit sales in Japan,
North America and Europe. The operating loss
decreased 3.6 billion yen year on year to 10 billion
yen ($126 million) due to cutting expenses in
the LCD panel business.
However, TV sales were down 35 percent year
on year to 157 billion yen ($1.99 billion), and operating
loss decreased 8.1 billion yen year on year
to 6.6 billion yen ($84 million U.S. dollars).
In the game segment, sales were down 14.5 percent
year on year to 118 billion yen ($1.5 billion).
Sony reported an operating loss in games of 3.5
billion yen ($45 million U.S. dollars), compared
with operating income of 4.1 billion yen in the same
quarter of the previous fiscal year.
In the imaging products and solutions segment,
sales increased 7.6 percent year on year to 193.8
billion yen ($2.5 billion). Operating income was basically
flat at 12.6 billion yen ($160 million).
In the mobile products and communications segment,
sales were up 132.9 percent year on year to
285.6 billion yen ($3.7 billion). This increase was
primarily due to the consolidation of Sony Mobile,
partially offset by lower sales of PCs mainly resulting
from price declines, Sony said.
Toshiba
reported that in its digital products segment,
sales were down 17 percent to 339.9 billion
yen and the operating loss was 3.6 billion yen. The
visual products business, which includes TVs, saw
a sales decline vs. a year earlier, and the PC business
also recorded a decrease on sluggish sales
in the U.S., although unit sales rose in Japan and
Europe.
Yamaha
said in the A/V-IT segment, which includes
home audio, commercial karaoke and IT
equipment, fell 3.2 percent globally to 12 billion
yen ($153.5 million) but were up in North America
by an undisclosed amount. AV/IT operating income
remained flat at 600 million yen ($7.68 million).
