Led by sales of televisions and DVD players and discs, sales of video and audio equipment at Matsushita Electric were relatively flat in the fiscal second quarter, sliding downward about 1 percent to $3.77 billion dollars, compared with $3.78 billion in the second quarter of 2000.
The company reported sales declines in VCRs during the current three months.
For the fiscal first half, sales of video and audio equipment rose about 1 percent, to $7.06 billion, up from $6.98 billion in the year-ago first half.
The company reported an operating loss of $271 million in the first half ending Sept. 30, compared with an operating profit of $348.7 million in the same six months in 2000.
Sales in the Americas in the first half climbed 1 percent to $5.02 billion, up from $4.95 billion in the year-ago period.
The company reported an operating loss of $16 million during the first six months in the Americas, compared with an operating profit of $90.8 million in the first half of last year.
Matsushita recorded overall consolidated sales in the second quarter of $14.4 billion, down 13 percent from the $16.5 billion reported in the year-ago period.
The company’s second-quarter net loss was $421 million, compared with net income of $352.9 million in the same three months last year.
Consolidated sales in the first half dropped 9 percent to $28.5 billion, down from $31.4 billion in the first half of 2000.
The company reported a net loss of $584 million for the first half, compared with net income of $431.9 million in the same period last year.
Faced with a worsening overall business environment and the possibility of global recession, Matsushita expects overall consolidated sales to decrease 11 percent from the previous fiscal year, down to $57.1 billion, compared with its original forecast of $63.4 billion.
Matsushita is now projecting a net loss for the fiscal year instead of net income. The company projects an estimated net loss of about $2.2 billion, compared with the original forecast for net income of $478.9 million.
