Panasonic profit dives 65%, signs Tesla battery plant deal/AFP
TOKYO, July 31 – Panasonic on Thursday posted a $369 million net profit for the three months to June, plunging 65 percent from a year ago when the Japanese electronics giant logged a big one off gain from a pension scheme change.
The Osaka based company said net profit hit 37.93 billion yen, down from 107.83 billion yen last year. It separately announced it has signed a deal with US electric car maker Tesla to build a huge battery making plant in the United States.
Panasonic, a major producer of lithium ion batteries, did not say how much it would invest in the proposed site, known as the Gigafactory, but Japanese media has previously reported it would pump in as much as 30 billion yen.
Also Thursday, Finnish mobile giant Nokia said it had agreed to buy some of Panasonic’s wireless network business, but did not supply details on the price tag.
Despite the drop in the Japanese firm’s latest earnings, sales rose 1.5 percent to 1.85 trillion yen from a year earlier.
Panasonic said it expects to book a net profit of 140 billion yen in the fiscal year through March.
