Panasonic Corporation on Tuesday said that it had remained on track of operational profit growth due to the restructuring in the company.
It said that the restructuring had seen the electronics firm pivot toward new goods like auto parts and away from former glories like TVs.
Piloting the restructuring, Chief Executive Kazuhiro Tsuga said Panasonic’s future strategy would mean seeking growth through spending around 200 billion yen on mergers and acquisitions in the current fiscal year alone.
According to the company, it expects operating profit to grow 15 per cent to 430 billion yen (2 billion pounds) in the fiscal year that started in April, bolstered by high-tech auto parts.
Operating profit for the 12 months ended March was 381.9 billion yen, beating its March forecast of 350 billion yen.
The company cited strong demand for its automotive products, which include batteries and electronic components, as well as the positive impact of a weaker yen.
The Osaka-based firm’s upturn comes after years of losses on consumer electronics like TVs and smartphones, squeezed between cheaper Asia rivals and heavyweight tech firms like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.
Panasonic’s restructuring progress is in sharp contrast to Japanese peers like Sharp Corp, which have struggled to reinvent themselves in the face of pricing pressure from Asian rivals.
