Panasonic yearly net loss to top $9 bln -media

Panasonic Corp expects a record net loss of more than 700 billion yen for the year to March, Japanese media said, hit by write-downs for its Sanyo Electric acquisition and restructuring of its ailing TV division.

Japanese electronics makers have also been battered by a strong yen, a sluggish economy and natural disasters in Japan and Thailand, with rivals Sony Corp and Sharp Corp both posting much worse than expected results earlier in the week.

The Japanese manufacturers have struggled with hefty losses in their once-dominant TV operations, outflanked by more aggressive and nimble rivals such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), while they lag innovators in key new technologies such as smartphones and tablet PCs.

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"Panasonic like Sharp and Sony has structural problems," said Makoto Kikuchi, CEO of Myojo Asset Management in Tokyo, noting that all three needed to come to grips with problems in their TV businesses.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the debt ratings of Sony and Panasonic last month and retained a negative outlook for both, citing their continued losses on TVs.

The Mainichi newspaper said on Friday that Panasonic was still expecting to achieve a profit on an operating basis. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S on average have forecast a 124.2 billion yen operating profit for the year to March, compared with Panasonic's last forecast of 130 billion yen.

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PANASONIC SHARES REBOUND

Panasonic, which is due to announce quarterly results and full-year forecasts later on Friday, said in a statement the reports on its earnings were not based on a company announcement.

The company's president, Fumio Ohtsubo, is due to hold a news conference after the earnings announcement regarding the company's growth strategy.

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Panasonic shares initially fell in early trade, extending the previous day's slide to their lowest in more than 30 years on the relentless succession of bad news from the electronics sector. By mid-morning, however, they had rebounded, to trade up 2.2 percent at 605 yen.

Sony's shares also rebounded, surging 6.7 percent to 1,417 yen, despite a forecast after the market closed on Thursday of a worse-than-expected $2.9 billion annual net loss.

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Market sources noted views that the stock had become cheap, while some investors took a positive view of incoming president Kazuo Hirai, who will replace Howard Stringer on April 1 and vowed to move quickly to turn the company around.

Panasonic had disappointed investors at its last earnings announcement in November when it warned of a 420 billion yen annual net loss, revising its previous forecast of a 30 billion yen profit to cover restructuring.

The maker of Viera TVs and Lumix cameras has also said it would cut 17,000 jobs by March of this year.

Panasonic acquired Sanyo Electric last year, eyeing its environment-related businesses in batteries and solar energy, but has also had to deal with overlapping businesses in mature sectors such as consumer electronics and household appliances.