Panasonic, Hitachi post massive losses

May 18, 2009 | 10:03

Tags: #credit-crunch #financial #loss #losses

Companies: #hitachi #japan #panasonic

Sony might have posted some impressive losses in its most recent financial filing, but that's nothing compared to the poor year that Panasonic has just finished.

As reported over on BetaNews, the Japanese electronics giant has posted an incredible loss of $4.68 billion (£3.08 billion) in its most recent financial filing – some four times the losses posted by Sony which sent shockwaves through the financial world.

The poor financial showing – which the company blames on a currently poor currency exchange market along with declining sales due to the global financial slowdown, which the company notes rather pointedly started in the United States of America – is bad news for the company, and is a story currently playing out across Japan. The soon-to-be-merged Sanyo posted its own loss of $970 million (£640 million), while rival Hitachi topped the tables with a painful $8.03 billion (£5.3 billion) loss.

The poor showings from traditional money spinners could well prove disastrous for Japan's economy as a whole, and Panasonic isn't too optimistic about the coming years. The company warned investors that it “currently expects to encounter severe conditions because two trends are developing simultaneously. One is the world recession and shrinking demand, and the other is the changes in market structure such as the expanding emerging markets and a demand shift to lower-priced products.

In order to combat the coming lean times, Panasonic's plan is to “rebuild its management structure thoroughly, as well as [to] make preparations for the next phase of development and growth simultaneously.

Does the struggling Japanese economy spell disaster for the tech sector worldwide, or is this an opportunity for the UK to head to the forefront of technology manufacturing? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Discuss this in the forums
YouTube logo
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review

October 14 2021 | 15:04

TOP STORIES

SUGGESTED FOR YOU