Panasonic doubles profits in 2010 thanks to automotive electronics market

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Panasonic doubles profits in 2010 thanks to automotive electronics market [Copy link]

In his recent inaugural speech, Fumio Ohtsubo, the new president of Japan's Panasonic Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., vowed to double Panasonic's operating profit margin from the current 5% to 10% by 2010. In his inaugural speech, Ohtsubo said: "My mission is to lead Panasonic into a period of growth. So far, Panasonic has completed the construction of a framework to compete in the global market within this century." During Kunio Nakamura's tenure, Matsushita Electric has undergone tremendous changes, with the company going from a loss of $1.4 billion in fiscal 2002 to a profit of $3.5 billion last year. Last year's operating profit margin was 4.7%, and for this fiscal year, Matsushita expects an operating profit of $3.8 billion and a gross profit margin of 5%. Ohtsubo did not elaborate on the means to achieve this goal, but said that the details will be included in the plan for the 2007 to 2009 fiscal year to be released in January next year. "Doubling the gross profit margin is a challenging goal." Fumio Ohtsubo revealed two strategies for Panasonic to improve its profit margin, namely increasing the proportion of overseas sales and enhancing the competitiveness of its products. He said that flat-panel TVs, automotive electronics, consumer electronics and semiconductors will continue to be Panasonic's key product directions. In March 2006, Fumio Ohtsubo, who had already intervened in the decision-making, made a decision to reduce the company's total assets by 8.6 billion US dollars in the next three years to improve the company's operating efficiency. A spokesman for Matsushita Electric said that Fumio Ohtsubo's goal is to continue to reduce inventory and sell some non-core assets.