Matsu****a, the Japanese giant behind the Panasonic brand, said on Thursday its third-quarter net profit soared 46 percent to an all-time high amid strong sales of digital cameras and flat televisions.
Net profit jumped to 115.18 billion yen (1.08 billion dollars) in the three months to December, Matsu****a Electric Industrial Co. said in a statement.
Operating profit rose by 21.8 percent to 165.4 billion yen, while revenue declined by 3.8 percent to 2.34 trillion yen after the company slashed its stake in troubled affiliate JVC, the Osaka-based company reported.
Sales of video and audio equipment jumped by 10 percent from a year earlier, helped by brisk sales of flat-panel televisions and digital cameras.
The company also enjoyed brisk demand for white goods such as air conditioners and refrigerators.
Matsu****a maintained its forecast for net profit of 246 billion yen for the full fiscal year to next March, up from 217.2 billion the previous year.
It sees operating profit of 477 billion yen and revenue of 8.78 trillion yen.
The business environment will "become more uncertain in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, with a global economic slowdown stemming from the US subprime loan problem and the sharp appreciation of the yen," the company warned.
