Japanese consumer electronics company Panasonic Corp. on Feb. 5 lifted its forecast for full-year fiscal 2018 ending March 31 amid a weaker yen and improving profitability.
Panasonic now expects attributable net profit to come in at ¥210 billion, a 31.3% increase from the previous forecast of ¥160 billion announced May 11, 2017. The EPS forecast was revised to ¥90.04 from the previous estimate of ¥68.60, which is ahead of the current S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate of ¥82.73.
The company also updated its forecast for net sales to ¥7.95 trillion, up 1.9% from the previous estimate of ¥7.8 trillion. Operating profit is now expected to reach ¥350 billion, a 4.5% jump from the previous forecast of ¥335 billion.
The revised guidance comes after Panasonic posted earnings growth in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017, during which attributable net profit grew 27% year over year to ¥81.2 billion from ¥64 billion in the year-ago period, while sales increased 9% to ¥2.054 trillion from ¥1.883 trillion. The company did not provide EPS figures for the quarter.
In addition, Panasonic set the forecast of its year-end dividend at ¥20 per share, for an expected total dividend for fiscal 2018 of ¥30 per share, up from ¥25 per share in the prior fiscal year.
As of Feb. 2, US$1 was equivalent to ¥110.39.
