Panasonic’s April-December net profit up on brisk sales of EV batteries

Panasonic Corp. reported on Wednesday a net profit of ¥195.63 billion ($1.70 billion) in the April-December period, up 50.3% from a year earlier, on the back of strong sales of batteries for electric vehicles.

The automotive and energy segments, key growth areas for the electronics company, logged sales of ¥774.9 billion, up 7% from a year earlier, and ¥568 billion, up 27%, respectively, due to strong overseas demand for in-vehicle equipment and electric car batteries for Tesla Inc.

The ¥860-billion acquisition of U.S. supply chain management firm Blue Yonder Holdings Inc. last year also contributed to the net profit jump, the company said.

In the meantime, Panasonic maintained its net profit forecast for the business year through March at ¥240 billion amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The operating profit of the Osaka Prefecture-based company during the nine months also increased to ¥274.15 billion from ¥226.80 billion a year earlier as sales rose 11.3% to ¥5.42 trillion.

Sales of home appliances, including refrigerators, rose 3% to ¥2.74 trillion while operating profit of those items dropped 30% to ¥105.1 billion mainly due to rising material prices.

Panasonic, a major supplier of batteries to the U.S. electric vehicle maker, plans mass production of a new longer-range lithium-ion battery at its plant in Wakayama Prefecture.

Chief Financial Officer Hirokazu Umeda said during an online press conference that the new battery’s development is “broadly on schedule.”

“While we cannot say when delivery will begin, we will consider supplying them to Tesla first and foremost,” he said.