<div id="subtitle">Panasonic books profit in October-December quarter on improved overseas sales, streamlining</div><div><p>Panasonic, the world's biggest maker of plasma TVs, reported a second straight quarterly profit in October-December, buoyed by restructuring and a slight improvement in sales overseas.</p><p>Osaka-based Panasonic Corp. said Friday it booked a 32.3 billion yen ($360 million) profit for the fiscal third quarter, bouncing back from a net loss of 63.1 billion yen a year earlier.</p><p>Panasonic, which bought smaller rival Sanyo for $4.6 billion last last year, returned to profit in the July-September quarter for the first time in a year.</p><p>Sales for the third quarter came to 1.89 trillion yen, almost unchanged from a year earlier. Overseas sales increased 3 percent, while domestic sales fell 2 percent.</p><p>"In the electronics industry ... despite visible signs of market recovery in some regions such as China and Asia, severe business conditions continued," Panasonic said, citing a stronger yen and shift in demand to emerging markets and cheaper products.</p><p>Panasonic raised its sales forecast for the full fiscal year through March to 7.35 trillion yen from 7 trillion yen, but kept unchanged its forecast of a net loss of 140 billion yen.</p><p>The company raised its operating profit forecast to 150 billion yen from 120 billion yen.</p><p>The Japanese electronics giant said the revision takes into consideration benefits resulting from its takeover of smaller rival Sanyo Electric Co.</p><p>Panasonic said it needs to cut more costs and is aiming to achieve growth in overseas sales and focus on green technology.</p><p>For the April-December period, Panasonic reported a loss of 14.6 billion yen, down from a profit of 65.4 billion yen the year before. Sales for the nine months fell to 5.2 trillion yen, down 16 percent in the same period a year ago.</p><p>Panasonic shares fell 3.1 percent to 1,392 yen Friday in Tokyo.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68500783&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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