Panasonic Slashes Annual Outlook to $5.5 Billion Net Loss

Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp slashed its annual outlook to a 420 billion yen ($5.5 billion) net loss on Monday, hit by restructuring costs and sluggish economies in the United States and Europe.

That compares with the company's previous forecast for a net profit of 30 billion yen in the year to March 2012 and last year's net profit of 74 billion yen.

In the July-September quarter, the company earned an operating profit of 42 billion yen, beating its own forecast of a 4.4 billion yen profit, but falling short of analysts' consensus of 50 billion yen. A year earlier, it earned an operating profit of 85.2 billion yen.

The maker of Viera televisions and Lumix cameras cut its full-year operating profit forecast to 130 billion yen from 270 billion yen. That compares with market expectations of a 225 billion yen profit, based on the average estimate of 21 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo is set to brief on the company's growth strategy at 0800 GMT, at which he is expected to announce details of a broad restructuring, aimed at cutting costs and stripping out overlapping businesses following the buyout of subsidiary Sanyo. ($1 = 75.760 Japanese Yen)

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott and Chris Gallagher)