Panasonic Corporation announced Friday that it is projecting a loss of ¥780 billion (approximately $10.2 billion) for its 2012 fiscal year, which ends March 31. The loss will be the highest in the company's 94-year history. It's almost twice as high as Panasonic's earlier projections last October.

Panasonic projects an operating profit of ¥30 billion for the year, down from its earlier forecast of ¥130 billion, on revenue of ¥8 trillion. But it is taking a writedown of ¥290 billion in goodwill, most of it related to its 2009 acquisition of Sanyo.

The company attributed the decline in operating profit to last year's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which disrupted energy supplies and supply chain, the high value of the Yen, and flooding in Thailand. The October floods forced Panasonic to suspend operations at three factories that make home appliances. Panasonic said the Thai disaster reduced 2012 sales by ¥130 billion and profit by ¥60 billion.

The losses are a temporary setback, promised Panasonic Fumio Ohtsubo (shown at top of story). "We will accelerate our profit structure reform and make sure we achieve a V-shaped performance improvement in the next business year."

Ohtsubo also said Panasonic is determined to stay in the flat-panel TV business, even though global shipments are now set to decline, especially in the plasma sector where Panasonic is most active. The company has cut its worldwide sales target for flat-panel TVs by one million, to 18 million units.

In October, Panasonic said it would suspend operations at two Japanese display plants. That measure, along with other cost reductions, will lead to a profit of ¥250 billion ($3.24 billion) in fiscal 2013, the company said.

Panasonic's dire news comes on the heels of bad financial news from Sony and Sharp. Yesterday, Sony Corporation said it expects to lose ¥220 billion ($2.85 billion) in its current fiscal year. Sharp Corporation expects to lose ¥290 billion ($3.76 billion).

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