Strong sales of DVD units and rigorous cost-cutting efforts helped Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. chalk up 20.9 billion yen in group net profit in the third quarter of fiscal 2002, putting it on track to return to profitability on the year, the company said Thursday.

"I believe we were able to realize a recovery," said Tetsuya Kawakami, Matsushita's director of finance. "We've pretty much achieved our initial target."

The Osaka-based consumer electronics giant said it forecasts 25 billion yen in group net profit on revenue of 7.3 trillion yen for the full year to March 31.