Joining a growing list of companies hit by plummeting bank shares, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Monday it expects to report a group net loss of 23.5 billion yen for the fiscal year that ended March 31.
As recently as February, Matsushita said it expected to post a 25 billion yen group net profit for fiscal 2002, thereby fulfilling its promise to return to profitability after suffering a consolidated net loss of 431 billion yen in fiscal 2001, the largest in its history.
The consumer electronics giant blamed the sudden turn of fortune on a write-down of 37 billion yen to reflect the declining value of its shareholdings.