Panasonic Parent Grows Profit

Matsushita posted a fiscal second quarter net income of $79.3 billion yen (about $672 million) on revenue of 2.25 trillion yen ($19.1 billion), up 2 per cent from the same period of 2005.  For the first six months of the year, Matsushita posted a net income of 115 billion yen ($980.6 million) on revenue of 4.39 trillion yen ($37.2 billion), up 3 per cent from the first half of 2005, the company said.  First half domestic Japanese sales were roughly flat, while overseas sales grew roughly 6 per cent, the company said. Matsushita said it continues to expect sales of $8.9 trillion yen ($76 billion) and an operating profit of 450 billion yen ($3.9 billion) for 2007.