Electronics-maker lowers profit estimate

TOKYO — Japanese electronics company Panasonic Corp. has cut its forecast for full-year net profit, citing the effects of a strong currency and weaker earnings from sales of its solar energy systems for home use.

The Osaka-based company said Monday that it expects $1.1 billion in net profit in the fiscal year that ends March 31. Its earlier forecast was for $1.4 billion in net profit.

It cut its sales forecast for the current fiscal year to $68.9 billion from $72 billion.

Panasonic said that from April through September, its net profit rose 7.7 percent over a year earlier, to $1.14 billion. The company’s sales fell 7 percent to $33.4 billion.

Panasonic has confirmed it is studying a collaboration with U.S. electric-car maker Tesla to make solar products at a Buffalo, N.Y., facility of SolarCity Corp., a San Mateo, Calif.-based solar panel company.

That project, should it be realized, would fit with Panasonic’s effort to build up its automotive-related business.

The company saw a 1 percent increase in sales of appliances from April through September, but sales of other products fell.

Profit also rose as the company increased production of more costly products such as air conditioners and 4K televisions.

But sales of solar panels for home use, widely relied on by Japanese families, fell because of “significant market shrinkage,” it said.