Struggling Japanese electronics maker Sanyo Electric posted a large annual loss today due to restructuring costs, asset write-downs and sluggish sales.
Sanyo said its group net loss came to 205.66 billion yen ($1.86 billion) in the year ended March 31st, its second straight annual loss, following a 171.5 billion yen deficit in the 2004/05 financial year.
Japan's third-largest consumer electronics maker embarked on a sweeping restructuring last year, aiming to cut 15 per cent of its work force, close factories, halve its debt and streamline unprofitable businesses such as appliances and semiconductors.
Heavy losses have wrecked its finances, forcing it earlier this year to issue 300 billion yen worth of preferred shares on extremely favourable terms to three financial institutions, which also gained control of Sanyo's board.
Sanyo is considered one of the weakest players in the electronics industry, unable to produce goods efficiently enough to keep pace with the likes of Matsushita and Sharp.
But it is aiming to return to the black in the current business year to March 2007, predicting a net profit of 20 billion yen.