Panasonic short on cheer with Christmas sales slow

Panasonic is tightening its belt for Christmas with slow sales in Europe and North America, but expects to pull its loss-making TV unit into the black in the new year.

The electronics firm's president, Fumio Ohtsubo, said reports were showing that the vital sales period could be sluggish.

"We don't have detailed figures as yet, but there is no strong recovery in consumption," he said.

"They are within the expectations we had at the beginning of the year-end period and roughly in line with last year, or slightly above."

Ohtsubo also said he expected some restructuring costs from its takeover of subsidiary Sanyo Electric to arise in the financial year starting in April, as the company shifts focus for a big push into environmental technologies.