Japanese electronic major Panasonic Corp reported a loss of 378.96 billion yen ($4.68 billion) for the full year ended 31 March 2009.

The company's sales were down 14.4 per cent from the previous year to 7.77 trillion yen ($95 billion).

The last time Panasonic reported an annual loss was for the fiscal year ending March 2002, when a global electronics slump and massive restructuring costs contributed to 431 billion yen in loss.

Since then, the company has been shedding money-losing businesses and focusing on key products such as plasma display TVs to turn itself around.

The company, formerly named Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, reported plummeting sales in all its product lines including flat-screen TVs, digital cameras, home appliances and semiconductors.

Panasonic had earlier said that it will slash 15,000 jobs and shut down 27 plants worldwide to cope with plunging demand for its televisions, semiconductors and other electronics products.

In February the company lowered its forecast for the fiscal year through March to a net loss of 380 billion yen ($5.3 billion). It had also announced 15,000 job cuts and shut down of 40 plants worldwide to deal with declining demand for its products.

The Osaka-based company also forecast a loss of 195 billion yen ($2.4 billion) for the fiscal year ending 2010.

"Panasonic expects that the economic environment in fiscal 2010 will be more severe than the past fiscal year, as the global recession and shrinking demand triggered by the financial crisis coincide with changes in market structure, including the expansion of emerging markets and a shift to lower-priced products," the company said in a statement.

Panasonic's poor results come a day after rival Sony Corp. said it lost 98.9 billion yen ($1.2 billion), its first loss in 14 years. (See: Sony posts first annual loss of $1 billion in 14 years). 

Hitachi Ltd., NEC Corp. and Toshiba also are forecasting big losses for the fiscal year.

Panasonic also blamed its losses on restructuring costs. The company booked 367.4 billion yen ($4.54 billion) in restructuring expenses and 92 billion yen ($1.14 billion) in equity write-downs.

Panasonic is planning to take over Sanyo through a public tender offer, following and agreement with the company on 19 December, 2008. However, the deal may face regulatory hurdles globally. (See: Panasonic, Sanyo deal runs into rough weather)