OSAKA -- One day after Sony announced it was charging ahead to a second consecutive year of record profits, rival Japanese electronics maker Panasonic released much gloomier results on Wednesday, with net profit sliding 4% to 113.6 billion yen ($1.01 billion) for the six months ended Sept. 30.
With costs mounting in the emerging automotive battery business, and its struggling mainstay operations unable to fill in the gaps, the results showed group operating profit down 1% to 195.2 billion yen.
