Panasonic posts first quarterly profit in U.S. battery business with Tesla

[February 03, 2020]  By Makiko Yamazaki

TOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp <6752.T> reported the first quarterly profit in its U.S. battery business with Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> on Monday, after several years of production troubles and delays at the U.S. partner.

The news comes after the U.S. electric vehicle maker reported its second successive quarterly profit last week, as vehicle deliveries hit a record. Tesla also said it would comfortably make more than half a million units this year, pushing its shares to new highs.

"We are catching up as Tesla is quickly expanding production," Panasonic's Chief Financial Officer Hirokazu Umeda told an earnings briefing, referring to battery cell production.

"Higher production volume is helping to push down materials costs and erase losses."

Panasonic first invested in Tesla in 2010 and announced its partnership in building the U.S. firm's Gigafactory plant in Nevada in 2014 as part of its strategic shift from low-margin consumer electronics to automotive components.

But as its $1.6 billion Gigafactory investment failed to produce solid returns, Panasonic has grown cautious about its battery business with Tesla.

It chose not to build a new battery plant for Tesla in China, ceding its battery cell monogamy as Tesla entered into a partnership with South Korea's LG Chem Ltd <051910.KS> and China's CATL <300750.SZ>.

"We will focus on demand at Gigafactory for Model 3 and Model Y," Umeda said.

Panasonic is turning to Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> for battery partnership, setting up a joint venture for electric vehicle (EV) batteries in April.

Panasonic said operating profit for the October-December quarter rose 3% to 100.4 billion yen ($915 million), beating analysts' estimates by 49%, thanks to the improvement at the Tesla battery business as well as cost cuts.

It maintained its profit forecast for the year through March at 300 billion yen, above an average estimate of 295.14 billion yen by 20 analysts.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Additional reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Clarence Fernandez)

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