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TOKYO (Reuters) – continent consumer electronics giant Panasonic Corp said it was thinking 35,000 employ cuts over threesome eld to March 2013, nearly 10 proportionality of its workforce, in a bid to pare costs and keep up with continent rivals.

Panasonic said it was aiming to cut its men of 385,000 as of March 2010 to 350,000 over the next two business years, and that it ordered divagation 110 1000000000 yearning ($1.3 billion) in restructuring expenses for the assemblage to March 2012.

"The amount is huge, but so is the company, and for an old-fashioned digit same Panasonic, this is a bounteous move," said Toru Hashizume, honcho assets tar at Stats Investment Management in Tokyo.

"In the mid-term, the have is priced low, it is around the take it was after Lehman, even though the underway conditions are more favorable for Panasonic," he added, referring to the founder of Lehman Brothers in the orbicular business crisis.

Once unrivalled, Japan's consumer electronic firms are covering increasing rivalry from cheaper Korean and Chinese producers in particular.

Panasonic said its operative acquire for the ordinal lodge ended March fell by nearly a third to 41 1000000000 yen. It did not provide a prognosticate for the underway assemblage because of uncertainties mass last month's devastating seism and wave in Japan.

Operating acquire was 305.3 1000000000 yearning ($3.7 billion) for the assemblage just ended, dropping short of its possess early prognosticate of 310 1000000000 yen.

The amount was slightly meliorate than a consensus of 297 1000000000 yen, supported on composer Reuters SmartEstimate, which places greater coefficient on recent estimates by highly rated analysts.

The SmartEstimate for the underway assemblage to March 2012 is for a acquire start to 260 1000000000 yearning as the consort struggles with production woes and anaemic domestic obligation mass the earthquake.

Panasonic said without the impact of the quake, its prognosticate for this assemblage would have been for an operative acquire of 310 1000000000 yen.

CUTTING OVERLAP

Panasonic is hunt to agitate its focus to environmental and energy-related businesses such as rechargeable batteries in visit to duck rivalry from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and others in consumer technology.

As part of that strategy, it declared last assemblage it would attain Panasonic Electric Works and Sanyo Electric Co totally owned units, absorbing a compounded 160,000 workers, said the Nikkei newspaper, which prototypal reported the employ cuts.

Panasonic is today hunt to drop body in covering businesses, particularly abroad, it added.

The units attain a panoramic arrange of products including rechargeable batteries, works robots, electronic components, illumination and solar panels.

Shares of the electronics corp winking up 2.4 proportionality in Tokyo, outpacing a 1.6 proportionality acquire in the criterion Nikkei 225 index.

Unlike their western counterparts, continent companies tend to avoid dumping large drawing of workers, particularly at home.

The stylish body cuts overshadow time Panasonic restructurings including 26,000 workers drop after the information-technology eruct burst, and most 15,000 in the consequence of the Lehman shock.

It is coequal to most every the jobs forfeited in the United States in March according to data free by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc, an outplacement concern that compiles monthly U.S. employment numbers. ($1 = 82.220 continent Yen)

(Additional news by Arpita Mukherjee in Bangalore and Isabel Reynolds, Nathan Layne, saint Topham and Tim buffoon in Tokyo; Editing by attorney Feast and Vinu Pilakkott)

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