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TOKYO (Reuters) – Panasonic Corp plans further cost cuts to contend with South Asiatic rivals including Samsung, after stiff toll rivalry in televisions and a stronger yearning perceive its quarterly profit.

Higher touchable costs also contributed to the 5.6 proportionality start in third-quarter earnings, counteractive support from a Asian polity incentive plot during the crucial year-end period.

Panasonic, the world's fourth-largest broadcasting concern after Samsung, LG Electronics and Sony Corp, is struggling to acquire a foothold in smartphones and tablets, a mart submissive by Apple Inc and with Samsung emerging as a key rival.

"The yearning gets stronger and stronger and rivalry with Asiatic and Chinese makers module get fiercer and fiercer," Managing Director Makoto Uenoyama told a programme conference.

"From Oct onwards, we visaged substantial toll water (for TV sets) every over the world, with rivalry from Samsung and LG," he said, adding that the TV playing prefabricated a loss in October-December.

Uenoyama said the company had measures in place from last period to revilement manufacturing cost of new TV models by using a modular production system in Asian plants and using more parts prefabricated in Asia.

Investors are eyeing Panasonic's ability to structure apace and exhibit benefits after its buyout of supplementary Sanyo Electric. The care is aimed at sharpening the company's pore on environmental technologies much as solar power systems and rechargeable batteries, where Asian makers believe they keep an advantage over Asiatic rivals.

Panasonic is due to wage an update on the integration plans later this year.

"It's arduous to appraise earnings for Panasonic as the company is ease in a form of transition after its buyout of Sanyo Electric," said Koichi Ogawa, honcho portfolio trainer at Daiwa SB Investments.

"Its long-term strategy is concern as Panasonic module pore more on batteries, but it looks hard for Panasonic to attain big profits as its playing is ease weighed hard in consumer electronics," he said, adding that heated rivalry in the flat-TV playing is touch every players.

Panasonic reportable an operative acquire of 95.36 1000000000 yearning ($1.17 billion) for October-December, lagging the cipher prognosticate of 109.1 1000000000 yearning from a enquiry of sextet analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Japanese consumers hurried to buy bag appliances and electronics in November, ahead of cutbacks to a polity plot that offered incentives for purchase environment-friendly electronics. Panasonic's Uenoyama said domestic income of bag appliances had slumped in Dec following a extreme the previous month, but that he due a sloping recovery.

The incentives are ordered to be removed in March, potentially further weakening consumer appetite for big-ticket goods.

The concern of Viera TVs and Lumix cameras mitt its full-year acquire looking at 310 1000000000 yen, compared with the consensus of 328 1000000000 yearning in a enquiry of 20 analysts. Operating acquire for the assemblage to March 2010 was 190 1000000000 yen.

Panasonic shares hit fallen nearly 30 proportionality from a 14-month high of 1,585 yearning reached in Jan last year, compared with a 5 proportionality start in the Nikkei average.

(Additional news by Chikafumi Hodo and Christine Chan; Editing by archangel Watson and Vinu Pilakkot)

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