Recurring profit rose 2.9 percent to 57.25 billion yen in the period, and group sales rose to 3.64 trillion yen from 3.62 trillion yen a year earlier, the company said.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., better known by its Panasonic and National brands, said it left forecasts for the year to March 2004 unchanged from the previously estimated net profit of 30 billion yen and recurring profit of 120 billion yen on sales of 7.45 trillion yen.

"Our sales of audio-visual equipment, DVDs and mobile phones increased, helping us achieve sales that were higher than we had expected," Makoto Uenoyama, general manager of corporate accounting group at Matsushita, told reporters.

"In particular, our sales of mobile phones kept growing and we aim to raise our domestic share from 17 percent now to 20 percent," he said without giving a time frame.

Matsushita's group sales in China rose 16 percent to 288.2 billion yen in April-September from a year earlier.

"In the Chinese market sales of every product increased, in particular sales of mobile phones grew sharply," Tetsuya Kawakami, managing director, told the same news briefing.

Group sales in Europe also rose 13 percent to 507.8 billion yen in April-September from a year earlier, but those North America fell 9 percent to 674.4 billion yen from a year earlier.

SPACE.WIRE