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

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., best known for 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 Matsushita's corporate accounting group told reporters.

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

Global sales of mobile phones rose 28 percent year-on-year to 272.5 billion yen while DVD players jumped 45 percent to 74 billion yen, with plasma display panel television sets up 51 percent to 47.5 billion yen.

Matsushita's group sales in China rose 16 percent to 288.2 billion yen in April-September compared with a year earlier, the company said, adding sales in Asia, including China, accounted for 21 percent of total global sales.

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

Group sales in Europe, which accounted for 14 percent of overall global sales, rose 13 percent to 507.8 billion yen in April-September from a year earlier, but those in North America fell nine percent to 674.4 billion yen. North American sales accounted for 19 percent of Matsushita's global revenues.

SPACE.WIRE