Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the world's biggest consumer electronics maker, posted a larger- than-expected 32 percent jump in its second-quarter profit on demand for plasma display televisions and digital cameras.

Net income rose to 31 billion yen ($269 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, from 23.4 billion yen a year earlier, the Osaka-based maker of Panasonic-brand products said today in a statement. Profit beat the 25.6 billion yen median estimate of five analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The company repeated a forecast for the biggest annual profit in nine years.

Matsushita, led by Kunio Nakamura, 66, has weathered price declines that have dented earnings at rivals such as Sharp Corp. and Sony Corp. by making its own parts, cutting development time and reducing reliance on suppliers. The company has been raising output and introducing bigger TVs with higher-margins to maintain its position as the world's No. 1 plasma TV maker.

Quarterly operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, rose 11 percent to 125.1 billion yen from 112.9 billion yen. Revenue fell to 2.211 trillion yen from 2.216 trillion yen, as mobile phone sales dropped.

Shares of Matsushita, which have gained more than 18 percent this year, have outpaced Japanese consumer electronics rivals. Sony and Sharp have fallen about 6 percent, while the shares of Sanyo Electric Co. and Pioneer Corp. have shed more than a quarter of their value.

Sony, Matsushita's next-biggest rival, said yesterday net income fell 47 percent to 28.5 billion yen in the fiscal second quarter as prices fell for TVs and chips, and movie sales slumped. It also booked higher costs for taxes and job cuts. Sony is expecting a 10 billion yen loss for the full year, its first annual deficit in 11 years.

For the year ending March 31, Matsushita kept its earnings forecast unchanged at net income of 110 billion yen on sales of 8.72 trillion yen, as Kawakami cited ``uncertainties,'' such as the outlook for the chip industry and rising material costs due to higher oil prices.

The biggest drag on profit came from Victor Co. of Japan, a 52 percent owned unit of Matsushita and maker of JVC electronics, which had a 1.1 billion yen operating loss in the quarter, according to today's statement.

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