TOKYO, Jan. 31, 2009 (Reuters) — Panasonic Corp <6752.t> will report a consolidated net loss after tax of about 350 billion yen ($3.89 billion) in fiscal 2008/09 due to restructuring charges and weak sales of consumer electronics, a Japanese daily said on Sunday.

The net loss after tax will be Panasonic's first such loss in six years, and the biggest since the firm posted a 430 billion yen net loss for the business year that ended in March 2002, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

Panasonic is likely to report a net operating profit, but will incur a consolidated net loss due to losses related to the firm's decision to move up the schedule for planned reforms such as the consolidation and closing of factories in Japan and overseas, Yomiuri said.

Kyodo news agency carried a similar report, saying Panasonic's consolidated net loss was likely to total more than 300 billion yen.

Panasonic officials were not immediately available to comment.

Last week, Japanese business daily Nikkei said that Panasonic was likely to report an annual net loss of about 100 billion yen.

Panasonic saw a drop in sales of digital home appliances in the United States and other markets around the world due to a global recession and the effects of a strong yen, Yomiuri said in its report, which did not cite any sources.

Panasonic's net loss also includes appraisal losses on equities held by the company, Yomiuri added.

When asked about the Nikkei report last week, Panasonic spokesman Kunio Ichikawa had declined to comment, saying the company will announce its quarterly results on February 4, which may or may not include a revision to its earnings outlook.

Panasonic had forecast a 10 percent rise in net profit to 310 billion yen at the start of the fiscal year on April 1 after a record profit of 280 billion yen a year earlier.

It lowered its projection to a profit of 30 billion yen in November as the global economic downturn accelerated.

(Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Kim Coghill) [Article Source]

RIO TINTO, the global mining combine, is in talks to raise up to $9 billion (£6.1 billion) from Chinalco, the state-owned Chinese aluminium giant.[Article source @ end]

The investment, if successful, will mark one of China’s biggest strategic overseas investments outside the financial sector. It would also demonstrate the country’s financial muscle at a time when the western world is at its most vulnerable.

The capital injection is intended to address growing concerns in the market about Rio’s ballooning debt. While there is no certainty the Chinalco talks will be successful, it is hoped they will be completed by the time Rio announces its year-end results on February 12.

The plan is for Chinalco to buy minority stakes in some of Rio’s most valuable mining assets. The Chinese company is also in discussions to increase its shareholding in Rio from 11% to at least 15%. This could be done through a share placing that could raise about $1 billion.

The outcome of the talks is dependent on what value is put on the mining assets. Rio is thought to be holding out for a premium price to reflect the future value of the mines.

Tom Albanese, Rio’s chief executive, and Paul Skinner, the chairman, are believed to be working on dual fundraising plans. If terms cannot be agreed with Chinalco, Rio will go direct to its investors to raise $9 billion in a rights issue.

Last week the company saw Xstrata raise $4 billion, which despite concern over a share and asset swap with its biggest investor, Glencore, will be taken up. This concern was raised by the corporate-governance arm at Scottish Widows. But Xstrata’s chief executive met seven of his big investors on Friday and it appears that most questions over the deal have now been answered.

Last year, when Rio faced a hostile bid from rival BHP Billiton, Chinalco paid more than £7 billion to acquire an 11% stake. The Chinese company is now sitting on a big paper loss on this investment, but a deal with Rio will allow it to acquire assets at the bottom of the commodity cycle.

The attraction for the Chinese in buying minority stakes is to guarantee the future supply of commodities. Rio has a big exposure to iron ore, a key ingredient needed to make steel. It also has big interests in coal and aluminium.

Skinner and Albanese have set a target to cut total borrowings of £27 billion by £7 billion this year. Last week Rio announced that it had raised more than £1 billion by selling a clutch of South American operations. The company agreed a deal to offload potash and iron-ore assets to the Brazilian mining giant Vale.

[Article source]

A RADICAL plan by mining entrepreneur Richard Budge to build the world’s largest “clean coal” power plant in Yorkshire has been given new life after the European Union said it was considering an immediate €250m (£219m) cash injection to jump-start a project the UK government has refused to support.

Budge’s company, Powerfuel, wants to build a 900MW, low-emission power station fed by the Hatfield colliery, which he reopened in 2007. It would be the first and largest plant equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which strips CO2 from power-plant exhausts and buries it deep underground in geological formations.

The proposal was thrown into limbo last year when the British government disqualified it from a competition that will award “several hundred million pounds” in public funds that industry says is necessary to build the first plant equipped with the experimental technology.

Last week, however, the EU said the Hatfield project was one of four it was considering for an immediate €250m injection. The cash has been made available under a ¤5 billion economic recovery package unveiled last week. Read more at tol