Hideaki Kawai said the country’s biggest commercial employer will axe another 10,000 jobs by end-March as it pares its costs and looks to return to profit. Panasonic shed 36,000 jobs last business year, some through the sale of businesses.

“Our new boss has said businesses must achieve at least a 5 per cent operating profit target within three years,” Kawai said, referring to Kazuhiro Tsuga, who took over as company president in June. “But we won’t wait that long to tackle units that need to be dealt with.”

Sell-offs and business closures will start as early as next year, he told Reuters at Panasonic’s headquarters in Kadoma, near Osaka in western Japan.

Kawai said Panasonic aims to earn group operating profit of at least ¥200 billion in the year to end-March 2014.