Quake still rattles Sony Ericsson

15 July 2011 Last updated at 09:37 GMT Android smartphones are central to Sony Ericsson's line-up Sony Ericsson has blamed the the Japanese earthquake for a 50m euro (?44m; $71m) loss during the three months to June.

The mobile phone maker said the quake last March had caused "supply chain constraints", which meant that about 1.5m phones were not ready for sale.

Smartphones now make up more than 70% of Sony Ericsson's total sales, up from just 40% at the end of last year.

Sales of smartphones using Google's Android operating system grew 150%.

Sony Ericsson estimates that it now has an 11% share of the Android smartphone market - by both value and volume.

During the first quarter of the year, Sony Ericsson had managed to achieve net profits of 11m euro, but on an extremely slim operating margin of just 2%.

During the past few years the mobile phone firm has seen a steady erosion of its share of the mobile phone market, losing out to Apple with its iPhone models and quickly growing Asian rivals like Samsung and HTC.

The company has gone through a cost-cutting exercise, including making 4,000 staff redundant.

Sony Ericsson is a 50-50 joint venture of Japanese entertainment electronics firm Sony and Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson.

Ericsson's shares fell 1.3% on news of Sony Ericsson's losses.

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Japan quake still hurting trade

8 July 2011 Last updated at 02:13 GMT Japanese carmakers were some of the hardest hit, facing supply shortages and power cuts Japan's current account surplus fell sharply in May, as the 11 March earthquake and tsunami continue to affect exports.

The surplus shrank 51.7% to 590.7bn yen ($7.27bn; ?4.55bn) compared with a year earlier, said the Ministry of Finance.

However, that is less than most analysts had expected.

The data shows that while the economy continues to suffer from the disaster, it is recovering quicker than expected.

May's fall in the current account surplus marks the third straight monthly drop after the earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc in the north east of Japan.

In April the surplus was down 69.5%.

Trade deficit

Even as the supply chain recovers and manufacturers come back online exports are still suffering.

The data showed that exports fell by 9.8% in May from a year earlier.

While imports rose 14.7%, mainly because of higher energy costs.

That translated to the second-biggest trade deficit on record, the ministry said.

The current account is the broadest measure of a country's trade with the rest of the world.

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