:00:02. > :00:06.ceremony. Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News. It's
:00:06. > :00:16.now time for the latest financial news with Sally and World Business
:00:16. > :00:26.
:00:26. > :00:30.The smartphone battle claims another victim. Thai man's HTC gets
:00:30. > :00:39.set to announce a 90% fall in profits as it falls behind Apple
:00:39. > :00:45.and Samsung -- Taiwan. And will economic uncertainty be the death
:00:45. > :00:50.of Spain? The Prime Minister is facing calls to resign over
:00:50. > :00:55.corruption claims. The welcome to World Business Report. In a minute
:00:55. > :00:58.we will have details of another top banker under investigation. But
:00:58. > :01:04.first, the battle to stay ahead in the crowded mobile phone market is
:01:04. > :01:09.a tough one. Many once mighty companies, Nokia, Motorola for
:01:09. > :01:18.example, have fallen victim to the sheer power of apple and Samsung.
:01:18. > :01:22.It seems HTC is to endure a similar fate. -- Apple. Their profits and
:01:22. > :01:29.sales have plummeted in the US two years after they were the second
:01:29. > :01:36.most popular maker. They are set to report 90% falls in the last few
:01:36. > :01:41.months of last year. So why has it got wrong? The Butter five are some
:01:41. > :01:46.of the many new models the company has bought up in recent months --
:01:46. > :01:50.the Butterfly -- brought out. It was the No. 2 smartphone vendor in
:01:50. > :01:55.the US two years ago and it was selling well globally. In the past
:01:55. > :01:58.year and a half it has seen their fortunes plummet. Net profit has
:01:59. > :02:04.fallen quarter after a quarter as their phones fail to keep up with
:02:04. > :02:09.the iPhones and the Galaxy series from Samsung. HTC has tried to
:02:09. > :02:14.catch up by launching new phones. It has also focused more on selling
:02:14. > :02:18.cheaper phones in China. It recently introduced its products in
:02:18. > :02:23.Burma. But analysts say these strategies may not be enough. They
:02:23. > :02:26.say sales of cheaper phones in China may not significantly boost
:02:27. > :02:32.company revenues. One of their key problems is that it is competing
:02:32. > :02:37.with much bigger rivals with deeper marketing pockets. It is an area
:02:37. > :02:45.they need to improve on because HTC has great technology but it has yet
:02:45. > :02:50.to let the consumers know. We can speak to Rico Hizon in Singapore.
:02:50. > :02:57.Lovely to see you. Tell us more about HTC and why it is not staying
:02:57. > :03:01.ahead in the way that others are. It has fallen behind the
:03:01. > :03:06.competition, Sally. When I spoke to analysts' earlier, they were
:03:06. > :03:11.hopeful about the future of HTC but they say they really face many
:03:11. > :03:17.challenges going forward. Continuing to innovate and keeping
:03:17. > :03:20.in step with Samsung, Apple and BlackBerry. Also they need to
:03:20. > :03:26.expand on two fronts, the content strategy and the portfolio of
:03:26. > :03:31.devices. According to experts, one positive helping them build their
:03:31. > :03:39.market share once again is having both the Android and the Windows
:03:39. > :03:43.operating systems on their devices. HTC 2 is looking to tap into new
:03:43. > :03:48.markets like further as it looks to get a foothold in one of Asia's
:03:48. > :03:52.last investment frontiers. -- Burma. But overall, analysts say it will
:03:52. > :03:57.be an uphill task for HTC to dislodge the top two makers and it
:03:57. > :04:01.will have to fight it out with BlackBerry for the No. 3 spot.
:04:01. > :04:05.familiar tale I think. Tell us about some of the other companies.
:04:05. > :04:10.A lot of big names have been reporting in Japan and elsewhere in
:04:11. > :04:17.Asia. That's right. All eyes on corporate Japan as well today,
:04:17. > :04:21.Sally. Later today we will be getting the latest results from
:04:21. > :04:26.Japan Airlines, analysts will be looking out for any guidance from
:04:26. > :04:29.the carrier in particular. They will look at the financial impact
:04:29. > :04:34.from the grounding of the Dreamliner fleet, now into its
:04:34. > :04:40.third week. You have other Japanese companies unveiling earnings today
:04:40. > :04:44.including the likes of consumer electronics firm Hitachi and a
:04:44. > :04:49.pharmaceutical company. Panasonic, their shares are higher by more
:04:49. > :04:54.than 15% today in Tokyo trading after reporting an operating profit
:04:54. > :04:57.for the three months to December. It reverts a massive loss from the
:04:57. > :05:01.previous quarter. Investors are relieved they are sticking with
:05:01. > :05:06.their full year earnings forecasts. People are positive about the
:05:06. > :05:10.Japanese earnings season, especially in the last quarter of
:05:10. > :05:14.2012, because of the depreciating yen against the US dollar. Thank
:05:14. > :05:18.you for joining us. Let's turn our attention to Spain where over the
:05:18. > :05:26.weekend riot police clashed with protesters angry at claims that
:05:27. > :05:32.Prime the Prime Minister and his party have been claiming secret
:05:32. > :05:36.payments. There are worries this latest scandal could destabilise
:05:36. > :05:41.markets, which have recovered significantly in recent months.
:05:41. > :05:46.Jobs data today is unlikely to calm nervous markets. Unemployment is
:05:46. > :05:54.stubbornly high at a staggering 26%. No signs of becoming down, though.
:05:54. > :05:58.Tom Burridge reports. -- of it coming down. In Sevilla, there are
:05:58. > :06:03.now mounds of uncollected rubbish. This is the result of austerity. A
:06:03. > :06:07.strike by workers because some of them are set to lose their jobs.
:06:07. > :06:12.The local government is trying to make savings. Cuts to the public
:06:12. > :06:21.sector here are for now deepening the recession, and unemployment in
:06:21. > :06:28.Spain is now at 26%. But as this economists argues, such a high
:06:28. > :06:33.jobless rate is mitigated by other factors. TRANSLATION: A country can
:06:33. > :06:38.hardly hold out with 6 million unemployed. 26% of the workforce
:06:38. > :06:43.unemployed! But Spain has a lot of resources. Family, a strong
:06:43. > :06:47.institution. And also welfare benefits. Retirees are too many to
:06:47. > :06:52.maintain the unemployed and Spaniards use the money they have
:06:52. > :06:59.saved, but when the savings are exhausted they will be problems.
:06:59. > :07:02.There have been more problems for the government over the past week.
:07:02. > :07:07.Anger over austerity has only been compounded by the anger over
:07:07. > :07:11.allegations that the ruling party received improper payments. Claims
:07:11. > :07:15.the Spanish prime minister was forced to publicly denied. If the
:07:15. > :07:20.Spanish government wants to clean up its image, a fall in
:07:20. > :07:26.unemployment would help. There are signs that will come later in the
:07:26. > :07:32.year. TRANSLATION: The Spanish economy is becoming progressively
:07:32. > :07:35.have its own exchange rate. I hope there will be a net job-creation in
:07:36. > :07:40.the second half of this year thanks to the reforms of the labour market
:07:40. > :07:47.and the return of growth. Today the Prime Minister travels to Germany.
:07:47. > :07:52.support. But both leaders know that at some point austerity needs to
:07:52. > :07:59.make a difference in the real economy. And also in the lives of
:07:59. > :08:02.people in places like Spain. Let's squeeze in some other
:08:02. > :08:07.business stories. The finance director of Barclays Bank, Chris
:08:07. > :08:11.Lucas, is stepping down. He is one of four current and former
:08:11. > :08:15.employees being investigated by the UK regulatory body for financial
:08:15. > :08:22.services over questionable payments between the bank and investors in
:08:22. > :08:26.Qatar. This comes months after resign over the attempted
:08:26. > :08:30.manipulation of libor interbank lending rates. As you were hearing
:08:30. > :08:40.from Rico, shares in Panasonic has soared over 13% this morning after
:08:40. > :08:48.the firm announced it had swung back into -- back profit of the
:08:48. > :08:53.first quarter. Panasonic said a weaker yen had helped to improve
:08:54. > :08:58.its bottom line. The Iraqi mobile phone operator Asia Sell has raised
:08:58. > :09:03.more than $1.3 billion in a share offer on the Iraqi stock exchange.
:09:03. > :09:07.They sold 25% of their share capital and what was the biggest of
:09:07. > :09:12.flotation in the Middle East for more than five years. Most of the
:09:12. > :09:19.stock was bought by foreign investors, and it is seen as a test
:09:19. > :09:26.of confidence in Iraq. Let's have a quite
:09:26. > :09:31.quite a strong end to the week in Dow and the Scottish National Party
:09:31. > :09:35.500. They are trading this week with that as a backdrop. The reason
:09:35. > :09:41.for the concession in the States was the jobs data, it was totally
:09:41. > :09:45.in line with expectations. Also today we have had some news out of
:09:45. > :09:51.China. China's and service industries crew at their fastest