Future of UK mobile phone factory still in doubt

NEWS Matsushita has denied a report it is to close a UK factory manufacturing Panasonic mobile phones, its last remaining factory in the UK. According to a report on the BBC, a Matsushita spokesman said no decision had been taken on the fate of the Berkshire plant which employs 450 people. A report on the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun suggested Matsushita was planning to consolidate all of its European manufacturing operations in Czech Republic. The company has been hit by the downturn in demand for mobile phones. Japan-based Matsushita recently issued a profits warning, saying it would make a loss for the first time in six years.