Half a billion wiped off Nokia's value following battery scare

The biggest ever consumer electronics recall

15 August 2007 7:55 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Following yesterday's news of a battery recall affecting 46 million mobile phone batteries from Nokia, the company has taken a hit on the stock market.

Over a half a billion pounds (or more, accurately £557m) was wiped off Nokia's stock market value in the hours after the announcement.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, better known by its "Panasonic" consumer brand, who manufactured the batteries suffered a similar fate when its shares fell to a two-year low.

The BL-5C batteries concerned may overheat when they've been recharged 200 or 300 times. This could mean they might deform, expanding inside the handset's case.

Nokia said that there were about 100 reported cases of overheating, with no reports of serious injury or damage as a result.

The replacement scheme for these batteries is the world's biggest ever voluntary consumer electronics recall.

Last year's laptop battery scare which saw Sony recalling 9.6 million batteries does not come close to the scale of this operation.

The cost of the recall is estimated to be between $300 and $500 million, Matsushita has said it will "discuss replacement costs" with Nokia.