BEIJING - Wireless equipment maker Ericsson is pulling out of the industry's top annual trade event due to the virus outbreak, while automakers are considering whether to reopen factory lines in China.
Here is a look at the latest developments on how the virus is affecting global business:
Technology
Ericsson, one of the main suppliers of wireless networks and a rival to China's Huawei, is pulling out of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, this month. The Swedish company said that because the show draws thousands of visitors, "even if the risk is low, the company cannot guarantee the health and safety of its employees and visitors." Instead of the Barcelona event — scheduled for Feb. 24-27 — Ericsson will bring demos to customers in their home markets. Huawei recently said it would still attend.
Automakers
FILE - Visitors walk at Toyota gallery in Tokyo, Jan. 15, 2020. Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. said Feb. 7, 2020, that it was extending a production stoppage at its plants in China by an extra week, to Feb. 16.
Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. said Friday that sales in China in January by the company and its local partners fell 11.8% from a year earlier to 118,143 vehicles due to the virus outbreak and the extension of the Lunar New Year holiday. Nissan said earlier it was considering reopening most of its factories in China on Monday but would wait until at least Feb. 14 for facilities in and around Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak. Toyota said it was keeping its factories in China closed for an extra week, through Feb. 16, and will decide then whether to resume production. Toyota Motor Corp. has 12 plants in China, including four vehicle assembly plants. Honda Motor Co. said its three auto-assembly plants in Wuhan would stay closed through Feb. 13.
Cosmetics
L'Oreal joined the growing list of beauty product brands expressing concern over the potential blow to sales due to travel restrictions that are vastly reducing demand from travels shopping at duty-free shops. The company said it expected a "temporary impact" on Asia's beauty market, but that past experience suggests that "after a period of disturbance, consumption resumes stronger than before."
Retailing
FILE - Chinese women take a selfie outside the Uniqlo flagship store in Beijing, July 16, 2015. Fast Retailing Co., parent of Uniqlo, said it has temporarily closed about half of its 750 outlets in China due to the outbreak of a new virus.
Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo Co. said it has closed 350 of its 750 stores in China, to comply with shutdowns of public transportation and closures of malls. Parent company Fast Retailing says about 20% of its sales come from China. British firm Burberry, which gets about 40% of its revenue from China, says the impact has been significant. It shut 24 of 64 stores in China, and told the FT footfall had dropped as much as 80%. The impact in Hong Kong is bigger than from the protests, which had halved sales there in the last quarter.