14/07/2016 Asia Business Report

I'm Kasia Madera, with BBC World News.

Our top story: The UK's new Prime Minister, Theresa May has

officially moved into Downing Street and begun work.

Mrs May has promised the country will forge a positive role

Boris Johnson, the former London Mayor, becomes Foreign

Japan's Emperor Akihito had indicated his intention to abdicate,

but the palace has denied what would be an unprecedented move

And this story is trending on bbc.com.

India's national postal service is to deliver bottled holy water

from the River Ganges through the mail.

The Zee News website says the water, known as Gangajal,

The river is sacred to Hindus, but is also badly polluted.

Another Labour MP is to stand against Jeremy Corbyn

Owen Smith has announced he will also run along

with Angela Eagle, who declared she would run on Monday.

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

Better times ahead. A pickup in China helps young brands boost its

profit forecast. And we need the award-winning actress who left the

big screen behind to provide an ancient Chinese technique.

-- to revive. Good morning! Glad you could join us for this edition of

Asia Business Report. I'm Rico Hizon. We start with young brands,

the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut. The company has given an upbeat

assessment of its China business as it prepares to create a spin off

later this year. The better performance has prompted the company

to increase its profit growth forecast to at least 14%. It earned

$3 billion in revenue for the second quarter. Earlier I spoke to someone

from a China market research company. I asked about the lace --

latest numbers and whether it is over the hill after the food scare.

They have posted four straight quarters of positive sales growth.

That's a positive measure and indicates that the improvements they

have been making to their store designs and menus have had an

effect. So I think in the short term that is a strong sign for them in

terms of where they were one or two years ago. However, in the longer

term I still see issues for them as the overall market is shifting away

from fast food towards healthier choices. Indeed, fast food to

healthier choices. Is this why they've basically adopted the

strategy of spinning off the business into China? It does a

couple of things for them. Spinning off the China business definitely

minimises the exposure to risk that Yum has, should there be another

food safety scandal, which it could not afford in China. So it reduces

that exposure. It also allows them to raise money privately. I guess

the issue there is that, versus when they began plans to do this, they no

longer are really be hot food and privilege player that they once were

in China. -- food and beverage. Especially as they expand into other

cities that are less foreign law in the shift to healthier options. --

less far along. That was James Roy, joining us earlier from Shanghai.

The Japanese government has slashed the growth forecast to 0.9% for the

year to March and that is down sharply from an earlier estimate of

1.7%. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is said to be preparing a package to

help boost the flagging economy. The Asian central bank has decided the

potential impact of the Brexit means it will cut rates for the first time

in seven years. The cost of borrowing now stands at 3%. Malaysia

said the move is aimed at keeping the country on a steady growth path.

The Malaysian currency has been one of the biggest losers, after the

UK's vote to leave the EU, as it is seen as a riskier asset by Chinese

investors. An economist explains why it expects Malaysia's growth to slow

down Sydney Bickely as a result. The external environment had been

deteriorating over the last 18 months. -- slow down significantly.

Because of the slowdown in China and the impact of oil prices on

Malaysian exports of oil and gas. So top of all of that, to now also have

the European environment is deteriorating, how on estimate is

that Malaysian economic growth will still be around 4.2%, so still a

good performance, but it is slowing down. We expect that in 2017 the

impact of Brexit may also shave a little bit off Malaysian growth. So

taking those factors into account this is a good decision by the

Malaysian central bank. APEC economist in the wake of the

Brexit vote. Concerns have been swirling about impact on the British

economy. One of Malaysia's against economists included. Its stakes are

in British property and utilities, including a hotel in Bath, and plans

for a new housing development with thousands of homes. We spoke to the

head of the company, that said Britain's new government needs to do

more to attract foreign investment. If Britain wants to move forward it

can. Now we have in Theresa May a very thorough leader, very on the

ball, she is probably the right person to do this job now. What does

the new government have to do to attract more foreign investment? It

needs to move ahead. The infrastructure must be built

quickly. A great leader will have to do that. A great chancellor will

have to make sure that money moves to infrastructure and push it

thoroughly. By the private sector, that's where a lot of investments

can come in. Given all the uncertainty, would you think twice

about putting more money into Britain? No. The UK is -- as an

investor's destination has not changed. It is a blessing in

disguise. Many people in Britain might feel it is well disguised, but

for me it is even more worth investing in with the pound at this

level. That was the big loss of YTL

Corporation. Workers in South Korea are planning

to go on strike after annual wage negotiations with management broke

down. This year the union has asked for a 7.2% rise in the basic monthly

rage. Other demands include giving employees a right to refuse a

promotion, so they can retain their union measured. -- monthly wage.

If you were an award-winning actress you might think you've got your

dream job, but today we meet the woman who stumbled on a completely

new career. She left the film industry along with her director

husband to start making glassware using an ancient Chinese technique

and the company is now recognised worldwide.

TRANSLATION: I think it was destiny that I went into making this. In my

last film I saw some props that were made of glass. I thought they were

absolutely beautiful. I didn't have any experience in art, other than

enjoyed drawing as a child. We are later found out that the technique

is the most complicated and time-consuming in glassmaking. You

don't know under the last moment as to whether you have succeeded. When

we started making LIULI, there wasn't a school or anyone with

console. Each day I felt like I was trying to solve a riddle. After the

first 3.5 years we had accumulated a mountain of broken glass and used up

all of our money, about $5.5 million. We sold our house, taken up

debt and borrowed money from family and friends. I think it isn't enough

for a person to just have a very strong passion. They have to be mad

to achieve their goal. But we didn't think of giving up. If we gave up we

would be back to zero. Every step has its difficulties, but the

important part is when you put it into the kill to be fired at high

temperatures. If the tab at the isn't well controlled it means the

glass material inside will not fuse together well. Or the material and

passed on a stick together. -- and plaster. Many people looking from

the outside think being an actress and making Liuli art are very

different, to me they are the same. Acting requires one to put all of

oneself into a roll and I have simply put myself into the role of

making Liuli creations. I think I will do this forever. Liuli art is

my life's exploration and answer. A quick look at the markets. As you

can see, Asia continues its winning streak. Nikkei up by 0.4% and the

All Ords higher by 12 points. This is after gains on Wall Street

overnight. Thank you for investing your time with us. Goodbye for now.