06/02/2014 World Business Report

because of rising costs. Those are the latest headlines. Now

for the latest financial news. Twitter jitters. Share fears as

prices plunge. Plus a legal shakeup could see Customs officers seized

and destroyed counterfeit goods purchased online.

Welcome. This is World Business Report. In the moment, a tough road

ahead for India. But first, it has a stock market value of over $35

billion. And yet it has never even made a profit. That has not stopped

Twitter becoming the hottest investment properties since it

floated back in November. At least until last night. Shares plunged in

after-hours trading. There were concerns about it making a loss of

$511.5 million. That was a lot more than some analysts were expecting.

What has really rung alarm bells was the lack of growth. Only an increase

of 3.8% in users. That is the slowest growth ever seen for the

company. That sparked a sell-off of shares. They plunged 18%.

Since the bell rang on its first trading day, Twitter stock price has

more than doubled. The first set of results were a test. The good news

is that revenue shot up 116% from a year ago. Most of that thanks to

money from mobile advertising. But the key question that investors

wanted answered was could the company maintained that rapid

growth. Twitter is more of a niche social product than something like

Facebook. Here is the craft that casts doubt on that. -- chart. To

keep growing, Twitter's chief executive told investors that the

company would continue to put money back into its products. We believe

that by building features that enhance conversation and messaging,

we will help attract more users to the platform. Put simply, it will

continue to spend more money than it makes. They will have to continue to

commit significant capital towards investment. We think the company is

going to be losing money for this entire year. Like the Superbowl just

gone, one bright spot is how big a role to place in live events. The

company is keen to show investors that the best growth days still are

ahead. Trade in counterfeit goods is worth

hundreds of billions of dollars. But soon Europeans purchasing fake goods

could have them seized and destroyed by Customs. At the moment, they find

it difficult to prevent counterfeit goods available on foreign websites

being purchased by consumers for personal use. Today a case goes

before the European Court of Justice that could change all that. We can

speak to an intellectual property lawyer. Talk me through this case

and the implications. It is a Court of Justice decision, the highest

court in Europe. It relates to a fellow from Denmark who purchased a

fake Rolex watch. This was from a Chinese website. He knew that it was

fake. The website shipped it into the European Union. The European

customs authorities confiscated it on the basis they suspected it was a

counterfeit. The case went to the Danish courts. The question from the

Danish court to the European Court is, in general terms, was in what

circumstances can a Customs agency sees and destroyed suspected

counterfeit goods? -- sees the -- sees and destroyed. The context is

specifically online. Looking at the circumstances of online trade. The

question that the European Court is looking at is whether the online

website is actually aiming at European consumers prior to the

point of sale or whether it is sufficient that the foreign website

is simply knowing that it is sending the goods into Europe and knows it

is receiving payment from a European citizen. Where does it go from here?

Presumably this covers all counterfeit goods. How is this going

to be enforced? Customs, they are the guardians of European goods. As

you said, it is quite surprising the raft of counterfeit products out

there. It is not just a case of luxury products. It goes into

consumer goods. Cigarettes or one of the most common counterfeit

products. When you're talking about pharmaceutical counterfeits, it

might not be working, it is a serious problem. Customers will be

vigilant. They work in tandem with international property right owners.

People always look out for suspicious goods that come from

countries known to be the source of counterfeit products. All eyes on

this court case. Many thanks. Let us move to India. Car sales have

fallen for the first time in over a decade. Few see the prospect of a

turnaround until national elections. India are hosting one of

the biggest auto Expo is in Asia. Nearly 50 new launches, it will be

hard to believe that the Indian car industry is going through its worst

phase in over a decade. Here at the Indian auto show, you would not feel

that carmakers would be worried about the slump in demand. But right

now most manufacturers seem to be focused on the long-term potential

of the Indian market. Despite the fanfare, India's largest automaker

has had a tough year. Increased competition from global

manufacturers as hurt sales. But the company says that the good news is

in rural India. We have tried to target 100,000 villages and tried to

sell the vehicle. Next year we will look at the development. That is

matching our vision for the car. The company delivers a car for all

Indian people. But not everybody is doing badly. The luxury car market

is expanding rapidly. But it is still a small segment of customers.

As growth has been going down, most companies expect India to do well.

We see the market being relatively flat in the first half of the. But

close to elections, we will see growth. -- half of the year. We are

looking forward to a great year. Cars can be made at a third of the

cost. Relatively low labour costs and higher engineering skills mean

that companies are investing. Not just in manufacturing will slow

court it, but also components from local lenders. Nobody is leaving

India just yet. Asian markets have stabilised after

a turbulent couple of days. Singapore. Talk us through the

markets. If you look at the numbers, investors are struggling with the

weakness of US markets. Japan's stock markets are edging

higher as investors get back shares of companies with strong earnings

prospects. The country's central bank says it stands ready to

increase monetary stimulus further. Hong Kong shares are rising from

their lowest level in almost seven months. Singapore is heading for its

biggest daily gain in four months, supported by strong manufacturing

data. We are also seeing the index performances by heavyweights. If you

look at the games, there are quite limited. The market stays cautious.

-- games. Many thanks. You have been watching

World Business Report. Stay with us, the papers in just a minute.

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