:00:00. > :00:15.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:16. > :00:25.Before the big split. Better expected quarterly earning.
:00:26. > :00:35.And the alternative solution for trash. We look at technology that
:00:36. > :00:43.converts waste into water. Good morning. Welcome to Asia
:00:44. > :00:46.Business Report from Singapore. The world's if aluminium maker has
:00:47. > :00:54.kicked off the earnings season in the US again with an -- and has
:00:55. > :00:59.exceeded expectations. It posted revenues of $5.3 billion and net
:01:00. > :01:02.income of $135 million, down slightly from one year earlier.
:01:03. > :01:10.Shares were higher than more than 3% in after-hours trading. There has
:01:11. > :01:14.been an upturn in the commodities market. The company is expected to
:01:15. > :01:22.be split into two macro publicly traded businesses before the end of
:01:23. > :01:28.the year. -- two. Earlier I asked whether this is a strong result.
:01:29. > :01:34.Certainly when you look at its last result as a single company it was a
:01:35. > :01:39.good one. We did see the company report nine US cents per share which
:01:40. > :01:44.was broadly in line with the consensus. At where the market did
:01:45. > :01:52.get surprise was that we saw revenues come in at 5.3 billion. So
:01:53. > :02:00.they're -- there was some joy taken out of that. We have a look at the
:02:01. > :02:09.results themselves they gained about $237 million from cost savings,
:02:10. > :02:14.about $50 million from borrowing. So overall as you suggest the market
:02:15. > :02:17.was very pleased with the result and I think one thing was that they
:02:18. > :02:23.generated about $800 million worth of sales of the 1.2 yen dollars that
:02:24. > :02:30.they are expecting and the market will like that figure as well. --
:02:31. > :02:34.$1.2 billion. There is an airshow on this week in
:02:35. > :02:39.south England, the biggest gathering of the deal for the global airspace
:02:40. > :02:46.and defence industry. One country now storming into the market is
:02:47. > :02:50.China. It has been developing cut-price arrivals to the airliners
:02:51. > :02:56.and drones produced in the West. China wants to increase earnings
:02:57. > :02:58.from aircraft building tenfold to $150 billion a year. How can it be
:02:59. > :04:19.so hopeful? Let's have a look. Over the next few days at
:04:20. > :04:24.Farnborough tens of millions of dollars of deals are expected to be
:04:25. > :04:27.done, so we will review all of the latest from the trade show on BBC
:04:28. > :04:32.News. Malnutrition is still a major
:04:33. > :04:36.problem in India so it is perhaps surprising that many Indians are
:04:37. > :04:40.actually overweight. In fact, obesity has become such a concern
:04:41. > :04:45.that one state has now proposed a so-called fat tax on restaurants
:04:46. > :04:49.that sell fast food to try to make people more health-conscious. But
:04:50. > :04:54.some wonder if it is the best approach.
:04:55. > :05:00.Grabbing your favourite pizza or biting into a burger is about to get
:05:01. > :05:07.more expensive in this part of India. Terre la fans do impose a tax
:05:08. > :05:15.on fast food sold by restaurant chains. -- Kerala. It's a so-called
:05:16. > :05:18.fat tax. Something already tried in places, including Hungary and
:05:19. > :05:24.Denmark, to try to put people off eating so much junk food. But
:05:25. > :05:29.reactions have been mixed. When people are not taking care of their
:05:30. > :05:33.health the government is taking some initiative, so that people go back
:05:34. > :05:40.to the food that helps their diet. And diseases are just spreading
:05:41. > :05:45.because of the junk food. I don't think it will do much. Because those
:05:46. > :05:54.interested will still go after what they want. It doesn't matter. Kerala
:05:55. > :05:58.has the second-highest level of obesity and the government is using
:05:59. > :06:04.that reason to justify its plan to put an extra tax on restaurants like
:06:05. > :06:07.McDonald's, dominoes and Pizza Hut. They say these other things making
:06:08. > :06:17.people fat and they hope I prices will make think twice. But popular
:06:18. > :06:20.local dishes, like banana fry, that are high in calories, will not come
:06:21. > :06:25.under the new tax rule, which means some are seeing this as an attack on
:06:26. > :06:29.multinational food chains, rather than just obesity or other
:06:30. > :06:34.illnesses. The government has defended the plan, many food experts
:06:35. > :06:41.think that taxing food is not the right approach. I don't think it is
:06:42. > :06:47.right. It won't have any impact on the health status of people,
:06:48. > :06:50.especially in Kerala. It will just fill the coppers of the government.
:06:51. > :06:56.The emphasis should be on awareness. People should be made aware of off
:06:57. > :07:01.the side-effects or bad effects of eating high calorie food. Whether it
:07:02. > :07:08.is what they eat or a lifestyle that lacks exercise, one in five Indians
:07:09. > :07:12.is now overweight or obese. But with access to Western-style fast food is
:07:13. > :07:16.still relatively new here, and many still seeing it as a status symbol,
:07:17. > :07:24.this is a new tax many will find hard to swallow.
:07:25. > :07:30.From fat tax to food waste, because dealing with waste is a huge problem
:07:31. > :07:35.around the world, especially acute in small countries like in
:07:36. > :07:38.Singapore. Millions of tons of rubbish are disposed each year and
:07:39. > :07:42.hundreds of thousands of tons of that is food waste. We have a look
:07:43. > :07:50.at one initiative aimed at converting the waste to good use.
:07:51. > :07:56.Singapore's most iconic resort is home to dozens of restaurants,
:07:57. > :08:01.hundreds of hotel rooms, a casino, shops and a convention centre. And
:08:02. > :08:08.all that means loads and loads of food waste. They won't say how much
:08:09. > :08:14.food they think is thrown out here every day, but suffice to say it's a
:08:15. > :08:18.lot. It is in -- in an effort to combat the problem it has installed
:08:19. > :08:23.five food digesters, which are turning some of that waste into
:08:24. > :08:28.water. Let's see how they work. We generate a lot of pre- consummate
:08:29. > :08:34.Prep food waste because of the volumes we have. Last weekend we had
:08:35. > :08:41.14 weddings and we were full house. 2600 rooms filled. Because of that
:08:42. > :08:46.we can digests, or we have today just, up to 2500 kg every day of
:08:47. > :08:50.clean, segregated food waste. All you have to do is segregated, we
:08:51. > :08:53.then put it in a machine and it comes it inside. There are enzymes
:08:54. > :09:03.and bacteria cocktail that digests of the food. -- the food. It is like
:09:04. > :09:06.a giant, mechanical stomach and the other end comes grey water, or at
:09:07. > :09:11.least it will be once the pulp has separated out of it. But elsewhere
:09:12. > :09:20.in the city that technology is being taken a step further. The rapidly
:09:21. > :09:27.growing company Eco-Wiz believes it has the edge. A number of items can
:09:28. > :09:34.go in the system, so we use the biotechnology to decompose food
:09:35. > :09:41.waste into sterile water and we have our own technology to turn the water
:09:42. > :09:46.into reusable water. The water you can either use to water plants or
:09:47. > :09:52.you can use it to rinse bins or even mop the floor. We have a customer
:09:53. > :09:57.who uses our recycled water to mop their stall. But still the majority
:09:58. > :10:02.of Singapore's hundreds of thousands of annual food waste is sent to
:10:03. > :10:06.landfill and incinerated. And with clear implications for the
:10:07. > :10:13.environment, the push is on for more companies to look for alternatives.
:10:14. > :10:19.Let's have a look at the Asian markets this morning. Japan's Nikkei
:10:20. > :10:24.is extending the game from Monday, when it rose by 4% because of that
:10:25. > :10:27.landslide victory by the Prime Minister in parliamentary elections
:10:28. > :10:30.and the promise of further stimulus. That's it for this edition of Asia
:10:31. > :10:43.Business Report. Thanks for watching.
:10:44. > :10:46.Angela Eagle, the former shadow business secretary,