:00:00. > :00:18.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:19. > :00:28.Downgraded. Toshiba moves off the main stock board of Tokyo because of
:00:29. > :00:35.financial problems. And a snap deal going at a loan after calling off a
:00:36. > :00:38.sale to a rival, Flipcart. Good morning, Asia. Hello, world. Welcome
:00:39. > :00:41.to another edition of Asia Business Report. It's a Tuesday. I'm
:00:42. > :00:52.Sharanjit Leyl. We will start with the ongoing problems around the tech
:00:53. > :00:56.giant Toshiba. The markets opened for trade and its shares got demoted
:00:57. > :01:08.to the second section of the Tokyo stock exchange. We have that story.
:01:09. > :01:15.Tell us about this demotion. They opened higher this morning. Up about
:01:16. > :01:22.2.5% this hour. Yesterday as well Toshiba shares rose. If you are like
:01:23. > :01:25.me, wondering why they are actually rising despite the demotion, I have
:01:26. > :01:30.been reading reports from security companies and it is partly because
:01:31. > :01:33.shares have fallen sharply since financial trouble was reported but
:01:34. > :01:38.also because by being demoted from the first section to the second
:01:39. > :01:43.section, you remove all the big institutional investors but you also
:01:44. > :01:47.get retail investors and day traders who want to make quick money by
:01:48. > :01:52.selling and buying quickly. We have been seeing a lot of volume with
:01:53. > :01:57.trading in Toshiba shares. They will continue to see volatility. The
:01:58. > :02:01.interesting thing about Toshiba, we all grew up with it, it is one of
:02:02. > :02:08.the best-known conglomerates in Japan. How did you get here? It is a
:02:09. > :02:13.dramatic fall from grace. Last year it was all fine until December. That
:02:14. > :02:18.is when the company warned investors it may have to face a one-time right
:02:19. > :02:24.down in its US nuclear division. We did not know how much that loss was
:02:25. > :02:29.going to be. Then we heard figures like $6 billion. For the last
:02:30. > :02:33.financial year that ended in March, the company still has not reported
:02:34. > :02:38.its earnings. The figure we are expecting is a loss of $9 billion.
:02:39. > :02:41.It is trying hard to sell its chip business, the only profitable
:02:42. > :02:51.business. It is facing legal challenges from the US partner it
:02:52. > :02:58.has. How does it recover? Could it be delisted altogether? It is quite
:02:59. > :03:03.possible if it cannot solve this by March. It could be delisted. 15
:03:04. > :03:13.companies got delisted in the last decade. Sharp, for example. That one
:03:14. > :03:21.turned around and Taiwan's Foxcon. But it is unusual. -- under. Thank
:03:22. > :03:27.you for that. In other business news, prices in South Korea rose to
:03:28. > :03:33.a multi-year high in July according to the latest government data. The
:03:34. > :03:45.consumer price index group to 20% compared to 1.9% in June. Qatar has
:03:46. > :03:53.launched a formal complaint with the WTO with regards to a trade embargo.
:03:54. > :03:56.Four Arab countries cut diplomatic and trade ties with them in June
:03:57. > :04:02.after allegations of supporting terrorism. Qatar called it an
:04:03. > :04:13.illegal siege. It looks like investors are not sharing the $12
:04:14. > :04:21.billion deal in TV deals. They were hoping a merger would build up
:04:22. > :04:29.viewership figures. Shares for Discovery fell 8%. The $900 million
:04:30. > :04:35.sale of India's deal to Flipcart was heralded as one of the most exciting
:04:36. > :04:38.e-commerce deals. But they pulled the plug, saying they will pursue an
:04:39. > :04:48.independent path. What is next for the struggling firmhave more. It was
:04:49. > :04:52.supposed to be an incredible deal. But instead of two arrivals coming
:04:53. > :04:58.together to create a mega firm, talks collapsed during the final
:04:59. > :05:07.stages of a talk between Flipcart and Snapdeal. When the talks began,
:05:08. > :05:10.there were constant issues between Softbank and minority shareholders.
:05:11. > :05:17.The founders of the company were not keen on selling to their main rival
:05:18. > :05:22.as well. Snapdeal had been struggling financially for years,
:05:23. > :05:27.which is why it was open to sail. But last week it sold its mobile
:05:28. > :05:32.payment business to a bank raising $60 million. That has given it some
:05:33. > :05:37.financial ammunition to keep going. In a statement, they said they would
:05:38. > :05:41.trim operations and restructure the business to stay afloat. Many
:05:42. > :05:46.analysts say it might not be enough to survive in the highly competitive
:05:47. > :05:51.e-commerce market of India. India is one of the fastest growing markets
:05:52. > :05:54.for on line shopping largely to do with the huge number of smartphone
:05:55. > :05:59.users in the country. And in an effort to attract customers, on line
:06:00. > :06:03.retailers have been offering massive discounts. But this has made it
:06:04. > :06:07.difficult for them to make profit. Amazon has been pursuing an
:06:08. > :06:16.aggressive strategy in India as well. They cut down operations,
:06:17. > :06:21.branding them as Snapdeal 2.0. It might be a new avatar for the
:06:22. > :06:29.company, but it is facing the same old competition in the market. BBC
:06:30. > :06:33.News. In other news, warmer summer weather in Europe has led to
:06:34. > :06:40.bubbling profits for Heineken. They get half of their turnover from the
:06:41. > :06:48.continent. Profits rose nearly 6%. $2.1 billion. It beat market
:06:49. > :06:52.expectations. They had good growth in Vietnam as well. China's appetite
:06:53. > :06:59.for fast food shows no signs of slowing down. The world's second
:07:00. > :07:02.biggest economy has a more vibrant restaurant economy than ever.
:07:03. > :07:08.Chinese consumers it out almost three times a week. Thanks to a
:07:09. > :07:19.growing middle-class making up 68% of all households, some of the top
:07:20. > :07:24.brands are doing extremely well. Others include KFC and McDonald's.
:07:25. > :07:32.Other retail industries are struggling to get by. Why is casual
:07:33. > :07:37.eating restaurants becoming such a rising industry? For international
:07:38. > :07:43.brands, it has been a game of adapting the menu to local taste.
:07:44. > :07:49.Kace has an entirely new occasion with breakfast in China. -- KFC. The
:07:50. > :07:58.breakfast menu is 100% Chinese exclusive. They have a few different
:07:59. > :08:03.types and tastes and spices. The other thing is trying to bring in
:08:04. > :08:09.healthy food. Chinese mothers, just like in the West, they would like to
:08:10. > :08:12.take their family to McDonald's, KFC, but they want something healthy
:08:13. > :08:17.for their children and something lighter and healthy for themselves.
:08:18. > :08:23.So these chains have been adding salads, vegetables, proposing corn
:08:24. > :08:25.as a substitute to french fries, and also improving ingredients
:08:26. > :08:36.themselves, putting less salt in the food, better meat, sources of
:08:37. > :08:39.potatoes and so on. Tell us about the beverage industry as well. It is
:08:40. > :08:43.not just fast food. Star bucks spent over $1 billion last week to take
:08:44. > :08:49.full ownership of China outlets. Is that a good move? A very good one.
:08:50. > :08:53.This means they are taking control of the entire supply chain, the
:08:54. > :08:57.quality of the delivery in the stores. They have big plans to
:08:58. > :09:07.increase their network which is today probably between 1500, around
:09:08. > :09:11.1500. They are trying to open 1000 new stores. They have been adapting
:09:12. > :09:16.to local tastes as well. For example, in the menu in China, they
:09:17. > :09:24.have several types of tea with different flavours that cater to
:09:25. > :09:27.Chinese tastes. I think it is a good move We will see star bucks
:09:28. > :09:33.extending very much the number of locations they have in China. We
:09:34. > :09:40.will turn to the market, starting with the virtual currency, Bitcoin.
:09:41. > :09:44.A split in the community is set to create a new version of the
:09:45. > :09:48.cryptocurrency on Tuesday. A group of insiders, unhappy with existing
:09:49. > :09:53.plans to speed up transaction times, have created a rival called Bitcoin
:09:54. > :09:59.Cash. That could put pressure on the value of the original Bitcoins. One
:10:00. > :10:07.person has said it could cause chaos. The price of a single Bitcoin
:10:08. > :10:12.rose 5% in US trade overnight. We will look at trade in Asia. Most
:10:13. > :10:15.Asian markets that are open have opened higher, taking cues pretty
:10:16. > :10:21.much from Wall Street where we saw the Dow Jones yet another record
:10:22. > :10:26.high. Essentially in Australia we are seeing games. Many investors are
:10:27. > :10:30.watching the Reserve Bank of Australia who will announce
:10:31. > :10:34.interest-rate decisions later. -- ??MACRO1 and that is it for this
:10:35. > :10:35.edition of Asia Business