:00:00. > :00:15.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:16. > :00:22.The world's largest personal computer maker Lenovo faces a
:00:23. > :00:32.shrinking market and higher cost for parts. And as some of the world's
:00:33. > :00:38.biggest cruise ship causing super-sized environmental problems?
:00:39. > :00:48.-- are some of the. Happy Friday. Good morning, world. Glad you could
:00:49. > :00:52.join us. I'm Rico Hizon. The world's biggest computer Lenovo is reporting
:00:53. > :00:56.tough times. The company returned a profit earlier this year, even
:00:57. > :01:01.though there was a drop in PC shipments. The computer maker has
:01:02. > :01:06.been losing in its mobile division as well as rising component cost.
:01:07. > :01:10.Lenovo's chief executive is hoping the Chinese market will help the
:01:11. > :01:23.company maintain its leading decision. Earlier I spoke to someone
:01:24. > :01:28.from Tech 460 TV. The PC market right now is more than just PCs and
:01:29. > :01:38.laptops, we are looking at new areas of virtual reality and even wearable
:01:39. > :01:43.tech. The PC market has seen a decline. The chief executive of
:01:44. > :01:49.Lenovo said they are relying heavily on the Chinese market, but now there
:01:50. > :01:52.is much more competition in the mainland. I would sort of agree and
:01:53. > :01:58.disagree with that. The Chinese domestic market is still Lenovo's
:01:59. > :02:05.biggest. As you say competition is strong. On a global scale Lenovo is
:02:06. > :02:14.still strong in that area. They are trading slightly behind HP. They are
:02:15. > :02:20.suffering in the PC market and also in the smartphone space. They are
:02:21. > :02:28.losing money there, especially some tough competition from the likes of
:02:29. > :02:33.Huawei. How are they likely to turn around this business? I wouldn't say
:02:34. > :02:41.it's a huge competition in a sense because even in China companies like
:02:42. > :02:51.Huawei are very strong. But Lenovo has do integrate PCs and smart
:02:52. > :02:54.phones so that they have a strong position for users in China. What
:02:55. > :03:00.about rising component prices? Could this put pressure on the bottomline
:03:01. > :03:09.going forward? This isn't unique to Lenovo. Overall a lot of PC makers
:03:10. > :03:14.are facing this. Mainly because high-end devices use more expensive
:03:15. > :03:18.components. But if you look at mid-to low end devices, they should
:03:19. > :03:27.be able to compete very well. You mentioned they are expanding things
:03:28. > :03:34.like virtual reality. When will this reflect on revenues? Are not sure
:03:35. > :03:41.right now but every year Lenovo showcases this new technology.
:03:42. > :03:47.Revenue wise they are still strong on the PC market but slowly they are
:03:48. > :03:52.looking at new devices. Even laptops can be powerful enough to run
:03:53. > :03:57.virtual reality. The market awaits earnings of Lenovo.
:03:58. > :04:00.In other news, Alibaba had another lacklustre quarter thanks to slow
:04:01. > :04:05.growth in their shopping business and cloud computing. The e-commerce
:04:06. > :04:09.giant posted a 56% jump in revenues for the three months until June,
:04:10. > :04:15.which came in at 7.5 William dollars, blowing past market
:04:16. > :04:22.expectations. -- billion dollars. Walmart has released higher
:04:23. > :04:26.full-year profits and sales figures for the past three months but it
:04:27. > :04:30.looks like investors aren't happy with the results.
:04:31. > :04:39.Shares have fallen overnight. Now, do you appreciate our life on the
:04:40. > :04:43.rolling deep? If so you may be one of the 25 million people who took a
:04:44. > :04:49.holiday onboard a cruise ship last year. Industry major business and is
:04:50. > :04:52.growing rapidly. But as we report, the new generation of giant,
:04:53. > :04:56.floating hotels aren't welcome everywhere.
:04:57. > :05:00.They are floating cities. Majestic and luxurious. Sailing serenely
:05:01. > :05:05.through the waters that surround some of the most beautiful places on
:05:06. > :05:08.earth. But when these vessels come close to land or interport not
:05:09. > :05:13.everyone is pleased to see them. For many people cruise is a great way to
:05:14. > :05:19.see the world, at least to find some better weather. But the industry has
:05:20. > :05:23.grown and so have the ships. Some modern cruise liners can carry more
:05:24. > :05:28.than 5000 people that can cross oceans at 30 mph. But critics say
:05:29. > :05:31.this comes with a hefty environmental cost and that could be
:05:32. > :05:37.leaving the industry in choppy waters.
:05:38. > :05:41.Like other large ships, cruise liners and heavy marine fuels, tons
:05:42. > :05:45.of it every hour, and produce emissions that are sulphur dioxide,
:05:46. > :05:50.nitrogen oxide and Partick units, known to be harmful to human health.
:05:51. > :05:54.The problem with cruise liners is not only are the passengers exposed
:05:55. > :05:57.when on the ship but when the ship is important it keeps the engines
:05:58. > :06:01.running because it needs to keep the systems running and that can result
:06:02. > :06:04.in some of the emissions being spread of the city, even when the
:06:05. > :06:08.ship isn't moving, and really we don't know what the effects of
:06:09. > :06:12.exposure over a lifetime of that is. In some port cities like Venice,
:06:13. > :06:16.their effect on air quality is one reason the giant cruise ships are
:06:17. > :06:20.rapidly becoming unwelcome guest. Yet cruise firms say they are
:06:21. > :06:25.working hard to clean up their act. We are very small part of a problem,
:06:26. > :06:31.but we are playing our part very actively to make sure that we do the
:06:32. > :06:35.best we possibly can to contribute to a improvement in those ports and
:06:36. > :06:38.cities. Among the improvements on the way are high-tech exhaust
:06:39. > :06:44.filtering systems for existing vessels, while some new ships will
:06:45. > :06:51.be powered by liquid knighthood -- liquid nitro gas. There is a risk
:06:52. > :06:57.more and more cities could see the back of this Queens of the seas.
:06:58. > :07:04.Turning to trade. The US and South Korea will start talks on mending a
:07:05. > :07:08.trade agreement that President Trump has called a horrible deal. South
:07:09. > :07:11.Korea is the United States' sixth-largest goods trading partner.
:07:12. > :07:17.Negotiations are scheduled to kick off next week. China's Unicom says
:07:18. > :07:20.it will suspend trading until further notice, after the state
:07:21. > :07:26.owned Communications group announced it would try to raise roughly 12
:07:27. > :07:30.William dollars from about a dozen investors, including Alibaba and 10
:07:31. > :07:34.cents Holdings -- billion. This is part of the mixed ownership strategy
:07:35. > :07:44.that encourages state entitlements to take on private capital. A
:07:45. > :07:48.Chinese bicycle sharing company is expanding into the US. It is
:07:49. > :07:52.applying 1000 bicycles to Seattle this month as part of a pilot
:07:53. > :07:57.programme that will increase in September. Like sharing has been
:07:58. > :08:06.growing in countries, including Singapore. -- like sharing. Just
:08:07. > :08:11.below this building I see a lot of these bicycle sharing opportunities
:08:12. > :08:15.and you need an app to use them? These start-ups have expanded super
:08:16. > :08:23.aggressively across the globe, including in Singapore. This is one
:08:24. > :08:27.of the two biggest and so what we do is you take your mobile app and you
:08:28. > :08:31.unlock the bicycle and then you can write it anywhere you want and park
:08:32. > :08:36.it pretty much anywhere you want for a small fee. In China you pay one
:08:37. > :08:44.yuan, about 15 US cents. Really cheap. The interesting thing about
:08:45. > :08:49.Ofo is it is valued at between $1 billion and $2 billion. The founder
:08:50. > :08:53.is 26 and he came up with the idea while eating fried chicken one night
:08:54. > :08:59.with his university schoolmates. But is this business sustainable? The
:09:00. > :09:03.answer currently is no and many investors question how they will
:09:04. > :09:09.make money because competition has become increasingly ferocious. Ofo,
:09:10. > :09:12.the bicycles are yellow, but you have other companies that have
:09:13. > :09:19.theirs in orange, yellow, red and green... Pick a colour! And they are
:09:20. > :09:22.all offering really aggressive discounts, sometimes offering the
:09:23. > :09:26.bicycles for free, just to get their name out there so people use them.
:09:27. > :09:30.When they don't make money and spend aggressively to expand, the question
:09:31. > :09:34.is how they will monetise. Some people think that maybe what they
:09:35. > :09:40.have a big user base idyll can... That companies can eventually sell
:09:41. > :09:46.the market data. Have you tried this bicycles? I have. Are they
:09:47. > :09:51.comfortable? Singapore is flat see you can cycle wherever you want
:09:52. > :09:55.easily. You have convinced me! I will try one this afternoon.
:09:56. > :10:03.Moving to the markets. The stocks are down sharply. As you can see.
:10:04. > :10:08.This is following the deadly attack in Spain and rising concerns
:10:09. > :10:15.President Trump may have endangered the economy. As you can see, the
:10:16. > :10:21.Nikkei is skidding to its lowest level in three months in early
:10:22. > :10:28.morning trade. The SNP as 200 is also in negative territory. Wall
:10:29. > :10:32.Street down heavily overnight as you can see. With that we and this
:10:33. > :10:34.edition of Asia Business Report. Thanks were investing your time with
:10:35. > :10:35.us and