:00:00. > :00:00.Sunday, the ridge of high pressure building from the south-west but
:00:00. > :00:00.this next weather front approaching brings outbreaks of showery rain so
:00:00. > :00:00.it will be a fairly fresh start to the day on Sunday, plenty of
:00:00. > :00:07.brightness across England and Wales first thing, one or two isolated
:00:08. > :00:10.showers not out of the question, outbreaks of rain feeding from the
:00:11. > :00:10.West into the afternoon with highs of 21 Celsius.
:00:11. > :00:14.This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Bland and Jamie Robertson.
:00:15. > :00:16.Getting caught in the traffic - Toyota's profits are down
:00:17. > :00:19.as the Japanese car-maker fights to get back into pole position.
:00:20. > :00:34.Live from London, that's our top story on Friday 4th August.
:00:35. > :00:37.Toyota's finances are hit by a huge drive to catch up with its rivals
:00:38. > :00:41.on electric and autonomous cars, so can it be
:00:42. > :00:51.The ride-hailing company admits it should have acted quick to fix
:00:52. > :00:59.overheating parts on cars it gave its drivers.
:01:00. > :01:05.A softer open across the main European indices, softer start to
:01:06. > :01:10.the trading day. However, across the water in the US, the Dow has hit yet
:01:11. > :01:12.another record high. We will look at what is going on a little later in
:01:13. > :01:13.the programme. And we'll be getting
:01:14. > :01:16.the inside track on Germany's diesel problems and Fairtrade chocolate
:01:17. > :01:18.as we discuss all the big stories of the week with our business
:01:19. > :01:33.correspondent Jonty Bloom. Using water to way down washing
:01:34. > :01:36.machines instead of using concrete? Simple. But what a simple solutions
:01:37. > :01:53.have you found to everyday problems. We have already had a tweet, David
:01:54. > :01:58.saying, if I share my ideas, will you go 50/50? Smart man!
:01:59. > :02:01.Toyota was once the company that sold the world more
:02:02. > :02:05.And as it struggles to reclaim that number one spot,
:02:06. > :02:12.As it released its latest number, the company behind the best-selling
:02:13. > :02:16.car the world has ever seen, the Corolla, says its spending more
:02:17. > :02:18.on what is called the "crucial" areas of self-driving cars
:02:19. > :02:22.Toyota has reported a sharp fall in operating profits
:02:23. > :02:36.It made $5.2 billion, a drop of 10.6% on the same period last year.
:02:37. > :02:38.That's partly because of a big increase in research
:02:39. > :02:50.Last year, despite "dieselgate", Volkswagen sold more cars,
:02:51. > :02:55.and in the first half of this year they were both
:02:56. > :02:57.overtaken by Renault-Nissan, after it added Mitsubishi
:02:58. > :03:03.So Toyota is spending big to attract new customers.
:03:04. > :03:05.Last month it committed another $100 million to develop
:03:06. > :03:21.That is on top of the $1 billion it's already spending to develop
:03:22. > :03:24.self-driving cars and other tech at a new research centre in the US.
:03:25. > :03:26.But all of that research needs top engineers and scientists.
:03:27. > :03:30.And to try and save on Silicon Valley's pricey talent, Toyota
:03:31. > :03:33.recently launched a recruitment campaign on Tokyo's Nambu railway
:03:34. > :03:35.line, along which many of the country's tech
:03:36. > :03:39.James Batchelor, editor-at-large for Auto Express and Car
:03:40. > :03:49.The picture there and has painted is of a company where profits are down
:03:50. > :03:53.but for a very good reason, spending huge amounts of money on RMT. Is it
:03:54. > :04:01.spending it in the right places? What kind of things is its spending
:04:02. > :04:05.on? It needs to spend more money on R because Toyota fears of being
:04:06. > :04:09.left behind by big tech companies, companies like Tesla, for example,
:04:10. > :04:14.producing autonomous cars, so Toyota is spending the money in the right
:04:15. > :04:18.area, because it has to. Has it been left behind, do you think? They all
:04:19. > :04:28.are, in a way. They had the previous, which was a byword for the
:04:29. > :04:33.next big thing, and now it is historic. It is not being left
:04:34. > :04:38.behind at the moment, but the Prius is 20 years old, they have sold 3.5
:04:39. > :04:41.million of them since 1997. Toyota is spending a lot of money in terms
:04:42. > :04:46.of the hydrogen fuel cell car as well. If that's the future? It is
:04:47. > :04:51.not what everybody else has been talking about recently, is it? It is
:04:52. > :04:55.one way to the future. We are all looking at electric cars and hybrids
:04:56. > :05:06.at the moment. Hydrogen fuel cell car could be a
:05:07. > :05:10.step far because it involves huge amounts in terms of infrastructure.
:05:11. > :05:12.What about in terms of Electric, is it going down that route? Toyota is
:05:13. > :05:14.going down the hybrid route, they have always gone... Not pure
:05:15. > :05:16.electric? Not at the moment, they championed the hybrid because they
:05:17. > :05:22.see that is the technology most people want to buy and especially as
:05:23. > :05:28.we look at the 2040 ban on petrol cars, hybrid seems to be the best
:05:29. > :05:34.way out for most customers. There is some talk of a merger with the
:05:35. > :05:42.company, possibly muster, eight press release due in a couple of
:05:43. > :05:46.hours? There definitely seems to be a tie-up looming between Mazda and
:05:47. > :05:49.Toyota, probably to build a new factory in America because a lot of
:05:50. > :05:53.car companies are having to tie up with each other to try to get ahead
:05:54. > :06:00.of their competitors. So that is the way the industry is going, these
:06:01. > :06:04.alliances between like we have with Nissan and Renault? Absolutely, that
:06:05. > :06:08.is the only way a lot of car companies can spread cost in terms
:06:09. > :06:12.of platforms and new technology. OK, we will cover that when we hear what
:06:13. > :06:14.happens with that press conference. James, thank you very much indeed.
:06:15. > :06:17.Let's take a look at some of the other stories
:06:18. > :06:25.The Royal Bank of Scotland has made its first half-year profit in three
:06:26. > :06:31.years. The bank, which is majority owned by the British taxpayer, made
:06:32. > :06:35.$1.23 billion in the period. It has said it will relocate some stuff to
:06:36. > :06:38.Amsterdam after Brexit as it looks to maintain European operations.
:06:39. > :06:42.The cost of damage from a cyclone which hit Australia in March is one
:06:43. > :06:45.of the main reasons profits are down at Swiss Re.
:06:46. > :06:49.It cost the world's second largest re-insurer $360 million.
:06:50. > :06:52.The company says it made $1.2 billion in the first
:06:53. > :06:55.that's a third less than the same time last year.
:06:56. > :06:59.It's seeking to move into new areas to grow its business.
:07:00. > :07:02.A British computer expert credited with helping to shut down
:07:03. > :07:04.a world-wide cyber attack earlier this year has been arrested
:07:05. > :07:13.Marcus Hutchins stopped the WannaCry virus
:07:14. > :07:15.from spreading further, after it affected thousands
:07:16. > :07:22.The arrest is not linked to that attack.
:07:23. > :07:25.There is more to that story than meets the eye!
:07:26. > :07:28.We should follow it. Let's go to Asia now,
:07:29. > :07:30.where there is more It says it has taken action to fix
:07:31. > :07:49.cars it was using in Singapore A spokesman has told the BBC that
:07:50. > :07:53.the company could have done more to fix the problem with these SUV 's in
:07:54. > :08:00.Singapore. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company got
:08:01. > :08:04.100,000 Honda Vezels even though they had been recalled due to
:08:05. > :08:07.overheating. One of the drivers explained an incident where flames
:08:08. > :08:11.burst out of the dashboard, melted the interior and cracked a hole in
:08:12. > :08:15.the windshield. Luckily no one was hurt. This is a challenging time for
:08:16. > :08:19.the company, it is also in the midst of battling sexual harassment claims
:08:20. > :08:23.in the US and dealing with an exodus of executives. Earlier this summer
:08:24. > :08:29.its chief executive resigned and is now on the hunt for a new CEO.
:08:30. > :08:34.OK, thank you very much, Monica Miller there for us.
:08:35. > :08:38.Let's look at the markets, that is a picture on the Asian markets, Tokyo
:08:39. > :08:42.closing low on Friday with exporters pulling it downwards as the yen
:08:43. > :08:46.strengthened against the dollar. A weakened dollar against the yen
:08:47. > :08:50.makes Japan's exporters less competitive. The dollar weakened
:08:51. > :08:54.after the new report on the probe into the Trump administration's
:08:55. > :08:58.alleged ties with Russia and also a survey which showed growth in the
:08:59. > :09:02.American services sector slowed sharply in July, so analysts are not
:09:03. > :09:07.expecting the US jobs and wages data out later to offer much relief. On
:09:08. > :09:10.Wall Street, although the tech focused Nasdaq, it has just
:09:11. > :09:17.disappeared, edged to a record high for the second straight day. Here is
:09:18. > :09:21.how the European market started the day, opened in the red but the FTSE
:09:22. > :09:30.100 picking up, as we mentioned a moment ago, feeling a downward pull
:09:31. > :09:33.from Swiss Re after it missed its profits estimate. Benefiting a bit
:09:34. > :09:34.on the RBS share price which has gone up after it announced its
:09:35. > :09:34.profits. And Samira Hussain has
:09:35. > :09:36.the details about what's ahead It is the first Friday
:09:37. > :09:41.in a new month and here in the US it can only mean one
:09:42. > :09:43.thing, jobs numbers. The Labor Department will release
:09:44. > :09:45.the latest employment figures Back in June, the US
:09:46. > :09:53.economy added 222,000 jobs. Analysts are expecting non-form
:09:54. > :09:56.payrolls to decrease They are also expecting to see
:09:57. > :10:04.the unemployment rate fall to 4.3%. This number will be closely watched
:10:05. > :10:07.by the Federal Reserve, America's central bank,
:10:08. > :10:10.as it considers the next rise Now, there has been a flurry
:10:11. > :10:19.of earnings coming up this week and those earnings helped push US
:10:20. > :10:22.markets to record-breaking highs. Before the week comes to an end,
:10:23. > :10:25.there are still a few more companies that will report,
:10:26. > :10:31.including health insurers, Cigna, and Newell Brands,
:10:32. > :10:36.the maker of Sharpie pens. Joining us is Mike Bell,
:10:37. > :10:47.global market strategist 22,000 is terribly impressive,
:10:48. > :10:50.should we be impressed or is it just another number? If you look in the
:10:51. > :10:53.Dow there are lots of tech companies, some parts of the tech
:10:54. > :10:57.market are pretty expensive at the moment so we would favour rotating
:10:58. > :11:00.into some of the cheaper parts of the market, particularly the
:11:01. > :11:04.financials, which should do well. But the financials are boosted
:11:05. > :11:11.because everyone is expecting regulatory reform, basically taking
:11:12. > :11:15.away the regulations, but is that going to happen? We have seen since
:11:16. > :11:18.the start of the year a lot of that has been priced out of the
:11:19. > :11:22.financials. The market is expecting the Fed to put rates up, that would
:11:23. > :11:28.be a positive background. You don't get worried about the market at
:11:29. > :11:31.22,000? Bits of the market look expensive, but the key for your
:11:32. > :11:36.return is what you pay in terms of the multiple and if you look at some
:11:37. > :11:45.tech stock trading at over 30 times, that is risky, we would favour 12 to
:11:46. > :11:51.13. Jobs data due out later, not expecting great things? About
:11:52. > :11:55.180,000 jobs added in the month, anything over 150,000 will be enough
:11:56. > :11:59.for the Fed to announce in September they will reduce the balance sheet.
:12:00. > :12:03.Why not put your money into the European stock markets? That is
:12:04. > :12:07.where the growth is at the moment Europe as a continent is growing
:12:08. > :12:11.faster than the United States, prices are undervalued, we have seen
:12:12. > :12:14.a fall away in some stock prices over the last three or four months,
:12:15. > :12:21.that is where you will get value? I agree with that. There is more
:12:22. > :12:24.upside here, we have had a bit of a pull-back, quite an attractive
:12:25. > :12:28.buying opportunity because the Eurozone economy is quite broadly
:12:29. > :12:33.across the economy growing quite strongly at somewhere around 2.5%,
:12:34. > :12:36.Spain close to three. Any particular countries? Don't mention Germany
:12:37. > :12:41.because we always talked about Germany, but places interesting in
:12:42. > :12:43.terms of growth prospects? What is interesting is nearly every economy
:12:44. > :12:51.in the year resident is doing well. Even Greece?! Crease less so! We
:12:52. > :12:55.have seen survey data improving in the last month suggesting even Italy
:12:56. > :12:59.is showing signs of acceleration. You mentioned Spain, particularly
:13:00. > :13:03.attractive at the moment? Spain is leading the great story with growth
:13:04. > :13:07.of 3% whereas the rest of the economies are more like 2% so Spain
:13:08. > :13:14.looks pretty positive. And what about the poor old UK? The UK is
:13:15. > :13:18.really the LANguard... Is it really, in a European context? The rest of
:13:19. > :13:29.Europe is growing about twice as fast as the UK, 2.5% in Europe,
:13:30. > :13:30.about 1.2 in the UK, so uncertainty around Brexit really is hurting the
:13:31. > :13:37.UK economy. Thanks very much indeed. We will discuss all of the big
:13:38. > :13:39.stories of the week with our business correspondence including
:13:40. > :13:40.Germany's diesel problems and fair trade chocolate.
:13:41. > :13:50.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:13:51. > :13:51.Royal Bank of Scotland sees its first half-year
:13:52. > :14:03.It earned ?939 million - that's compared with a ?2 billion
:14:04. > :14:09.Theo Leggett is in our business newsroom.
:14:10. > :14:14.Looking through the numbers, what do you make of it?
:14:15. > :14:19.They are very strong numbers for the first top of this year and I think
:14:20. > :14:23.that reflects what RBS has been doing, which is consolidating its
:14:24. > :14:28.attention on its UK and Ireland -based retail and corporate banking.
:14:29. > :14:33.Trying to focus more on its core businesses. The comparison with last
:14:34. > :14:37.year is a bit misleading because last year, for example, RBS made its
:14:38. > :14:39.final dividend payment to the UK Government, which was more than ?1
:14:40. > :14:58.billion. It also had a big amount of money set aside
:14:59. > :15:01.for payment protection insurance payment and so on. So there were a
:15:02. > :15:09.lot of one-off items that made the figures seem worse than they were.
:15:10. > :15:19.It is moving its headquarters? It is talking about moving them if it
:15:20. > :15:23.loses its European passport rights of the Brexiter. It already has a
:15:24. > :15:30.Dutch banking licence acquired as its legacy of another purchase in
:15:31. > :15:34.2007. That was the deal that pushed RBS into such trouble and
:15:35. > :15:38.necessitated, eventually a bailout from the UK Government. It wouldn't
:15:39. > :15:42.be radical in terms of jobs, it would mean about 150 jobs would need
:15:43. > :15:48.to be set up in Amsterdam and some would be moved over from London. But
:15:49. > :15:55.in symbolic terms, it would be important. Thank you very much
:15:56. > :16:00.indeed. On the business live page, it is updated throughout the day.
:16:01. > :16:03.There is a story on there now about the Institute of directors, one of
:16:04. > :16:10.the UK's biggest business lobby groups urging the Cabinet to stop
:16:11. > :16:15.bouncing around the edges of Brexit. It is because of the arguments
:16:16. > :16:19.within the Cabinet, apparently had within the Cabinet, about how to
:16:20. > :16:25.smooth the move from the EU two out of the EU, which is commonly known
:16:26. > :16:30.as I understand is Brexit? Indeed, you are not wrong.
:16:31. > :16:34.You're watching Business Live, our top story...
:16:35. > :16:42.Toyota has seen a sharp fall in profits. Partly thanks to big
:16:43. > :16:47.spending on self driving cars and also technology which it hopes will
:16:48. > :16:58.make it the world's bestselling car brand, which is what it used to be.
:16:59. > :17:03.A quick look at how markets are faring...
:17:04. > :17:10.That is what the pound will get you against the dollar.
:17:11. > :17:12.And now let's get the inside track: This week German carmakers have
:17:13. > :17:15.agreed with top politicians to cut harmful emissions by
:17:16. > :17:16.updating software in five million diesel vehicles.
:17:17. > :17:19.And Sterling has fallen sharply against the Dollar and the Euro
:17:20. > :17:21.after The Bank of England downgraded the UK growth forecast
:17:22. > :17:23.for this year and next, warning that the economy
:17:24. > :17:29.Let's get more with our business correspondent Jonty Bloom.
:17:30. > :17:46.Let's start with the Bank of England. A huge amount of
:17:47. > :17:53.information yesterday. Some it all up, what have we learned? We have
:17:54. > :17:56.just heard we want the Cabinet to introduce a transitional arrangement
:17:57. > :18:00.for leaving the EU. The Bank of England was talking about much the
:18:01. > :18:03.same thing, it is Brexit and the uncertainty about Brexit which is
:18:04. > :18:10.damaging the British economy at the moment. That is what the Bank of
:18:11. > :18:15.England is saying. It is happening at the moment? It is saying
:18:16. > :18:20.businesses are not investing at the rate they would expect and it is a
:18:21. > :18:23.benign area. You would expecting companies to be investing more and
:18:24. > :18:31.they art and and it says it is down to uncertainty. The other end, it is
:18:32. > :18:36.looking like less moving towards any rate rises soon, the split is not as
:18:37. > :18:43.sharp as it was? We had one person in favour has just left on the new
:18:44. > :18:49.person who has joined isn't interested in increasing interest
:18:50. > :18:54.rates. Compare that with the rest of the Western world, the ECB is
:18:55. > :18:57.talking about easing off on bond purchases and we're expecting the
:18:58. > :19:02.Fed to do something about that in September. It is already putting
:19:03. > :19:05.interest rate up. But the Bank of England is kicking the can down the
:19:06. > :19:10.road because it is worried about the underlying strength of the economy,
:19:11. > :19:13.it is seen growth, which it says is sluggish and has downgraded the
:19:14. > :19:19.forecast for this year and next. Let's move on cars. They have their
:19:20. > :19:23.backs to the wall and they have to do something about their emissions,
:19:24. > :19:28.but a lot of people saying they are not doing enough? People are
:19:29. > :19:31.comparing it to Nokia. Remember the phone company that dominated the
:19:32. > :19:36.market and was virtually annihilated by the iPhone and new developments.
:19:37. > :19:40.It was the leading company. Mobile phones, everybody wanted a new one
:19:41. > :19:45.every six months every year, every two years and it couldn't keep up
:19:46. > :19:50.and was overtaken by technology. Some said the German car industry is
:19:51. > :19:54.like that. They backed the wrong horse, they went green by backing
:19:55. > :19:57.diesel and then they fiddled the tests to make it look greener and
:19:58. > :20:00.now they have talks with the government out they will crack that.
:20:01. > :20:06.And the new cars we were talking about our electric cards or hybrids.
:20:07. > :20:12.BMW is heavily, all its products will have a electric elements within
:20:13. > :20:15.them? Which is why I think the analogy is wrong, cars last longer
:20:16. > :20:19.and they have put a lot of money and research into this and they will
:20:20. > :20:23.have time. People are still buying petrol and diesel cars, it is not
:20:24. > :20:27.like everyone is going electric. Only 5% of cars are hybrid or
:20:28. > :20:32.electric in the UK at the moment, so they have time to turn it around.
:20:33. > :20:36.Writing of the German car industry is a huge mistake. Want to talk
:20:37. > :20:45.about chocolate, Green Black's dropping the Fairtrade? Yes, big
:20:46. > :20:50.companies often by specialist labels, which are organic fair trade
:20:51. > :20:54.or environmentally friendly, ethical. You have to ask, why do
:20:55. > :20:59.they do that, they have to pay a premium. Look at what has happened
:21:00. > :21:05.now. Green Black's was taken over by Cadburys, that was taken over by
:21:06. > :21:12.craft and now are dropping the Fairtrade label. They had brought
:21:13. > :21:16.their own in, Cocoa life. Yes, it is not Fairtrade but it is ethical. You
:21:17. > :21:20.are paying a premium for something you bought because it is ethical and
:21:21. > :21:25.the brand that built itself up saying it is unlikely. You are
:21:26. > :21:30.taking it over and undermining it. Be pushing the Cocoa life brand to
:21:31. > :21:33.all of the Cadbury stuff. Very large companies think we are being
:21:34. > :21:38.outmanoeuvred by these ethical companies so they buy them at a
:21:39. > :21:43.great price, and people say, it is not ethical any more because it is
:21:44. > :21:48.owned by you. Ben and Jerry 's is like that. Body shop is another one.
:21:49. > :21:49.I didn't know you were quite the Cocoa connoisseur. I wrote the story
:21:50. > :22:16.on the website. Good to see you. Last day, but all eyes were on Rio
:22:17. > :23:53.but some of the real estate they bought remains unsolved.
:23:54. > :23:59.What other business stories? We kick off with washing machines. Instead
:24:00. > :24:05.of using concrete, put them in place and fill the base with water, it
:24:06. > :24:13.seems so obvious? And the top. Because water isn't as heavy as
:24:14. > :24:18.hungry. This is why I work in news and not construction. It is a
:24:19. > :24:21.no-brainer? They will have to be a bit bigger and whether that will be
:24:22. > :24:25.desirable from a consumer perspective. Every invention comes
:24:26. > :24:28.along and it seems obvious in retrospect, but self-service
:24:29. > :24:34.shopping only came around in the last 150 years, prior to that you
:24:35. > :24:38.had to be served by someone. It is a real, why didn't I think of that,
:24:39. > :24:42.story. We have asked people to come up with their own suggestions. One
:24:43. > :24:54.tweet says used shipping containers turning them into affordable homes.
:24:55. > :24:57.Solar power power, if I want to live in a shipping container. Put a bit
:24:58. > :25:11.of air conditioning in, and the window. But the other story which we
:25:12. > :25:14.have, can you get it on the screen. Making Germany environmentally
:25:15. > :25:20.friendly reducing carbon emissions by 80%. 1.4 euros trillion, how will
:25:21. > :25:26.be a fallback? That sounds like a lot, but it is spread out over the
:25:27. > :25:32.next 32 years so it is only 40 billion a year, if you compare that
:25:33. > :25:37.to the German economy, it is about 1.5% of overall GDP, so it is pretty
:25:38. > :25:43.affordable and for the future of the planet, it is money well spent. It
:25:44. > :25:48.is not a black hole, it is being spent, people get it for doing
:25:49. > :25:51.stuff. People will be employed and it will provide some stimulus. I
:25:52. > :25:54.think it is money well spent. Thank you very much.
:25:55. > :25:58.There will be more business news throughout the day
:25:59. > :26:10.on the BBC live webpage and on World Business Report.
:26:11. > :26:16.Hello, good morning and another day of sunny spells and showers is
:26:17. > :26:17.thanks to this area of low pressure which has been