:00:04. > :00:14.the US and in France. -- he has won. Time now for the money news with
:00:14. > :00:25.
:00:25. > :00:31.Dell profits collapse has smartphones and tablets continue to
:00:31. > :00:35.batter the PC industry. Plus, Nagy ships in search of cargo.
:00:35. > :00:42.Aiken target -- a cargo giant counts the cost of slumping global
:00:42. > :00:49.trade. A very warm welcome to World
:00:49. > :00:54.Business Report. Also coming up: South Africa's currency hits a
:00:54. > :00:59.four-year low and it fears of the return of last year's labour unrest.
:00:59. > :01:03.More evidence late on Thursday that the personal computer industry is
:01:03. > :01:13.in steep decline. The first quarter of this use of the biggest slump in
:01:13. > :01:15.
:01:15. > :01:18.PC sales since records began. Now, PC giant Dell has revealed that its
:01:18. > :01:25.profits all but collapsed in the last three months. It says its
:01:25. > :01:29.profits plunged 79% in the three months to the beginning of May.
:01:29. > :01:34.That was way worse even than Wall Street was expecting. Dell did see
:01:34. > :01:38.a rise in revenue from providing services to business and, what it
:01:38. > :01:47.calls enterprise solutions. That is the area that the founder is now
:01:47. > :01:51.pinning his hopes. The news from Dell is a clear
:01:51. > :01:56.reflection of just how dire the personal computing industry really
:01:56. > :02:05.is. Reporting days earlier than expected, tells us profits jumped -
:02:05. > :02:10.- dropped by nearly 80% as PC sales continue to. These results come at
:02:10. > :02:14.an interesting time. Delays in the midst of a takeover battle. On the
:02:14. > :02:21.one hand we have its founder and CEO Michael Dell. On the other we
:02:21. > :02:25.have its largest shareholder. In the light of changing desires of
:02:25. > :02:29.consumers, Michael Dell wants to take the company private and
:02:29. > :02:37.changed it from a PC maker to a full service IT company oath or
:02:37. > :02:40.possibly Seth. The largest shareholder still believes the
:02:40. > :02:43.company is better off remaining public. These results are
:02:43. > :02:50.disappointing and it may have an impact on the future of a company
:02:50. > :02:54.that 20 years ago dominated the PC market.
:02:54. > :03:02.His labour unrest in South Africa's minds about to erupt again? A union
:03:02. > :03:06.leader says workers will walk out today over plans to cut up to 6,000
:03:06. > :03:15.jobs. Earlier this week a rival company was hit by a two-day strike
:03:15. > :03:18.as the industry prepares for wage negotiations that have been called.
:03:18. > :03:24.Mining companies are cutting back in the face of falling commodity
:03:24. > :03:28.prices. They are also facing rising union militancy and it work and go
:03:28. > :03:32.about rising income inequality. More than 50 people were killed
:03:32. > :03:36.last year in violence in South Africa's mining communities. Fears
:03:36. > :03:46.of a return to the unrest have pushed the country's currency to a
:03:46. > :03:53.
:03:53. > :03:58.As we were saying, this comes in at mining firms across South Africa.
:03:58. > :04:03.What is it doing to the industry? The big concern for markets and
:04:03. > :04:07.investors is how long lasting this might be. No-one is expecting the
:04:07. > :04:13.scale of what we saw last year won widespread disruption and that we
:04:13. > :04:20.saw negative mining group over a number of quarters. We are coming
:04:20. > :04:23.up to that crucial wage negotiation Tyne. Many minds are already
:04:23. > :04:29.experiencing considerable losses. It is not an environment where they
:04:29. > :04:38.can afford to see their costs, of which Labour contributes Sydney
:04:38. > :04:42.Fingal, rising. -- significantly. Talking about the cost of platinum,
:04:42. > :04:48.expectations of another year of constrained supply, does that mean
:04:48. > :04:52.global demand for the metal might outstrip supply, which would be the
:04:52. > :04:55.second year in a row? In terms of supply, given the outlook we see
:04:55. > :05:00.for the mines in South Africa especially, one would expect for
:05:00. > :05:08.that to provide some support to prices. The problem with the plight
:05:08. > :05:11.no market is that when it comes to demand, weakness in the European
:05:11. > :05:16.economy means we are not seen the kind of strength and demand that
:05:16. > :05:20.would be needed to achieve a sustained price rise just yet.
:05:20. > :05:26.does all of this mean for South Africa as a whole? Credit rating
:05:26. > :05:30.agencies perhaps reviewing the cost of businesses investing in the
:05:30. > :05:34.country and the currency having been pushed to a new low. It is an
:05:34. > :05:39.additional concern. If we look at the performance of the South
:05:39. > :05:44.African economy, that has been weak. In real terms, the value added in
:05:45. > :05:48.mining and manufacturing is no higher than it was in 20 -- 2008.
:05:48. > :05:52.South Africa's struggle to recover from the crisis and the concern is
:05:52. > :05:57.if we see more disruption to mining, more of these output chocks, we're
:05:57. > :06:02.not going to see a much healthier growth rate this year either. That
:06:02. > :06:07.has been reflected in the weakness of the currency.
:06:07. > :06:17.We will have to see whether this strike does take place.
:06:17. > :06:24.
:06:24. > :06:29.Some mixed results from China's most popular social network. We get
:06:29. > :06:37.the details from our correspondent in Singapore. What would you have
:06:37. > :06:41.won this for us? It is the owner of China's largest social network.
:06:41. > :06:48.They have reported a first-quarter loss that narrowed as margins
:06:48. > :06:56.improved. Unexpectedly they also what is helping its shares in
:06:56. > :07:00.after-hours trade. Well above 4% at the moment. However, the last
:07:00. > :07:10.narrowed to $13.2 million from $13.7 million. It is listed in New
:07:10. > :07:11.
:07:11. > :07:16.York and has a very large user base. It often puts the microscope on
:07:16. > :07:20.corrupt Chinese officials and as a result of this it has had tried --
:07:20. > :07:24.tighter government restrictions on the social network. It has
:07:24. > :07:34.struggled with rising costs and figuring out how to make money from
:07:34. > :07:37.
:07:37. > :07:42.This beast behind me, none other than Marco Polo, at 400 metres long
:07:42. > :07:46.and capable of carrying 190,000 tonnes of cargo. It is the largest
:07:46. > :07:50.container ship in the world. At least it was until the end of last
:07:50. > :07:56.year. Its owner is about to take delivery of 20 even bigger ones as
:07:56. > :08:00.part of a global battle for dominance with its rivals.
:08:00. > :08:03.Unfortunately, since they order these mega ships, trade between
:08:03. > :08:09.Asia and Europe has slumped significantly and the company is
:08:09. > :08:16.set to report a steep fall in profits.
:08:16. > :08:20.Size matters to the shipping country -- company. Built in Korea
:08:20. > :08:25.and wider than a motorway, it is the first of 20 such ships in the
:08:25. > :08:32.making. On board there is room for 2000 more big boxes than on the
:08:32. > :08:36.market power. The company is leading what amounts to an industry
:08:36. > :08:41.arms race, going large for fuel and operational savings to give them a
:08:41. > :08:45.profitable edge on Asia to Europe routes. Unfortunately for the
:08:45. > :08:51.company, Chinese and other competitors are also ordering 100
:08:51. > :08:55.or more similar made the vessels. Industry watchers say it placed its
:08:55. > :08:58.order in busier, more profitable times. The ships are the future,
:08:58. > :09:03.but only if you can fill them. Everybody thought that they would
:09:03. > :09:08.get bigger ships and they are much more economical to run if you fill
:09:08. > :09:11.them up. People attending to discard smaller ships. These new
:09:12. > :09:17.vessels are designed to steam slowly. They are therefore much
:09:17. > :09:21.more productive in terms of fuel consumption. There is definitely an
:09:21. > :09:24.overcapacity in the market. There is probably no better than here in
:09:24. > :09:29.the UK on the Essex coast, where they are readying these deep-water
:09:29. > :09:35.dock sides to handle up to six of these fast vessels. Then there will
:09:35. > :09:39.be off to do all the handling and logistics nearer to the capital.
:09:39. > :09:44.The theory is that those operators who do not have these economies of
:09:44. > :09:48.scale may suffer as a result. is changing because of the world
:09:48. > :09:53.economy over the last few years is a need to take costs out of the
:09:53. > :10:03.supply chain. The shipping lines sight of their ships to get better
:10:03. > :10:10.economies of scale. There is a huge amount of cost him cargo shipping.
:10:10. > :10:14.Is what London Gateway is going to get right. So now operators like
:10:14. > :10:20.must somehow have to find the cargoes to feel these new ships and
:10:20. > :10:25.try and resist cutting harder rates. But a late -- the payload of just
:10:25. > :10:30.one vessel would fill all of Times Square in New York.
:10:31. > :10:34.Asian markets are certainly thin in Friday trade due to a lot of
:10:34. > :10:42.markets actually being closed for the holidays, including Hong Kong