02/11/2015 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with Sally

Europe's largest bank reports a surprise 32% rise in profits,

but what does it mean for the future of HSBC's

And is Fitbit losing the race in the wearable health tech sector?

The competition is gaining ground but will it impact

Also in the programme China adjusts to the "new normal",

we'll have the latest manufacturing data and it's another contraction.

I am afraid the information is going in the wrong direction, once again.

HSBC has just reported its third quarter results and pre-tax

profit was up 32% to $6.1 billion dollars from a year earlier.

The main reason for the rise, reduced costs from fines.

Remember, this is the first update since

substantial cost-saving measures were announced back in June.

And then there's the question of moving the headquarters

Back in April, Britain's largest bank said it would begin a review

of whether or not to stay in the City or move back to Asia.

With me is Gemma Godfrey Investment Director, at Moo.la.

You have looked at the numbers and the report, what do you make of

them? It is interesting that revenues fell because they are so

exposed to the Asian market to. Two thirds of their earnings are

generated in Asia and the plunging stock market there meant it impacted

their topline. The fact that they have done these cost cuttings, their

compliance costs have risen while the rest has fallen has had an

impact on their bottom line. All of those massive hits because of the

barriers come of the inflation issues and so forth, that is getting

less and less, but in terms of the cost savings they announced, none of

that is in these numbers now. When will we start to see that the impact

on the earnings in the future? They only announced in June that they

were going to cut 25,000 jobs, so we are yet to see those follow-through

into the numbers. If we take a step back and look at the banking

industry as a whole, there are three things investors are looking at.

Where's the growth going to from? Because revenues fell HSBC, we are

still uncertain. Secondly, how are they going to cut costs? They have

given the plans and see that through. Thirdly is how

they're going to raise into it. We're not expecting an

announcement this year but looking at

did recently announced that they were going to be moving

their investment banking relations back to Hong Kong and the reason for

that is twofold. Reduced costs but also they want to reduce regulatory

costs and to reduce the tax burden as well.

less of a burden elsewhere, but with the banking moving, it does remove

the impetus to do more of their operations in other areas. For

international viewers, there is a levy imposed by the UK government on

profits made in the UK by banks? It is going to go over in the next few

years. That was a big amount of money going straight to the UK

government. Absolutely and the thing about that is it comes back to being

competitive. The argument of HSBC was, they are being penalized in a

way that other international banks aren't. Thank you. Those of the

numbers of HSBC which is come out in the last half-an-hour. We will be

keeping you up-to-date with how the shares perform in light of this

figures. -- those. Technology has made life easier

in lots of different ways especially for those of you who are

aiming to be healthy and active. Wearable tech keeps track of

activity levels, calorie intake and even sleep - and the most popular

brand on the market is Fitbit. Competitors are creeping in and

in a few hours' time Fitbit will release its latest financial results

which will give us an indication of the company's ability to stay

ahead of the pack. Few electronic gadgets have caught

on with people as fast as Fitbit. These devices help you to track your

fitness eye measuring the number of stairs you have climbed, the

distance you have walked and how much sleep you have had. 20 million

of them are now sold annually. Last June, Fitbit floated its shares in

New York and the price soared from $20 to over $50 but then fell back.

Some investors seem to be having second thoughts about Fitbit's

supposedly positive future. They arrived on the market with a very

good packaged product at the right time. That so many other companies

have now entered the market with similar products packaged in similar

ways and there's come addition from very large organizations such as

major sportswear manufacturers, not to mention the smartwatch and

smartphone manufacturers who have got in on the space as well.

Fitbit's two biggest challenges are a Chinese firm which sells a

cutprice device and Apple which has the fitness monitoring app in its

smartwatch. In summer of last year, Fitbit was still the clear leader of

its field with 30% of the market. Apple had no share of it and neither

had the Chinese version. Now Fitbit has sunk to 24% and Apple has 20%

and the Chinese version has 17%. Does that mean Fitbit is in danger

of being overtaken or can it rely on the name and has established? Fitbit

has become synonymous with fitness trackers in general. When people, to

me and see I am wearing all these different devices, the question is

whether these are my Fitbit devices? So they have become household names

just like Go-Pro has become synonymous with a wearable camera.

The central strategy of Fitbit has been to build enough of a brand

recognition amongst fitness fanatics that it maintains its place in the

wearable technology world. We've had manufacturing data out

of China and it's fallen Sharanjit Leyl is

in our business hub in Sinapore. Tell us more about this. It is

interesting in light of what happened last week and China

desperately trying to, with a plan to reverse this trend -- trying to

determine a plan. You have summed it up. This is the latest government

survey and it is watched very closely. It is a gauge of how the

manufacturing industry is doing in China. It is showing a reading of

49.8 for October. We know any figure below 50 indicates that factory

activity has contracted and that has been several months now. 'S shortly

after the release, a private survey pretty much reiterated this --

shortly. It to the index at 48.3. It is often considered more accurate as

tiny statistics from the government can often be viewed with skepticism

-- it has shown. They are growing at the weakest rate since the financial

crisis and over the summer, we reported a lot about the stock

market slump which impacted many other markets globally and indeed,

the slowdown that was seen in demand generally. In fact, the government

is tried to move away, really, from being an export led economy to being

a consumer services lead one. This has all been an adaptation, at

keeping issue according to many experts -- a teething issue. They

have cut rates five times in the last year. Thank you.

In other news: Chipotle Mexican Grill has temporarily closed 43

restaurants in Washington state and Oregon while authorities

People who ate in six Chipotle restaurants are among 20 cases of E.

The fastfood chain said it was acting with

"an abundance of caution" as most of the 43 outlets were unaffected and

Martin Blessing, chief executive of Commerzbank,

Mr Blessing has been in charge since May 2008 and had been asked

by the bank to stay on but he said it was a good time

Mr Blessing helped Germany's second largest lender recover after

the financial crisis and turned around its financial fortunes.

Markets across Asia have been hit quite hard by the news that was

mentioned recently. Markets in Japan are down around 1.5%. That is all

from the, see you soon. Prime Minister David Cameron has

unveiled new measures to speed up As well as cutting red tape,

councils will be challenged to