this is business live from bbc news with rachel home and sally bundock. europe's biggest bank sees profits take a dramatic dive. hsbc says it's been facing volatile market conditions. live from london, that's our top story on tuesday february 21st. annual profits for hsbc collapsed by more than 60%. our economics editor kamal ahmed will talk us through what this means for the bank — and the sector as a whole. also in the programme... youtube scraps those 30 second ads it's impossible to skip through. good news for viewers, maybe — but what will it mean for the compa ny‘s coffers? and investors are grappling with the latest results from several key companies — we talk you through the good, the bad and the ugly. this is how europe's markets outside

jesting them at the moment. and we'll be meeting the only living person who has invented and been implanted with a medical device to cure their own chronic medical condition. it's called the vibrant soundbridge, and has given geoffrey ball back his hearing. workers in australia's tax office have refused bosses‘ pleas to extend their working day from 4:51pm to 5pm. what could you achieve if you spent an extra nine minutes a day at work? just use the hastag bbc biz live and wherever you are — it is amazing what you can do in a whole nine minutes! send in your comments on that and other stories we are covering today, it is a packed agenda. full year results for banking giant hsbc has come in quite a bit below analysts‘ expectations. pre—tax profit fell 62% from the previous year,

with the bank calling it a period remembered for its largely unexpected economic and political events. the net profit of $7.1 billion compared with $18.87 billion recorded in 2015, and group chairman douglas flint says geopolitical changes contributed to volatile financial market conditions. so what does he mean by that? last year hsbc agreed to pay $1.6 billion dollars to end a class action lawsuit over its involvement in the us sub—prime mortgage scandal during the financial crisis. that is just one element that has been going on. it's also facing pressure to tighten up safeguards against money—laundering. us regulators have said hsbc has made some progress but needs to do more. and all this comes as the bank closes an additional 62 branches in the uk on top of the 55 announced

last year and tries to recover from the reputational damage caused by being found guilty of taking part in an interest rate fixing scheme. that is like many of its peers. rachel, over to you. our economics editor kamal ahmed is with me. thank you for coming in. sally has run through some of the issues, that drop in profits as much larger than expected, but overall, what has been the reaction? overall the share price has come off a little bit, down almost 5%, but lots of that is to do with profit—taking, hsbc shares have gone up by over 50% since the referendum in the uk last summer. since the referendum in the uk last summer. it said it would execute a $1 billion share buy—back. that was a little disappointing to some shareholders who said it would be

around $3 billion, so shares have been a bit softer because of that. it shows two things, firstly it is very ha rd to it shows two things, firstly it is very hard to make money in banking in this low interest rates, low inflation world we still inhabit. secondly, global shots for a global bank, things like brexit, the election victory of donald trump, me that trading tends to slightly softened, revenue is slightly softened, revenue is slightly softened and profits soften slightly. in overall terms, hsbc is robust, it revealed that its capital ratio, its core capital is now above 13%, well above target, so it is a very robust balance sheet. what shareholders want to see is what is hsbc going to do without money, it has been selling assets in dealing with reputational damage that sally spoke about, what would it do to reinvigorate growth and rebuild its business in asia? donald trump

brexit, they were issues the global finance and trade, and perhaps the rising protectionism for a bank like hsbc, a global bank which gets a lot of business from global trade. going forward , of business from global trade. going forward, what impact will it have on the bank? is two thirds of hsbc's profit comes from asia and there is a trade war between and china, which president trump has threatened at least, not gone through with yet but threatens, that could be damaging to trade around the world. hsbc is one of the biggest banks in trading so that could be something on its profits. at the moment there is a sense that this might be the dock before the sunlight, we have these big fiscal boosts possibly coming for america, cutting corporation tax, the release of animal spirits in the us economy, that would be very good for hsbc. what about in terms of who was running the bank in

the future? douglas flint is expected to retire and we do not know who will succeed him, richard gulliver is expected to move on in the next few years? hsbc was always a business promoted from within, it has never had an external chief executive or chairman, some shareholders are pushing for outside blood. no real detail on how that is going, there is a process and douglas flint and stuart gulliver are due to move on. there are 2 megabits candidacy would look at, both portuguese, there is the head of uk and european hsbc and the chief executive of lloyds bank, one of the other big banks in the uk commerce and big candidates. there are not that many people houara chelated in the right way with the right skill set to run a massive global bank. there is only a handful of people, there could be an

internal candidate, it could be external, shareholders are most at —— are more focused on whether bankers going to do stuart gulliver rather than what will happen next. rather than what will happen nextlj am rather than what will happen next.|j am sure you will be putting this on the website? may well be! is that an order?! some other stories, it is an extremely busy day. the world's biggest miner, bhp billiton, reports a near eight—fold rise in underlying first—half net profit to $3.24 billion from $412 million a year earlier. quite a turnaround. and shareholders received a bigger than expected dividend of a0 cents a share, signalling its growing confidence amid a resurgence in commodity prices. good news for intercontinental group shareholders — the hotel group reveals it is to issue a special $400 million dividend for shareholders and an 11% increase in its total dividend. this comes as the uk—listed owner of holiday inn reports a 9.5% increase in underlying profit to $702 million for 2016. and youtube is to scrap unskippable 30—second advertisements from 2018.

google has confirmed that it will focus on formats that work well for both users and advertisers, and says long unskippable adverts on the video—streaming service are seen as a nuisance by many viewers. ican hear i can hear you all cheering as i read that out loud! let's look at what is on the tablet and sticking with hsbc, all those banking stories making the headlines. the plunger natures bc shares, lots of other banks are reporting this week as well. —— the plunge in hsbc shares. we chatted to kamal before we came on air and we talk about how the falls on the ftse, he believes they are more profit—taking, people selling of shares they bought in anticipation ofa shares they bought in anticipation

of a larger buy—back scheme. they announced the share buy—back of $1 billion, they expected it to be larger than that, it has done a previous one of $2.5 billion. as kamal ahmed mentioned, profits are up kamal ahmed mentioned, profits are up 50% since thejune referendum. always lots of layers in these figures. troubled japanese technology giant toshiba wants to raise $8.8 billion from the sale of most or all of its flash chip business. tim mcdonald is in singapore. tell us some more about this story? toshiba's microchips are mostly used on mobiles and tablets and it is one of the conglomerate's most valuable businesses, if reports are accurate they are considering a sell—off of majority stake to raise up to $8 billion, a much bigger slice of the business than the 19.9% they previously said they would sell. why some of the crown jewels? previously said they would sell. why some of the crownjewels? toshiba is trying to plug a big hole in

finances due to a write—off of its us nuclear division. 0ne credit ratings agency said that the rating might be smashed as a result, bad news for investors, said they were not enthusiastic about the sale today. toshiba stocks rose almost 2% in early trading but closed about 1.39% lower. thank you. that is one of the shares on the move in asia, another stock on the move was hsbc, it is listed in hong kong as well as london, its shares in hong kong were head quite badly when the results came out, shares down on the hang seng something like 3.5%. that is ready‘s close for the states, it was president's day on monday so no action on wall street yesterday, they will reopen after a nice long bank holiday weekend. let's look at europe, bhp billiton shares are doing nicely if we can move on to the european markets. and

anglo—american as well came out with results very similar to bhp, a real turnaround, losses last year, big profits this year, commodity prices have been on the way up. in particular, metals. not enough to boost the ftse. hsbc is lower, mining stocks higher, the ftse down by almost 0.4%, the european markets are headed lower. back to rachel. mike amey, managing director and portfolio manager at pimco, joins us now. thank you for coming in. i will bore you with banking, we started with hsbc, lots of the banking stocks are down this morning, on the ftse. lloyds are down 1%, rbs1.3%, ba rclays 1.45%, lloyds are down 1%, rbs1.3%, barclays 1.45%, standard lloyds are down 1%, rbs1.3%, ba rclays 1.45%, standard chartered 296. the banking sector has done very well, posed brexit, a big bounce,

hsbc up 50%, so a bit of nervousness. the other thing that is going on is in the hsbc commentary, basically the amount of money they make on their day—to—day business looks like it is coming in lower than expected. roughly speaking, they take deposits offers and land them on mortgages to us or others, them on mortgages to us or others, the differential between those is how they make money, when interest rates are low, that squeezes profits. is that why did the dens are so profits. is that why did the dens are so important right now, another way of getting money in when interest rates are so low? —— is that why dividends are so important? intercontinental hotels, anglo—american and bhp are saying the dividends are there, they are upping them? we are all looking for ways to get income, frankly, with low interest rates. sustaining the dividend is very important. prices

because people look at other ways. bank deposits, they say they will not get income so if there are other ways to do it safely they will, so the message about keeping the dividend is trying to reinforce that. aside from banking stocks reporting we have minutes from the latest federal reserve meeting coming out on wednesday, what are we looking for? not everybody is at superlow interest rates and staying there, the federal reserve has raised interest rates already and the question is how quickly. they raised rates in december, these minutes will be all about march orjune. 0ur best guess is probablyjune rather than march, if they have a decent couple of months worth of data perhaps marge, rates are going up somewhere, not all bad news. you are coming back to do the papers, see you later. we will find out how much might can do in terms of productivity in nine minutes. he is thinking about that 110w. still to come: using wearable tech to tackle disability. we'll meet the man whose revolutionary hearing implant is helping combat deafness. you're with business live from bbc news. british house—builder galliford try

has just announced a 19% rise in pre—tax profits in its latest half year results. the firm has set new house—building targets of 5000 units per year in 2021. theo leggett has been crunching the numbers. would seem for these kind of house—builders that they are doing extremely well? they are, good times for the house—builders because there is so much demand for residential property in this country. according to the government's house—building white paper, that will continue, so gulliver try is pinning its hopes on that. the press release says they are strengthening their foundations to support strategy for growth, the worst plan of the day, in my opinion, but looking at the three areas of their business, linden homes, probably the most

recognisable brand, their main residential property building on, that has very good rotted margins at the moment, it currently builds around 1500 houses a year and wants to increase that to more than 5000. it also has its partnership and regeneration division working with local authorities to build affordable housing, that is all doing rather well, expanding with reasonable profit margins. there is another area that is business that generates big revenue but poor margins, its infrastructure and construction business. that is wafer thin margins at the moment. the picture overall is very good, reve nu es picture overall is very good, revenues increase profit margins are very good, but that part of the business is looking comparatively weak. it is hard to gauge where things will go next. there are a loft elements that are good and strong. but we were talking to the boss of redrow after that white paper was released. if you read the statement that galliford try put out this

morning, they state we continue to monitor market conditions and consumer confidence closely and are mindful of the uncertainty in the economic environment. who would not be right now? there is so much uncertainty out there. they say as emphasised by the housing white paper, the government remains committed to increasing housing supply. they say the market continues to enjoy good mortgage availability along with low interest rates and the stimulus of help to buy. the outlook seems good for them. they are taking advantage and they are planning to expand. you see how much theo leggett can do in less than nine minutes. we thank you for your time. you're watching business live. our top story: europe's biggest bank sees its annual profits plunge by more than 60%. hsbc says volatile market conditions are to blame. a quick look at how the markets are faring. we have had results from many

companies. take a look at the business live page. it will detail it all for you and also talk you through the various winners and losers. the innovators behind tech companies often have extraordinary stories. but few can match the experience of the next person we're featuring in our week long disability works series. geoffrey ball is the chief technology officer of med—el, which is a global company researching the field of hearing loss and making implantable hearing systems. geoffrey developed hearing loss as a child, but later became frustrated by traditional hearing aids, so searched for an alternative. after completing a biomedical degree, he worked in the field of neuroscience, biomedical and auditory research. this lead him to develop and personally test a middle ear implant, known as the vibrant soundbridge. his situation is unusual because he is both inventor and patient of the medical device aimed at curing a chronic medical condition.

geoffrey ball is chief technology officer at med—el and joins us. good to see you. welcome to the programme. thank you. just tell us the story from the beginning. we do hear of people struggling with hearing loss or profound deafness, but you don't hear of them fixing the problem themselves. it is very unusual. yes, well, i lost my hearing as a toddler. i had a high fever and after that i could no longer hear. i wore hearing aids for a long time. i grew up in silicon valley, california and i got help from special educators and from speech pathologists and i was quite lucky. but hearing aids never worked for me. theyjust made everything louder, but they didn't make everything clearer. so i decided well, i'm going to come up with something i want, an implant that's

going to fix it because you have to going to fix it because you have to go into the ear. i asked my doctors at sta mford go into the ear. i asked my doctors at stamford university when is the implant coming? they said next year. after several years implant coming? they said next year. after several yea rs of implant coming? they said next year. after several years of that, i finally graduated from university andi finally graduated from university and i said maybe i can come to the lab and help you out. so i spent yea rs lab and help you out. so i spent years working in the lab. i didn't have an epiphany. i worked out how to make an implant that would work andi to make an implant that would work and i started the company and that's how we went. in terms of your eureka moment, building that device that worked. for many inventors, that's going to bring a certain level of pleasure and satisfaction, but for you, it wasn't that achievement, it was going to improve your life?m was going to improve your life?m was going to improve your life?m was going to improve my life, but it was going to improve my life, but it was a sense of relief because i built hundreds of devices that didn't work, and to come up with the one that did work was a great day and then, of course, the real challenge happened. this happened in

my garage in silicon valley which is located around the corner from steve jobs' garage who started this fruit company called apple! i hope he did 0k company called apple! i hope he did ok with that! and today, that's probably the last medical device that will come out of a garage like that! just tell us, you created the device. you then had to raise funding to launch it, start a company and then tell us about the day you tried to launch? well, when, first i had to get the device implanted and having your own device implanted and having your own device implanted and having it work was really, like i was so happy and that was great. you could hear things that i never heard before like birds. i never heard wind blowing through the trees, but then we went to launch the product and we did trials in europe and we got approved here and we were doing very well as a company and then we launched the company. i had about 150 employees,

i had my doctors, at a conference in the united states and we launched it on the worst day in history to launch a company which was 11th september 2001. after that, it was really ha rd september 2001. after that, it was really hard for us to even talk about elective implants for people. so, inventors and the leaders in the field of cock lard implants bought my company and moved me to austria andi my company and moved me to austria and i have been working there for 15 yea rs and i have been working there for 15 years and we have tens of thousands people now implanted with the devices and we have a family of hearing products for different types of hearing loss. you talk about how, you know, if somebody has eyesight problems, they go to an optician and there are lots of different options and you would go and a hearing aid was the only option? you've revolutionised that right now?m

was just a revolutionised that right now?m wasjust a hearing aid. i didn't wa nt wasjust a hearing aid. i didn't want those. they don't work very well for all people. hearing aids have got much better. they work well for mild and moderate hearing loss. there are several companies that now sell them. but for what is so cool is today for kids with profound hearing loss and severe hearing loss, they have so many options that i never had. and they have cock lard implants which use lick theatrical stimulation, we have the sound bridge which uses the middle ear and what the positions have done is so amazing, and also we implanted some of our first devices here at st tom's right here in london so it is good to be here. geoffrey, it is fascinating to hear your story. thank you for coming in and tell us about it. i'm really glad that you were determined. it changed thousands of people's lives. geoffrey ball chief medical officer at med-el. you can find out more about the weeks coverage

at bbc. co. uk/disability and on social media search for #disabilityworks. it isa it is a theme we're following. the challenges of disability in the workplace. in a moment we'll take a look through the business pages, but first here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. the business live page is where you can stay ahead with all the day's breaking business news. we will keep you up—to—date with all the latest details, with insight and analysis from the bbc‘s team of editors right around the world. and we want to hear from you, too. get involved on the bbc business live web page: bbc.com/business, on twitter @bbcbusiness and you can find us on facebook at bbc business news. business live on tv and online, whenever you need to know. mike is back. what did you achieve in your nine

minutes? the story is an australian story about one of the government agencies trying to extend the working day at the moment. it finishes at 4.51 and the hope was to get it to 5pm which was, which the employees stuck with 4.51, that extra nine minutes is really what the government was trying to get out of their employees. they were pushing it, saying it would increase productivity. what do you guys think you can do in nine minutes. mason says make a cup of tea. relax. regain used energy. somebody else said they could close a sale in nine minutes. yes! , "just pay them more if you want them to work for it. you get nothing for nothing." they were offering a slight pay rise, but the

nine minutes added up to... five days a year. there are various ways you could do that. you could put it asa you could do that. you could put it as a perk. if you do an extra nine minutes, you get five days off extra holiday! talking about the cost of moving or having americans make the stuff that many are making in factories in asia? there is the challenge with where production is located and trade particularly under the new us presidency and it looks as if this one is about whatever happens, it will be much cheaper to make it in china. we'll keep an eye on that. it is a big issue at the moment. that's it from business live today. there will be more business news throughout the day on the bbc live webpage and on world business report. we'll see you again tomorrow. hello. in some parts of the british

isles monday turned out to be a glorious day. our weather watchers we re glorious day. our weather watchers were out and about capturing the best of it and the temperatures caught the eye as well. widely well on into the teens across the british isles. the reason for those temperatures being so high wasn't just about the sunshine, it was because we were engulfed in a tropical maritime air flow coming up from as the name suggested in the tropics. but by the end of the week, things will turn colder because we will be swapping the tropical maritime airflow for a will be swapping the tropical maritime air flow for a polar maritime air flow for a polar maritime air flow for a polar maritime airflow maritime air flow for a polar maritime air flow and you can see for yourselves what a difference that change in air direction and change in air mass really makes to that feel of the day and those temperatures. that's some way off. let's come back to the here and now. murkyfairagain let's come back to the here and now. murky fair again with that mild, moist south—westerly flooding in across the british isles. dry enough out towards the east in one or two

locations, but through western england, through wales, on into the afternoon, so we willjust enhance the rainfall across the hills of the north—west, a wet afternoon for northern ireland and so too for the greater part of central and western scotland. increasingly windy too across the northern parts with the low pressure beginning to dominate to the north of scotland. that will drive the weather front down and across scotland bringing wet weather down towards the north western hills of england and into wales too. it remains mild across the southern areas further north. a fresher feel to the start of wednesday. and a really windy one too. perhaps disruptively windy because the gusts will be 60mph to 70mph across the north of the mainland. maybe 80mph in one or two of the gusts, up towards the northern isles. a bright blustery day for the northern half of britain. from wednesday and into

thursday, an ever deepening area of low pressure will trundle its way through the heart of the british isles. mild in the south, but it's dragging in cold air on its northern flank and it will convert rain to snowment snow. down to really low levels and throughout it remain stubbornly mild across the south. hello, it's tuesday, it's 9 o'clock. i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. this morning — will huge rises in business rates force shops around the country to close? coco my name is rebecca bishop, i runa coco my name is rebecca bishop, i run a small artisan bakery in suffolk. my business rates arejune to go up by nearly 500% in the next year, which will have serious detrimental effects on my business and other small independents in southwold in southwark. my name is

sheila, i run a fancy dress shop in berkshire, my business rates at you to go up by 64% this year, raising to go up by 64% this year, raising to 250% in —— to go up by 64% this year, raising to 250% in -- 257% to go up by 64% this year, raising to 250% in —— 257% over the next two years, which will have a serious effect on my business and businesses in the area. we will