this is business live from bbc news, with sally bundock and maryam moshiri. the netflix binge continues. profits and subscriber numbers grow again for the streaming giant. so when will the competition hamper its rise? live from london, that's our top story on tuesday 17th april. more people are paying more money to watch their favourite shows and it means netflix can chill as its share price keeps on rising. but for how long will it last? we get an expert view. also in the programme.... china's economy beats expectations. consumer spending helps it grow 6.8% in the first three months of this year. we'll be live to shanghai for the latest. and markets trading in europe are nonplussed as investors switch their focus to corporate earnings. and making your salary stretch further — we'll be talking

to the company teamed up with employers to help make borrowing more affordable, with repayments coming straight from your paycheck. and as netflix subscriber numbers beat expectations, we want to know — are you a fan? what are you watching? let us know. just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. a very warm welcome to the programme, send us a very warm welcome to the programme, send us your comments about netflix. it continues to change the way we watch television, documentaries and movies, with more and more others tuning into their content. the american company now has 125 million subscribers around the world paying to watch shows such as stranger things, the crown and narcos. although its $290 million profit in the first three months of the year is relatively small,

it's the revenue growth that's really impressive, up 40% to $3.7 billion. but the number which will really cheer investors is this — quarterly subscription growth. netflix added another 7.4 million viewers in the first three months of 2018. and all that positive momentum can be seen in the share price, which has more than doubled injust the past year. look at it rockets! it's up another 5% in after—hours trading. that is after it released its earnings update on monday. tom harrington is a senior analyst with the media research firm enders analysis. excuse me, tom. we have seen netflix continue to beat expectations every

time. what is it about netflix that is helping push growth? is it the fa ct is helping push growth? is it the fact it is investing so much into original programming and people like that? that is one of the reasons and that? that is one of the reasons and thatis that? that is one of the reasons and that is what they concentrate on. it is the most newsworthy and interesting part in terms of investment. what is probably the major driver is that they are at the forefront, ahead of the curve and the competition in the market of internet television, which is growing and is being adopted and accepted growing and is being adopted and a cce pted by growing and is being adopted and accepted by a growing amount of people and cohorts in different demographics, whereas previously it was not. who do you think netflix needs to worry about? amazon is getting there? what about apple pushing into the market? that is the one everyone is talking about, there arei.3 one everyone is talking about, there are 1.3 billion active devices around the world, they can push content around the world, they can push co nte nt o nto around the world, they can push content onto it just like around the world, they can push content onto itjust like that. people are commissioning, jb holmes

from channel 4, the creative leader overnight, she is commissioning hard. it very interesting space, she is looking at public service type programming. ——jay hunt from channel 4. they do not want to sully the apple brand with risque adult content. wearers netflix is happy for that! there is a big difference between the us and european markets, which it is doing well in already, and other global markets where it would like to do better but its hands are tied in terms of the programming that is desired? television is a very localised medium, if you look at any sort of market, what is most popular is locally produced, locally directed content. what is a netflix is mostly american, which only works for some people some of the time. for them to really hit outside the anglo sphere they have to create and buy local content, which will be very expensive because it cannot be pushed out internationally. where do

you think the growth and money will come from in the future? by more subscribers or putting out prices, those are the two microwaves. there was a little bit of a churn last time they put up prices? they put it up time they put up prices? they put it upfor time they put up prices? they put it up for the last time at the end of last year, it was resilient. they probably have a bit more leeway. one these competitors such as apple and amazon get their act together, maybe it will be a bit harder. good to talk to you, tom. thank you very much. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. chinese telecoms equipment maker zte has suspended its shares in hong kong and shenzhen. it follows the uk's cyber defence watching confirming it had blacklisted the state—owned company amid national security concerns. meanwhile, the us government has banned us companies from doing any business with zte. the company says its assessing its options. -- it is —— it is assessing its options. facebook is facing a class action lawsuit over its use of facial recognition technology.

the ruling in california gives the go—ahead to a lawsuit alleging that the function which offers suggestions about who is in photos, amounts to unauthorised data collection. facebook says the case had no merit and it would fight it vigorously. tesla has temporarily halted production of its model 3 car. the company says it is a planned suspension despite reports that it was unplanned. the company has struggled to reach its production targets for the car, which is billed as its more affordable option. last week, the boss, elon musk, acknowledged problems with the automation of the production line. the world's second biggest economy, china, is continuing to grow — despite the looming prospect of a trade war with america. growth came in at 6.8% in the first three months of this year. robin brant is in shanghai. robin, that is slightly ahead of the

chinese government target, as it were. tell us more about how china is doing? the overall target the 2018 6.5%, marking a continued growth but a decelerating rate of the chinese economy. 6.8 is what we got in the back of the 2017, yet again very consistent. in these figures we see for instance on the retail sales side that ticking upjust on the retail sales side that ticking up just about 10% for the first three months, that seems to suggest that the government ‘s plasma desire to see the economy here move towards one driven very much by consumer demand continues to be on track. online retail sales continue to explode, up 35%. that sector doubled in size every two to three years. much of this growth came from the industrial side, we saw a bit of an uptake in the first three months thanks to the ending of some tougher environmental regulations at the end of last year.

—— we saw a bit of an uptick. there isa —— we saw a bit of an uptick. there is a resurgent global economy which is a resurgent global economy which is good for china, but part of the shift in the model is to move away from being an export led economy and one driven by investment from the government in terms of its top down spending. if we look towards the us and china in this brewing trade dispute between the two countries, the exposure in terms of exports could become an acute problem for china if things were to get worse between beijing and the white house. markets in asia died testing bad news which came in the middle of the trading session. —— digesting the news. it was quite a mixed session. here is the dow the night before, this is how things are going in europe. earnings is very much on the minds of traders. we have heard from various companies in london. the

retailerjd sports, its shares up 6% on annual profits, surging by a quarter. we had not so good news from associated british foods. the pound is going up again today, the pound at its highest since the uk vote to leave the european union. £1 buying new around $1.44 at the moment, it isa new around $1.44 at the moment, it is a lot about dollar weakness, the dollar is very weak, concerns about syria and trade wars, the pound is attractive with the thought that interest rates will go up in the uk. and joe miller has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. on tuesday we will get more news on the big beasts of us banking as goldman sachs announces first—quarter results. the finance giant is expected to follow bank of america, jp morgan and wells fargo by reporting an increase in profit. its trading business should have benefited from recent market volatility which tends to prompt investors to move their assets around, and the likes of goldman get a nice cut for each transaction. elsewhere ibm is forecast to report higher revenue once again after posting its first revenue growth in nearly six years in the last quarter.

and the ageing tech firm is in the midst of shifting its focus away from hardware and towards businesses such as cloud computing and data analytics. and the cherry on the cake should be provided byjohnson & johnson, which is also expected to report higher first—quarter profit, led by cancer drugs sales and lower costs. that was joe miller from that wasjoe miller from new that was joe miller from new york. joining us is chrisjustham at 7 investment management. good morning. we are looking ahead to various economic data, in particular ukjobs to various economic data, in particular uk jobs figures. but the earnings in those figures are what investors will be watching very closely? exactly, the labour market is expected to continue to tighten, putting pressure on earnings. in english, that means that for a while earnings have lagged behind

inflation, the price of goods is rising but you are not earning money that keeps up with that, meaning the poundin that keeps up with that, meaning the pound in your pocket is not going as far. inflation tomorrow is expected to come out at around 2.7%, earnings are expected to come in at 2.8%, excluding bonuses, and including bonuses at 3%. for the first time in about a year earnings should outpace inflation, which should ease some pressure on households. why is that? more and more jobs pressure on households. why is that? more and morejobs keeping added, from an appointment point of view. if that happens there is less capacity in the workforce, which puts pressure on employers, because they want to retain talent. from an inflation perspective and why that has come off slightly, it is the pound, after the referendum we know we can dramatically... the pound is trading atjust we can dramatically... the pound is trading at just below we can dramatically... the pound is trading atjust below 1.44, a post—referendum hype. part of the

reason inflation was ticking up is because of pressure on the pound meaning we were importing inflation, essentially. if people are paying more for their products because the pound is weaker, it means they will have to protect the profit margins by increasing the price of goods, which impacts on the inflation headline. where does this leave the bank of england in terms of deciding on the cost of borrowing? the trajectory looks like it will go upwards. may seems to be the date everybody is touting. all eyes will be on the bank of england monetary policy committee over the next few days. growth numbers out from china, no alarm bells ringing as such, retail sales climbing, growth 6.8%, give is your take? you had to take the figures with a pinch of salt to a degree, they have been implausibly sta ble degree, they have been implausibly stable over last few years. at the investment in infrastructure and housing, whilst it boys the numbers to some degree, it cannot go on forever and there is a huge amount of excess capacity where housing is concerned, to a degree you are putting off any problem today for further down the line. the housing

market has cooled and if people are not living in those houses, you have thousands and thousands of square that available that nobody wants, that available that nobody wants, that could potentially be an issue later. thank you, chris, you will be back later to look at more stories. including his take on netflix and his favourite programmes. keep yours coming in. still to come... and making your salary stretch further. we'll be talking to the company teaming up with employers to help make borrowing more affordable. you're with business live from bbc news. we have mentioned that lots of companies are out their earnings. primark‘s interim results are out today — with a resilient performance despite the recent cold spell hitting trading. but it's not all good news for their parent company associated british foods. james hughes is chief market analyst at axi trader. james, what is your take on the

latest results from associated british foods and primark? always a bit of a mixed bag, it is completely split. this has been the story for quite a long time with associated british foods, we have seen the food side of things, they do tea, sugar, lots of other food brands within that. the food side has not performed that well but the prime clothing side continues to bail the company out, which is what we have seen company out, which is what we have seen here. on the downside it has been a tough time for sugar, that is where we have seen the negativity for associated british foods, profit warnings from other sugar companies, the warm weather has really seen prices for lower in terms of sugar, which has had their business. from a primark point of view it has performed well, but not as well as in the previous year, due to the weather. we have had an unseasonably cold weather in the uk, followed by unseasonably hot weather in october.

hot weather in october, cold weather at the start of spring time, it is really affecting the overall numbers for primark. that is pushing them on the upside. what do you think is the outlook? when it comes to sugar, for example, the sugar tax has been introduced. what do we think for the company looking ahead? it has always been a similar story. while the downside on the food has been there, we have seen the food has been there, we have seen the pig up in terms of the prime arc brand. that had built the company out for a long time. these companies are at historic low prices. the lowest price since 2010 in sugar pricing. that looks set to continue. a lot of other companies have been struggling as well. there isa have been struggling as well. there is a large put on that side of associated foods. it is not like it isa associated foods. it is not like it is a small part of the company. it is a small part of the company. it is just how long can the

is a small part of the company. it isjust how long can the prime is a small part of the company. it is just how long can the prime mark brown and continue to help associated british foods? plenty more on that story on our website. you're watching business live. our top story... profits and subscriber numbers are up at netflix. it would steam —— seen for now there is no stopping them. the world's biggest streaming company now has 125 million viewers worldwide. remember when it hit 100 million? we make a big deal out of that. a quick look at how markets are faring.... in europe we have been trading for a 45 minutes. fairly flat. nothing too dramatic. watch this space. things can change very quickly. yes indeed. the payday loan industry is one of the most controversial branches of the financial services industry. people typically borrow small short term loans at very high interest rates.

detractors say the lenders perpetuate a cycle of poverty. but supporters say they provide emergency cash to people who don't qualify for loans from more mainstream lenders. here in the uk the industry has contracted. back in 2013 was worth more than 2.5 billion. but last year it was thought to be worth around £220 million. this is because of a cap interest rates introduced in 2015 which set the limit at 0.8% per day. previously lenders could charge what they pleased. but criticisms still persist — with the royal society for public health calling payday loans the unhealthiest form of debt. our next guest is the boss of a startup looking to change all that. welcome asesh sarkar, chief excecutive of salaryfinance. explain what you do? we partner with

employers and offer their employees a financial platform. 40% of working people have no savings. we spend what we earn. that means people are susceptible to debt and debt has a high price. practically what we do... we pay off employees' dead for them, we collect a small amount from their pay packet each month to pay that off. we help them save. we save the average person around £600 in interest. if you explain your nanny story, that will illustrate really well how that works. you were working as a consultant before starting this company. you and your wife have two small children. you took on a nanny and she was in a lot of debt. we would pay each month.

high percentage of went on credit ca rd high percentage of went on credit card debt. we paid off her debts for her. she was keeping more of her own money each month. she was better at herjob. we saved a lot of money. she has shifted from someone in debt to someone who saves? exactly. that is how the product works. if they are paying off the debt, we take £100 and put it into a savings account. what do you charge in terms of interest? the average payday loa ns, of interest? the average payday loans, you can get charged 1000% interest. our interest rates range from 7.9% to 9.9%. you work directly with companies. you have to go to my employer. which employers do you work with in the uk? we have half a million employees. organisations

like sainsbury‘s, nhs trusts, schools, professional services companies. is there a danger that you are basically creating a connection between employers and employees in terms of their finances, almost a paternalistic relationship? that is one of the reasons why employees use is. it is a separate offering. it is all confidential. the employer does not know whether the employee is our borrowing. they wouldn't use it u nless borrowing. they wouldn't use it unless they borrowed large amounts? they could use it as a savings product. it is all through our platform. you say you have big clients. you are helping a lot of people right now but you are not profit—making yet. when will that happen, how will it happen and what kind of risk are you taking on? i would imagine some of these people you're taking a huge debts. we are very lucky to have big investors. we

expect the core business to be profitable in the uk mid next year. we launch in the us injune of this year a cross we launch in the us injune of this year across all 50 states. what is yourdream? year across all 50 states. what is your dream ? everybody will year across all 50 states. what is your dream? everybody will be out of debt? our aim is to... in the uk 4096 of people have no savings. we would like to make a huge dent in that. the us, we have set a target of getting 10 million americans out of debt and into savings. thank you forjoining us. your turn hit thank you forjoining us. yourturn hit ——! now here's a business that's really taken off — helicopter pub crawls. they exist in the australian outback, and yes, you really do get from pub to pub by helicopter. tim mcdonald drew the short straw, and went to check them out for us.

i think it'sjust i think it's just a very unique tour. a pub crawl in a helicopter. this is the first stop, indian island outside of darwin. it is not exactly a pub but i don't see anybody complaining. it is a great experience. how can you ever go past a pub crawl in a helicopter? it doesn't get better than that.

i liked the look of that. i'm not sure about helicopters though. we have been asking you about netflix, are big story of the day. they have come with impressive results. the tv streaming service has become more popular. we asked you to tell us if you are a fan of netflix, what you like to watch and how much of it you like to watch. tony says there is a massive range of films old and new. he has just started lost in space. lots of you talking about that today. it is not my bag. talking about that today. it is not . many talking about that today. it is not my bag. many are excited. phil said, i watch the fastest car, it is like top gear. interesting tweets. thank you. what other business stories has the media been taking an interest in? chris justham is joining us again to discuss. we have got this story which i found

really interesting. it is in the daily telegraph. warning us about germany, that the economy could be on the verge of recession. i thought, goodness me. it comes from a macroeconomic policy group. what they are looking at is the fact that some of the macroeconomic data has soft and somewhat. that is not surprised anybody. the reason it has pinpointed germany is because it is a good bellwether for what pinpointed germany is because it is a good bellwetherfor what is pinpointed germany is because it is a good bellwether for what is going on in the global economy. ultimately what they are saying is that the risk of recession has increased by 32%. that is quite a figure. the main reason for that is to three different things. one, the softening macroeconomic data. everything from purchasing management indices to growth generally, the industrial sector in germany, which is a good barometer. but also, what is going

on more broadly, tradejitters between the us and china and the fa ct between the us and china and the fact that generally going forward we are entering uncertain times. the european union was part of the exemption when it came to aluminium and steel tariffs. but for a little period of time, germany was very worried. its biggest export is cars? that's right. if you are a big industrial exporter, you are exposed. they breathed a sigh of relief when donald trump added europe on that list. it shows you how exposed you can be. thank you for coming onto the programme. 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 there. we have got some warm

weather on its way from where hello there. we have got some warm weathéi—‘fo today {fromrwhere hello there. we have got some warm weathzi’ielff today those where siaiengfinin “- 51:53, w w we “term in l we l—a n- la .—.— - -..- 25. towards birmingham, 25. even towards edinburgh and belfast, temperatures 18 or 19. it will feel warm if not very warm. back to today, this area : towards 2.132 . z towards ‘g—e’est is éfifl| the —— into northern

raised —— rain moving into northern england. for scotland and northern ireland, sunny spells and showers in the afternoon. not feeling too bad in the sunshine. in the sunshine in the south—east, not too bad at all. the sunshine mayjust turn a little bit hazy later in the afternoon with some higher level cloud moving in. temperature is 20 or 21 celsius. further north and west temperatures 14, 15, perhaps even 16. feeling quite temp —— pleasant in the sunshine. wednesday we will see increasing sunshine across england and wales. after some cloud and rain across scotland, even that starts to clear away. temperatures really responding. 23 or 24 degrees in the south east into the midlands. across scotla nd south east into the midlands. across scotland and northern ireland, 1417 degrees. —— 14 to 17 degrees. pushing towards france and germany

into the uk. in one direction at this time of the year. thursday, as you can see, no rain to talk about. there is cloud in these coastal areas in the west. plenty of sunshine. 25, 20 6 degrees. even further north, 16, 17, 18. temperatures way above average for the time of the year, which is probably quite welcome after the long winter we have had. bayern. —— bye—bye. hello, it's tuesday, it's nine o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. our top story today... a second emergency debate will be held in the commons — today it's about parliament's role in approving future military action. mr speaker, this statement serves as a reminder that the prime minister is accountable to this parliament, not to the whims of the us president. meanwhile in syria, attention is now turning to idlib

in the north of the country, which is thought to house 1.5 million displaced syrians. we'll look at the plight of people there. also on the programme... an insight into life in a british brothel — the women here say the choose to work here, are doing it of their own free will, and aren't controlled by anyone else i would say to these women, these feminists, how dare you