this is business live from bbc news with maryam moshiri and sally bundock. share and share alike. apple announces a huge payout to investors as it reports yet another quarter of impressive sales. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday 2nd may. apple defies the critics. the world's most valuable company grows smartphone sales by 14% as consumers flock to the thousand—dollar iphone x. also in the programme.... brinkmanship on the border. senior brexiteers give the uk prime minister an ultimatum on the country's post—eu future. the european markets have opened and it looks a pretty mixed picture with

the london market in as a tiff territory. —— positive territory. and tackling the problem of plastic pollution. we'll be speaking to the boss of a company which helps the world's biggest brands reduce their impact on the environment. today we want to know, as mark zuckerberg announces plans to take on tinder in the online—dating space, would you trust facebook with your love life? let us know, use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. profits have surged at the world's most valuable listed company as consumers continue to splash the cash on apple's most expensive iphone. the firm had revenues ofjust over $61 billion over the past three months — that's a 16% increase on the same period last year. profits reached $13 billion — a 25% increase. apple's business model is very

heavily reliant on the iphone and it managed to selljust over 52 million handsets — that's up byjust under 3%. the total value of iphone sales is up — now at $38 billion — as an increasing number of customers move across to their flagship iphone x, $1,000 it costs. apple may be struggling with a saturated smartphone market, but the company's share price is still up over 40% from the start of last year. following the us government's overhaul of the tax system, the tech giant has announced a $100 billion buyback of shares. joining me now is susan standiford, chief operating 0fficer, zeal network. good to see you. give us your take on these numbers. from your point of view as a technology innovation guru, what do you make of them? the

first thing to note is the reading of the tea leaves before the announcement was not quite spot on. they have continued to put together a remarkable numbers and that speaks to the overall story that apple has had a building great products that consumers love but also have a great ecosystem, all of these things playing on each other and building a very intricate system. and that ecosystem has been important because i know this quarter we have seen iphone sales going up but in previous quarters we have seen the opposite with worries about the fact that it opposite with worries about the fact thatitis opposite with worries about the fact that it is so reliant on the sale of iphones. but now we have all apple services, the other bits and bobs of the company that are helping with that problem. it is remarkable. market leaders like apple are consistently looking at the long game, how to play a number of different products, different revenue streams together with some going up and some going down. the iphone x is a high price point but

they also have the iphone 8. and they also have the iphone 8. and they have multiple other things, media services, content services, all of the things they are doing around wearable technology, which grew 38%. they are finding a lot of different products in the hardware space. and we mentioned that the share price was going up, there was this huge share buy—back of $100 billion and they have increased a dividend, there was a gift for everybody in these results but what about what is coming next for apple? everybody said they have to come up with another big, innovative product, a new iphone success story. you don't necessarily agree?” don't. 70% is on the iphone and they had to continue to build a great product but the innovations coming,

i think some are smaller, some that consumers don't necessarily see. the new screen will play into all of their phones, and they will look at different price points, but the growth in wearable ‘s and other categories are the things that will bake into that ecosystem. and these are the watch, the headphones. the air pods. funky headphones, in my world! it is that kind of thing, and they have been an ok successful sub everybody thought the wash would be a wow everybody thought the wash would be a wow factor but it wasn't. the first one wasn't —— with the watch. but first—generation products in the tech industry don't necessarily do that. i think you will find the trends of the past years, a r and b are, and different wearable things, they are great technology that have not always found the perfect use case “— not always found the perfect use case —— ar and vr. i think that is what you will see as the trend, a

lot of different great products that are finding that wonderful niche. thank you for coming into great to hear your views on apple. ar and vr, augmented reality and virtual reality. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. shares in the owner of snapchat have plunged during after hours trade after it added fewer users than expected and forecast substantially slower revenue growth. shares tumbled more than 16% as an app redesign turned off some users and advertisers. in a surprise move, the ratings agency standard and poors has cut turkey's debt rating further into junk territory. the decision, which was not part of its scheduled reviews, reflected worries about inflation and a sell—off of the turkish lira. the maker of 0reo cookies and toblerone is tasting some sweet profits. mondelez reported sales rose to nearly $7 billion in the first three months of the year, beating analyst estimates. the snacks company is seeing growing demand from latin america and asia. in the uk, senior members of parliament who are supportive

of brexit say a proposed future customs partnership with the eu is riddled with problems. they're demanding that theresa may abandon the arrangement. 0ur assistant political editor is norman smith. a huge amount of pressure yet again on the prime minister. because we are reaching a critical moment in the brexit process, namely what sort of customs arrangements we should have when we leave the eu's customs union. tory brexiteers who so far have stuck by mrs may have now warned that they could withdraw their support for her if she goes for all of the mood alternatives which is a so—called customs partnership under which trade would still carry on with the eu without any customs checks but britain would come in effect, police its own external borders on behalf of the eu. in other words,

external borders on behalf of the eu. in otherwords, we external borders on behalf of the eu. in other words, we would charge ta riffs eu. in other words, we would charge tariffs on goods coming into britain en route to the eu at the eu's level. that has incensed brexiteers because they say that britain would in effect be the eu's tax collector and it would inhibit other countries from having trade deals with us and they think it is so hideously, but that it would end in failure and we would end up remaining inside the customs union. mrs may faces a stark choice. she can either confront those brexiteers or confront the pro—remainers in about you urging the to go for the other option which the to go for the other option which the customs arrangements relying on smart new technology to minimise border controlled but there would be a border, including a board of sorts in northern ireland. —— a border. she faces a critical moment. thank you. let's take a look at the

market. brexit always have an impact on the pound which has been looking a bit weaker lately. the ftse is in positive territory today. we have had some soft that manufacturing data at which means the bank of england rate rise might not be as likely as many people think that the ftse is in positive territory for now. there is a lot going on in the financial markets. joining us is justin urquhart—stewart, director of seven investment management. we have the federal reserve meeting wrap it up, we have mentioned apple but semenya others with news, facebook, snapchat —— so many others. and the takeovers, we had sky and comcast, sainsbury‘s, something is in the air them an air of confidence that you can do these deals. don't they say sell in may and go away?! that is one of those wonderful things, the summer season

with no trading and you come back on the saint leger day in early september but it is rubbish. the global economy will keep on going. we will have more volatility, that is the difference between this year and last year. there was very little last year and the market rising but now more volatility. this is the third longest wool market we have had since the second world war and as we get to the end of it, it gets more volatile. there is a combination of the global doing quite well, the american comic and european recovery beginning to turn the interest rate rising slowly but spectacular corporate figures coming out. but if this is good as it gets? the apple figures are fantastic but you look at where they are making their money and it is notjust products but the apple music and things. and oil prices rising, what is the effect? over 10096 in the last few months. that has a big impact

right the way through the economy. you are coming back shortly to run through the stories in the papers. and keep your comments in, do you trust facebook with your love life? that is our talking point today. still to come... making recycling a reality. we'll be speaking to the boss of one company helping the world's biggest brands cut down on plastic pollution. you're with business live from bbc news. it is extremely busy and this story has dominated this week. customers of tsb remain furious as a second week of account failures rolls on. the bank's bosses, including chief executive paul pester, will be grilled by treasury committee mps later today. the bank has been frantically trying to right problems with scheduled payments and online banking since last week, with one customer claiming his balance had been minus £1.1 million.

extremely stressful. we can talk to kevin peachey, our personalfinance expert. talk us through what issues tsp are still having full speed started with this 48—hour planned shutdown in order to move customer details from their lloyd's system to the system managed by the new owners, spanish bank ‘s abidal. the system managed by the new owners, spanish bank 's abidal. but when it switched back on, there were big problems, people seeing the wrong account details, this man with a -£1.1 wrong account details, this man with a —£1.1 million in his savings account. i have spoken to one bride—to—be who has said she cannot get into her account and has her wedding on saturday, trying to make final payments. people are still —— is still struggling to get onto online banking and onto the app.

there were people struggling in branches because of the computer network so it is a mess and they are struggling to catch up with it. we have said that paul pester will be grilled by a committee of mps today. how will that help customers who are going through turmoil and having difficult practical problems? the mps will want to know exactly how this mess occurred why there were mixed messages. paul sent a tweet at 3:30am last week saying everything was back up and running with it clearly wasn't. they will also look at the compensation payments which could be quite a compper wool pasta isa could be quite a compper wool pasta is a bit of an action man. he does triathlons and serving —— paul pester. i think he will be facing choppy waters from the mps. he will indeed. thank you. take a look at the story on the

business live page about tripling. you're watching business live. our top story: apple is returning another $100 billion to shareholders as solid iphone sales helped revenues rise 16%. the company sold 52.2 million iphones in the three months to march — only a touch below expectations, despite waning global demand for smart phones. apple is still coining it, as they say! let's get the inside track on the problem of plastic pollution. large retailers in england sold 2.1 billion single—use plastic carrier bags during the year from april 2016 to april 2017. imagine if those could be replaced by re—usable bags made from recyclable materials. that was the idea of smruti shreeram. she took over the family business in 2013, and supreme creations is now the world's largest ethical manufacturer of reusable bags

and eco—packaging for retail. the company works with over 50,000 global clients, including topshop, nike, google, tesco and london fashion week. founder smruti sriram joins me now. welcome. you have brought many bags with you. i have indeed. isuppose you find it offensive if people call you find it offensive if people call you a bag lady? sometimes they do, but i am embracing it at the moment. tell us your story, this is a family business and you came on board as the daughter of the boss, that can't have been easy? the business started with my father having a long history in the textile trade. when i graduated in 2008, it was the heart of the recession. i thought i would wa nt of the recession. i thought i would

want a job of the recession. i thought i would wantajob in of the recession. i thought i would want a job in the city, but i asked him very kindly if i could have a few months with him and ten years later, i have remained in the business. he remains very active in the business, he was the founder of the business, he was the founder of the business, he was the founder of the business and i am the chief executive. this is interesting because these bags, they are functional, usable and they help avoid plastic. when did that change happen for functional and usable, avoid plastic. when did that change happen forfunctional and usable, to making them fashionable and cool?” think we have to credit topshop is one of our largest clients in realising this was a real walking billboard for consumers as well as them as a brand. everybody needs a bag and everybody has to carry things around, shopping, items for school, university, work, and topshop were really great at understanding this piece of canvas was a great way of talking about their new product launch or a new store launch or collaboration with a fashion designer. i think we would credit topshop and then our association with london fashion week

and the british fashion council has been rather historic and we are really excited to showcase them here today. your company has been around a very long time and government policy in the uk has had a big impact on the business. it has raised awareness about the issue of single use plastic. has it changed oui’ single use plastic. has it changed our behaviour, especially of the 5p charge when you go shopping? our behaviour, especially of the 5p charge when you go shopping7m our behaviour, especially of the 5p charge when you go shopping? it has, the largest supermarket in the uk, tesco, has reported a drastic shift in the number of single—use bags they are selling at 5p and the number of reusable bags. we are a global business and over 50% of our business is exports and some of the other countries have had a plastic bag ban for a lot longer and they are realising this is a really useful way of promoting their products. i just useful way of promoting their products. ijust want useful way of promoting their products. i just want to ask, useful way of promoting their products. ijust want to ask, where do you make these bags and is brexit going to be a problem for you? our bags are made in an ethical factory in south india where nine out of ten

employees are women and we'd love to tell the story. brexit possibly will have an impact on our business a lot of our trade a lo around fi‘afiflstf " ” ’ " ' a lo around the iii; " ” ’ " ' a lo around the is; " ” m " ' affect us, and in terms union will affect us, and in terms of currency so ze’ m ’ union will affect us, and in terms of currency so the. m ’ union will affect us, and in terms of currency so the rupee ’ already had an impact. so the rupee and the uk sterling is going up and down has had an impact on the cost of our products. what is the price point for these bags? many of the brands we work with, charlotte tilbury, london business school, tesco, bay by the bags and they sell them to their customers or they give them to their customers or they give them away, the majority give them away. to buy these in the supermarket, it is about £4, £5, to buy them wholesale, it is £2, £3. thank you so much forjoining us here. mark zuckerberg is trying to regain trust after the data scandal that has engulfed facebook, by helping us to find love. meaningful relationships, he said.

not hook—ups. at the company's f8 developer conference, he unveiled a new way for users to wipe their facebook history, and he's asking users to trust facebook with even more of their data, as facebook unveiled plans for a dating app iam thinking, i am thinking, in the history is white, how can you research the person you choose? here's our technology correspondent, rory cellan—jones. it had been, confessed facebook‘s founder, an intense year. now, mark zuckerberg had the tricky task of showing that things were about to get better. but first, another apology. what happened with cambridge analytica was a major breach of trust. an app developer took data that people had shared with them and sold it. he promised action was being taken to stop that happening again and there was a new way for users to control how closely they were tracked on facebook.

it's a simple control where you can clear your browsing history, what you've clicked on, the websites you've visited and so on, and we're going to call it clear history. but for all the apologies and promises to do better, the mission to take facebook into ever more areas of people's lives continues. a new dating service was announced, with plenty of privacy baked in, of course. mark zuckerberg had two audiences — the 5,000 developers in the hall worried about their businesses, and the two billion or so facebook users around the world worried about their privacy. let's see what the developers thought. the audience is a little less well attended this year. the applause was pretty tepid. uh, i think people are expecting more, frankly, from facebook than this. the whole world is watching and is really curious as to what he had to say, so i think a lot of it was very pr

but at the same time trying to motivate developers. i know developers have some issues because he closes some things but i guess it's better for the world, since for that i was pleased. but facebook‘s senior team know there is more to be done to rebuild trust. that is the number one thing is important to this company, making sure that the people we are out here to serve ultimately are being served in a way that they are understanding what we're doing. they are ensuring that we are building trust with them when it's all said and done and that is, again, there is nothing i can say right now that is actually going to close that gap, it really is going to be through our actions and take time. these events used to be all about the onward march of technology. now, in less innocent times, facebook is having to prove that it is making our lives better, not worse. rory cellan—jones, bbc news, san jose. we have asked you to get in touch about whether you would turn to facebook to find that meaningful relationship. would you trust facebook with your love life? the figures, 90% say no, 10% say yes. chris says, i choose not to allow zuckerberg and his suited two friends to rummage through my underwear. their timing

in this matter is exceptional. puppy in this matter is exceptional. puppy says, facebook cannot do any worse than my efforts! puppy, puppy! claudia says, if facebook is rubbish at making friends suggestions, i don't want to imagine them pairing people. apparently, facebook already has a dating service called filtered m essa 9 es dating service called filtered messages and it is a disaster! thank you for your messages, if you want to get involved, look at those on twitter when you have time. justin is back, as promised, he was giggling away. the romance of meeting... what are you going to tell your children, you met on facebook? so many couples meet online, it is quite a normal way of meeting. i was waiting for you to confess! happily married with three children, there you go, success! i will stay with alcohol, it worked quite well. that is a story for another day.

let's talk about this brexit story. we heard earlier, we have it on the bbc website, brexiteers send customs ultimatum to theresa may. how concerned are you. some of the conservative mps would like us to believe this could cause business meltdown. it impacts directly on how businesses operate. how'd you operate not just businesses operate. how'd you operate notjust across the board and ireland which is vital, but in terms of everything else we are doing. we are trying to plan our business is 18 months ahead and i don't know what the customs rules are going to be, that is stupid. we need a decision quickly and the best decision is the easiest that has the least amount of control, and this is what southern ireland, the irish republic wants to have. that board issueis republic wants to have. that board issue is not just republic wants to have. that board issue is notjust about lorries going across with items, it is moving across the border the whole time, soa

moving across the border the whole time, so a really retrograde step for business if you make it any harder. what do the city think about this? the city will look for the most pragmatic way, easiest way is best, the more blocks in the way, the more we dislike it. but we cannot make a decision, we have to live with other people's decision. but the softer the brexit, the more the markets like it. that gets reflected in stirling and as you l. manly 'up, : .:,: ,, sf . ;: make‘ 'up, is i ~ if , beg—{39:9 ties s?f~:..:19.9. ==. beg—1311e9 ties s?f~:..:19.9. 1; waited and softer h‘;m;‘ 3! ss, 7, ., 22:2...“ 12:52— 22 22 up. 2.22222; 2‘! 2—2 22 22 up. let's talk 2222222 2‘! —22 22 22 up. let's talk about 2222222 2‘! 2222 22 22 up. let's talk about this means up. let's talk about this other story today about the cayman islands and bermuda, places you might want to put your money, but they have to lift that secrecy over business is based there, new measures. the likes of the british virgin islands, this is a crucial bit of business. they don't want to see that business lost. british virgin islands are suffering from the hurricanes they had last year and if they lose this, that is very difficult. but you can see where it

is going, markets are pushing for more openness and more of these accounts. thank you, it is always great to have you here. thank you very much. 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. we have got some heavy rain around this morning which may be a little bit problematic for your morning commute. that rain will gradually clear away and for many, into the afternoon, it is mostly dry with some sunny spells. there is that area of rain continuing to move its weight yeast. behind it, that air mass is still quite chilly so

chilly day, so temperatures below where they should be. that may linger across the south east into the afternoon. as the rain clears, sunny spells, and some showers in cumbria and scotland and northern ireland and showers could be heavy with some hale and thunder. maximum temperatures struggling, 10—13d and perhaps 14 celsius in the capital. 0vernight, the rain continues to move away and with lengthy clear spells across england and wales, it turns quite chilly. temperatures and norwich down to two celsius. further north and west, the cloud increasing slightly. temperatures not quite as low here, 4—6d. during thursday, it should be a fine and bright start. some sunshine. cloud generally increasing as the day goes on. some outbreaks of rain, showers for the isle of man, northern ireland and scotland. further south and east, despite that cloud, some breaks in

the cloud is to give sunshine. it will be warmer, temperatures up to 70 degrees. warmer still on friday. again, quitea 70 degrees. warmer still on friday. again, quite a bit of cloud. bright sunny spells. but by friday, temperatures into the mid—to—high teams across northern ireland, potentially 20 celsius towards the south east. that is a taster of what is to come for the weekend. the air mass is from the south—west, and it isa mass is from the south—west, and it is a warm air mass with a big area of high pressure keeping things settled. a couple of weather fronts skirting the far north west of the uk, butfor skirting the far north west of the uk, but for most of us over the bank holiday weekend, it is going to warm up, mostly dry with that area of high pressure and increasing amounts of sunshine. saturday, it may still be fairly cloudy, but sunday and into bank holiday monday, more sunshine and temperatures again into

the high teens, to the low 20s. hello, it's wednesday, it's nine o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. this morning, the parents of charlie gard, the 11—month—old who died after his life support was withdrawn against their wishes, tell us exclusively they were sent abusive messages on the day their son passed away. someone texted connie calling him worm food. a rotting, dead corpse. and honestly, it's just too early to write some of them. this is on the day charlie died. you know, it does wind me up because all we were doing, no one loved charlie as much as we did. in an emotional interview, chris gard and connie yates also send a personal message to the mum and dad of alfie evans, and tell us about their plans for ‘charlie's law'. you can watch that interview at 9:15am. also — sex addiction. should the nhs recognise it as an illness?