this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and ben bland. google‘s parent company shakes off a massive eu fine to report profits of more than $3 billion. live from london, that's our top story on tuesday, 24thjuly. we are live in london. google‘s results were better than expected but a record fine from europe knocked $5 billion off its profits. we will talk about that. also in the programme... the us—china trade war begins to bite. beijing introduces new measures to boost its economy. and markets look like this... there's a lot to digests. we'll get an expert view on what's moving the numbers, and why. and we'll be getting the inside track on the company that's making big bucks in the online payment industry despite only employing 200 people.

today we want to know... have you been affected by the heatwave that's gripping countries across europe, africa and asia? what impact is it having on your business or where you work? let us know — just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. don't let us know if you pulled a sickie because of the good weather because your boss might be watching. hello and welcome to business live. google‘s parent company has posted better than expected earnings. revenues at alphabet rose by 26% to hit almost $33 billion for the second quarter of the year. that's been driven by strong advertising demand and the news led to the company's shares soaring in after—hours trade. it comes just days after google was handed a record fine by the eu for abusing its market position. alphabet chose to include the $5 billion fine in its latest results.

it's got 90 days to comply with demands for change or face further penalites. the firm has cash reserves of $135 billion and could easily afford to pay the fine, but it says it will appeal the decision. and despite its recent negative press, it's had little impact on shares. in the last month alone, the compa ny‘s shares are up more than 5%. and over the past year, they're up nearly 24%. alex wood, europe editor at forbes, is with us now. how robust does this suggest google‘s search model revenues are? on the face of it, if serving them very well indeed. absolutely. search is still the dominant piece of all

revenue coming from alphabet, the pa rent revenue coming from alphabet, the parent company of google. there's an interesting longer term trend happening, the amount of volume and infa ntry of happening, the amount of volume and infantry of ads is continuing to grow, google is making more money. as we have seen in the online advertising industry, slowly but surely the amount of money google gets from every click on these adverts is slowly declining bit by bit. that's why if you look at these results as a whole, it's an incredible story of diversification. google are moving away from just search and advertising and making more money from the rest of the pie. the other vets, they call it, the other vets arm of the company is taking profits hit. —— other bets. they can afford to do it with the money from the search revenues. it is then future proofing themselves. if search turns out not to be as profitable as it is now in the long run. they have a huge pile of cash they are sitting on, they can afford to make these incredible bets, like

the driverless car business. a lot of these experimentation. what is interesting beyond that, look at businesses like cloud, the hardware they are producing like chromebooks, they are producing like chromebooks, they are producing like chromebooks, they are growing exponentially. mike sta nley they are growing exponentially. mike stanley tech companies looking at blackberry, google seems to be standing the test of time that you like so many tech companies. yet they have so many fines, more than $4 billion, this fine. it doesn't seem to have harmed them even when it has been factored into the results. factored into the results already. they could be potentialfor the european union to go after google even more but it is a blip for what is a giant company. in longer term i think we should be looking very carefully at what the european commission is thinking when it comes to google's dominance. fundamentally, whether you like the fine or not or whether you agree with it, there is an issue longer term, how can a competitor enter the market? how can they get a slice of

such a dominant pie that google has. is that the kind of marketplace we wa nt to is that the kind of marketplace we want to have in europe long term? we we re want to have in europe long term? we were talking early and you said there was quite an interesting omission in alphabet‘s results. there was quite an interesting omission in alphabet's results. on the youtube side, that part of the business is bundled with the search business is bundled with the search business but so far google has been quite cagey about disclosing exactly where the figures are for youtube. if we looked just a year ago with a lot of those scandals around extremism and various advertising on the videos, perhaps there is a good reason why that has been covered up. when we look at the way google, as we say, is future proofing itself, i suppose it fears... not fears, but its concern is to make sure it doesn't go the way of some of those tech giants of the past that seemed once so tech giants of the past that seemed once so unassailable and invincible and they failed to keep up with the times. you are right. alphabet's ceo actually said in his statement that he is investing for the future, unashamedly putting the money into

rnd and building a company that is resilientjust rnd and building a company that is resilient just beyond rnd and building a company that is resilientjust beyond the search business. this is a very interesting company to watch. thank you. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the uk govenment is planning sweeping new powers to scrutinise foreign takeovers on national security grounds. the new measures are expected to see authorities review 50 deals a year. that's compared to the last two years, where just one deal a year was examined on security concerns. nike is raising salaries for about 10% of its 74,000 staff as part of efforts to address concerns over the compa ny‘s working culture. earlier this year, a group of nike's female employees shed light on pay inequality, which resulted in a series of senior resignations. the international monetary fund is warning that inflation in venezuela could hit i,000,000% by the end of this year. it also says that the country's

economic crisis will have an increasing impact on neighbouring nations. it warns that the situation in venezuela is similar to that of germany in 1923 or zimbabwe in the late 2000s. ireland—based pilots are holding a third 24—hour walkout in a disupte with ryanair over pay and conditions. the strike affects 2,500 passengers and comes ahead of a mass walkout by cabin crew planned for tomorrow and friday. there's a lot online. you are looking at this superdry story. shares have tumbled after the co—founder has sold a 6.7% stake for £71 million. he will still own 18.5% of the company. but shares, as a result of that move have fallen. much more on all of the results as

they come through. reporting season well under way. go to the website to find it. the chinese government has promised to be more proactive in helping its economy weather storms such as the fast—developing trade war with the united states. beijing has announced tax cuts worth around $172 billion and a sharp increase in spending on infrastructure, which will rise by more than two thirds to almost $200 billion. let's hearfrom our correspondent, robin brant, in shanghai. it almost seems to be quite an advance move by charmer, given the trade war is only in its early stages —— move by china. trade war is only in its early stages -- move by china. it's a pre—emptive move by the chinese government. remember, this is a country that has grown hugely more wealthy over the past few decades but it is the government and the companies that controls and crucially the banks it controls that

has its hand on the eve of the world's second—biggest economy. trade war coming. hundreds of billions of dollars of exports facing potentially crippling tariff increases from the us but this isn't just about the us trade war. it's about a longer—term trend which has seen a about a longer—term trend which has seen a cooling off in the chinese economy. the days of double get it growth —— double digit growth is long gone. the economy is still growing that the trend of that growth is ticking down. figures for the second quarter saw it down from 6.8% to 6.7%. these measures are also about trying to tackle that long—term trend. the cabinet met yesterday led by the premier and there was a pledge to be more proactive on financial policy. more tax cuts as you talked about and expanding the scope for business preferential policies and better and quicker use of local government financial vehicles. local government and provincial governments have the

ability to raise money and spend it on things like new underground networks, new roads. that is absolutely crucial to power in the economy here. it will also lead to continue concerned, much concern about lgf these —— lgfvs unmedicated parts of raising capital in this country that will continue to cause concern. “— country that will continue to cause concern. —— unregulated parts. country that will continue to cause concern. -- unregulated parts. thank you. we will talk about the numbers in more detail in a moment. alphabet figures boosting market around the world, coming in much better than expected. that is the close on wall street. let me show you what is happening in europe. a bit of optimism about those results. and an expectation about what monetary policy will do. a lot of diverging views on that about who is doing what where and we will talk about that shortly. and paul blake has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. earnings season is in full swing and continues today with a number

of companies expected to announce a rise in profits. key among them are verizon and at&t, but wall street will not just be looking for positive data from at&t, they will also have an ear out for any comments on its merger deal with time warner. at&t and time warner closed their blockbuster merger last month after two years of legal wrangling and what became one of the biggest anti—trust cases in decades here in the us. but earlier this month, the us government said it was going to appeal the court loss which allowed the merger to go ahead. now wall street will also have a keen eye on harley—davidson. the iconic american motorcycle maker has found itself in the crossfire of the trump administration's trade disputes. last month, the company said it would be shifting production of motorcycles bound for the european market overseas to avoid tariffs that could cut into the bottom line. into their bottom line. traders will have a keen ear out for any details on how harley plans to make that move. joining us now is mouhammed choukeir, chief investment officer

for kleinwort hambros. good to have you with us. your take on the tech results and alphabet in particular? yet another data point of the resilience of the tech sector and we have seen this over the last couple of years, the so—called fangs they have been performing exceptionally well, facebook, apple, etc. double—digit growth, phenomenal for companies that size. we talk a lot about companies, how hard they can go and what. that rise. and at what cost that rise comes to other businesses and more traditional businesses and more traditional businesses but they seem to be getting it right, they are fundamentally producing a product we wa nt fundamentally producing a product we want and getting money out of it. the question about how high they go brings back memories of the 1990s dot—com bubble. back then, essentially, companies were being valued without any earnings, they we re valued without any earnings, they were loss—making. today, we have just seen with the alphabet salts and other companies, they are

delivering earnings and very strong earnings. —— and other companies. there is still growth in this position. let's look at japan. interesting moves by the bank of japan. this is potentially the end ofan era, japan. this is potentially the end of an era, if you like. the last decade, what we have seen is low interest rates and central banks printing money. in the last couple of years we have seen the us central bank raise rates, the bank of england raising rates and european central bank signal for exit and this is the last major central bank that could be signalling for an exit. should that take place it would be the end of the low interest rate environment. compare that to what is happening to china. we talk to our correspondent in beijing. we talked about them taking pre—emptive action to fend off the trade war. what does that mean in the market? investment in infrastructure and money to be made for business? we have seen the biggest impact in market in the depreciation of the chinese currency, which is offsetting some of the trade tariffs, the currency has depreciated by about eight or 9% and

the tariffs are plus 10%. net, net it is neutral for some chinese exporters. that is the biggest impact, the chinese currency. we will watch it closely, thank you very much. we will talk to us about the papers later. still to come... you probably don't know you're using them, but online transaction companies are used by billions every day. we'll be speaking to a company that's rapidly expanding in the sector. you're with business live from bbc news. britain's busiest airport got even busier in the first half of this year. a record 38.1 million passengers passed through heathrow over the six—month period with revenue reaching more than £1.4 billion. £1 billion was raised from investors to help fund improvements. but an estimated £14 billion will be needed to fund a new runway after mps finally gave heathrow‘s expansion plan clearance for take off. heathrow‘s chief executive, john holland—kayejoins us now.

good morning, nice to see you. your ta ke good morning, nice to see you. your take on these results, tell us a p pa re ntly take on these results, tell us apparently what you are doing right because the numbers are again? an excellent start to the year with lower prices at heathrow, prices down by 1%, better service level than ever before. that leads to more passengers than ever before choosing to use heathrow, a great winning combination. that said, passenger numbers going in the right direction, cargo amounts coming in the right direction, but profits compared to the same period last year are actually down. how do you factor that? how do you explain that? we have invested in the things he would hope we would be investing m, he would hope we would be investing in, more security. we are investing in all passengers a sense of security. better service. you have seen security. better service. you have seen the investment we have been made in wheelchair service for

example. significant improvements there are reported by the caa and in expansion. that is a very big investment for us, we have invested a further £5 million in some of the operational costs of that in the first half of this year. the underlying profitability of the business is very strong, we are a robust and well funded business. we are very well placed to fund £14 billion expansion programme we have ahead of us. briefly, time is tight, we have talked a lot about the expansion on the programme at how confident are you that this will actually happen? mps have acted but ona actually happen? mps have acted but on a scale of one to ten, how likely you will get that extra runway? —— back it. 11. we are confident it will happen. we are delivering. we are investing £160 million in expansion planning this year. we need is a country to get heathrow expansion open for 2026 to connect britain to the growing market of the world. thank you. chief executive of heathrow. plenty more online. more

comments from john on there. go to the website. you will find those stories and plenty of others updated throughout the day. you're watching business live. our top story: google's parent company, alphabet, shakes off a massive eu fine to report profits of more than $3 billion. a quick look at how the markets are faring. this is the picture across the main european markets at the start of the trading day. those results from alphabet creating positive sentiment in stock markets around the world. when you buy something on a website, or order a takeaway or taxi via an app, do you ever think of how the money gets from your bank to the retailer? we might take that for granted, but it's transformed the way we shop. the number of non—cash transactions is set to grow nearly 11% over the next few years. there'll be over 725 billion transactions a year by 2020.

emerging markets are seeing the biggest growth, with over 211 billion of those payments expected to take place in emerging asian markets. well, one business that's cashing in is checkout.com. launched in 2012, it processes online payments on behalf of retailers, including deliveroo, samsung, virgin and adidas. you are wondering who the gentleman here next to us. i am glad you asked. guillaume pousaz is the compa ny‘s founder. welcome to business live. what was it that made you think, "what i really wa nt it that made you think, "what i really want to do is set up an online payment transactions company?" there was no plan for this in the first place. i was surfing in california, failed university and ended up in a job in aid payments company. the numbers were astronomical, nearly ten years ago. —— a payments company. i realise the

opportunity was there. a lot of hard work and that brought me to london andi work and that brought me to london and i started a business here. we talked about the thing that we might ta ke talked about the thing that we might take this for granted, take a few buttons on a website or on our smartphone and you can buy this stuff and the money magically gets there. that is entirely what you do. talk me through what it is you do, how does it work? you order a pizza on deliveroo, somebody has to take the card, encrypted. that is lost. if you are a new buyer we have to make sure you are a goodbye and make checks. we have descended to these and mastercard, whatever payment method you have decided to play with. then we had to say to deliveroo you are a goodbye, you have the money and then deliveroo can ship your pizza within 24 hours they will get money minus the commission. that must happen in the blink ofan commission. that must happen in the blink of an eye? in many seconds. 32nd, that is something on the past -- 30 32nd, that is something on the past —— 30 seconds. 32nd, that is something on the past -- 30 seconds. in terms of profitability, presumably you make such a small fraction on each individual transaction you need a critical mass to make it viable,

worth your while? this is absolutely correct. historically, the legacy players were layering different technologies on top of each other but we got everything from the ground up. this is why we are on the b two ground up. this is why we are on the btwob ground up. this is why we are on the b two b side. fundamentally we are a technology company. removing the layers allows you to optimise the cost, that is a first. the unit economy means you need to grow the business for it to be profitable. competition in this market, we take you for granted but there are other fa ns you for granted but there are other fans who do this. if i am a retailer, deliveroo or adidas, why would they use you rather than somebody else? these retailers are trying to disrupt the status quo, they have tried to reinvent business models. ifully they have tried to reinvent business models. i fully respect the banks, the high street, but the truth is, they tend to do things the old way. we have taken a very modern and technical approach to solving the problem. especially going cross borders, selling in 20 countries from one single api, single approach. this has yielded good

results. we started with true tech companies, and! virgin, easy group came to us and to get the same benefits to get the leading change in the way people get commerce today. he recently invested in london in quite a big way. your office space in fitzroy beer in central london. when others are having concerns about the uncertainty around brexit. .. having concerns about the uncertainty around brexit... —— space in fitzroy beer in central london. what made you think london and the uk is still the place to be? london has the best developers as far as we london has the best developers as faras we are london has the best developers as far as we are concerned in europe. we had great success here. there is a lot of experience. when you sat enterprise clients you want the best developers for them and the best technology. —— when you serve. there is no way to take short cuts for enterprise client, i would rather have less developers but good ones and continue in london. we have a license here and we will continue to expand in the uk. we are committed, post—brexit. expand in the uk. we are committed,

post-brexit. it is the ultimate investment. you talk about being in london that you have offices around the world. we were talking early and you said you spend about 300 days per year on the road. that is ten times around the world every single year. how do you do that? how do you cope with that? i run every morning, it is the only way to wake up. copy doesn't work at this point. basically, it is hygiene of like —— coffee doesn't work. you've got to be serious. running in the morning, face time with my kids in the evening. important for me to sleep. at the end of the day, you need to do what your business requires you to do. hong kong to san francisco, nine times in california this year already. it is a lot of travel. do you still find time to serve? u nfortu nately not you still find time to serve? unfortunately not as much as i would like to. i am not surprised. my wife tries to take me on holiday want in a while but i am more attached to my phone. i would a while but i am more attached to my phone. iwould rather a while but i am more attached to my phone. i would rather put the kids first. thank you for seeing us on your world travels. thank you.

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. insight and analysis from our team and editors right around the globe online. we wa nt we want to hear from you. get involved on the bbc‘s business live page. you can find us on twitter and facebook. business live, on tv and online. what you need to know, when you need to know. mouhammed choukeir, chief investment officer at kleinwort hambros, is joining us again to discuss. there's a lot around a lot of different things but let's talk about this tesco story come a big retailer in the uk and parts of asia. they want to take on the likes of aldi and liddell with discounts and they will set up their own discount store. —— and lidl.

and they will set up their own discount store. -- and lidl. tesco advertised on its website forjobs for potential new stores. rather than an official announcement from tesco, they have announced they will do new stores. we don't have much in the way of details in terms of what those stores look like but this is about recapturing market share, which they have lost to aldi and lidl. i spoke to retail consultants recently and they talk about shops trying to create an experience and all these gadgets and gimmicks, really. but what it comes down to is who can offer the best price almost at the closest location to where you are. there's definitely a price war in the supermarket space and that is exactly what we are seeing. the other thing is branding, the big debate is, will tesco go with another brand? if it does, how long will it take to build a reputation because it doesn't happen immediately. dilating the existing brand because tesco has always said we have got you covered on any base, the cheaper tesco value stuff all the cheaper tesco value stuff all the posh stuff, this is a danger of

dying eating it. from a market perspective or investment standpoint thatis perspective or investment standpoint that is what we are waiting to see. —— the is a danger of diluting it. any shop will try to tempt people m, any shop will try to tempt people in, airconditioning. in any shop will try to tempt people in, air conditioning. in this heatwave. we have been asking you how you have been coping with the hot weather and how it affected your spending habits. someone says i am eating fewer take aways, eating out less and cooking more at home in the heatwave, more ice cream. n'djamena says —— benjamin says it is a fortune buying cold coffees pins and krsa kova. fortune buying cold coffees pins and krsakova. keep that coming. there is actually cold weather in east africa. good morning, good afternoon from there. thank you for your company. ice cream all about! very nice to see you. that's it from business live today. we'll see you again tomorrow. the heat continues to make the headlines.

yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far in the uk, 33.3 celsius recorded at santom downham in suffolk. temperatures not quite so high today, but parts of southern, central and eastern england could well still exceed 30 celsius. still drawing that warm and humid air up from the south. but further north and west, notice how we've got more yellow colours, something a little bit cooler and fresher here because we have some fronts around. they're fairly weak, but they're generating more in the way of cloud. some showery outbreaks of rain, too, for southern scotland, northern england and into parts of wales. it will tend to fizzle out. cloud thinning and breaking, some spells of sunshine, but still a few showers around in that cloudy zone, switching down into wales, south—west england and also for the far north of scotland. certainly a cooler—feeling day here compared to further south and east where temperatures, as i mentioned, could still exceed 30 celsius. pleasa nt pleasant in the sunshine. 21 in belfast. temperatures down across

northern england and wales compared to yesterday, can't rule out one or two showers. the odd shower. west england. further south and east, the highest temperatures. some places 30 celsius. but any showers will tend to fade away through this evening. clear spells and mainly dry overnight. save for the far north—west of scotland. here, some showery rain could become a little bit more persistent by dawn. but ten or 11 celsius the overnight low here, a cooler and fresher night, but still quite warm and humid further south and east where temperatures in places won't get much lower than 15 or 16 celsius. for most, another dry day with plenty of sunshine. still some showery rain affecting the far north west of scotland but temperatures on the rise again across much of england, wales and northern ireland. 32 celsius the top temperature of east anglia and south—east england. and the very warm, if not hot, and humid day as it will be on thursday across a large swathe of england and wales. some systems out to the west trying to push their way eastwards. very

warm and humid air. as the front month into the warm and humid air, just a chance, as we go into friday, a few thundery showers pushing across, introducing something a little bit fresher for the weekend. some welcome rainfall in places. and then something fresher but mainly dry for the weekend. cooler and fresher for scotland and northern ireland with a chance of showery rain at times. hello, it's tuesday, it's 9am, i'm chloe tilley, welcome to the programme. at least 50 people are feared dead in wildfires burning near athens, as greece faces its worst fire crisis in more than a decade. according to the red cross, 26 bodies were found in the yard of one villa. people have been telling how they've fled the area. translation: thankfully, the sea was there and we went into the sea because the flames were chasing us all the way to the water. we'll keep you updated on this throughout the programme. why are more children

being prescribed anti—depressa nts in england, scotland and northern ireland than three years ago, with the steepest rise among those aged 12 and under? we're talking to a gp and a teenager who's been been on anti—depressants since she was 15. if your child has been prescribed this kind of medication, do get in touch.