this is business live from bbc news with maryam moshiri and alice baxter. the world's biggest bricks and mortar retailer, walmart, has been spending big but will it put a dent in the firm's latest profits? live from london, that's our top story on thursday 16th august. walmart has invested billions in e—commerce as the retailer takes on internet giants like amazon and google. also in the programme: uber narrows its losses but is still spending millions a day. so can the popular ride—hailing firm break even before going public? and a better start to the day for european markets today. and a better start to the day for european markets today. and we're often told the future will be electric

but could it be hydrogen fuelled? one company certainly hopes so as it takes its state of the art buses to asia. as madonna turns 60, and reigns as the highest paid female artist in the us, we want to know what's your favourite madonna hit? and is she still the queen of pop? let us know. just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. i can't believe madonna is 60 years old! she looks younger than me! my favourite record is get into the groove. i am showing my age! welcome to the programme. we start with a look at the world's biggest bricks and mortar retailer. walmart will release its latest numbers in a few hours. the retail giant has been splashing the cash buying up big and is warning the spending spree may have eaten into profits. in may, walmart announced it would pay $16 billion for a 77%

stake in india's biggest online retail company flipka rt, allowing it to go head—to—head with amazon in the lucrative indian market. the company has also been heavily investing in e—commerce projects. walmart predicts 40% increase in e—commerce investment by the end of next year. but it looks like all the recent spending has weighed on walmart‘s share price. after rising by about half in 2017, the firm's shares have dropped more than 10% so far this year. maureen hinton, group retail research director at globaldata, is here. thank you for coming in. as we were just explaining, walmart has been going on a spending spree. are we expecting today's numbers when they come out to be affected by that?” think their profits will be affected by it and they have been already. they are looking to the long term so it is good they are doing this

investment because they are making the best as applicable to how we shop now. they are looking at emerging markets, where they should be focusing, where there is a lot of potential for the biggest retailer in the world. let's talk about india. as we mentioned, they are spending a huge amount on the acquisition of the e—commerce business flipkart. why is that? they we re business flipkart. why is that? they were up against amazon, which is in india, and looking to expand there. it isa india, and looking to expand there. it is a huge market and a very young market and it is urbanising more. it is becoming more centrally urbanised. there is huge potential for retail there. it was up against amazon who would have liked to have bought flipkart as well. they outbid amazon. it is probably a bit scene for it to go in there but it is get into —— it is good to get in on the ground. it is a difficult market for foreign businesses, india. yes, you usually have to have some kind of investment or partnership to get in there. there is a lot of focus on

there. there is a lot of focus on the e—commerce side of walmart‘s business, and the share price in particular is down in pre—trading hours at the moment. it seems to be hugely affected by it. is that frustrating for the business which is still primarily a traditional bricks and mortar business? yes, i think so. the way we are going to shopin think so. the way we are going to shop in the future, there will still bea shop in the future, there will still be a place for bricks and mortar but it has got to be integrated. it must be frustrating that there is this lack of confidence, i suppose, in some ways. shareholders want to see a return quickly, and that is the problem with being a public company. you want to take longer term investment and it can take a while to bring that back. you taught about the international focus of walmart but we have seen it retreat from certain markets recently while it is clearly concentrating on others. i am thinking of europe in particular. where would you say its main focus is? its main focus is its home market because that is its biggest

market because that is its biggest market and that is fundamentally driving the whole business. it has a partnership with jd .com driving the whole business. it has a partnership withjd .com in china for instance, another huge market. it is looking at those big growth markets for it to grow the business eventually. and pulling out of more difficult markets. europe is very mature and it has been a problem for it. it is pulling back from that and also brazil. we have this potential merger between asda, walmart owned, and sainsbury‘s as well. really good to talk to you. many thanks. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. corona beer owner constellation brands is set to pour some $4 billion into canada's top cannabis producer, canopy growth. last year, the firm injected $200 million into canopy in a deal to produce a non—alcoholic cannabis—based beverage. it wants to capitalise on the growing legalisation of the drug. new zealand's parliament has banned many foreigners from buying existing

homes in the country, a move aimed at making properties more affordable. low interest rates, limited housing stock and immigration have been blamed for driving up prices in recent years. shares in chinese technology giant tencent fell 3% on thursday after it reported a surprise decline in profits due to slower growth in mobile gaming and a drop in pc games. the government also put a stop to the sale of its latest game, monster hunter. beijing says it will send a senior delegation led by its vice commerce minister to the us for trade talks towards the end of august. tensions between the two countries are high after billions worth of tariffs have been imposed by both sides in recent months. monica miller is in our asia business hub. what have you got on this for us?

the chinese ministry of commerce says they are going into these negotiations with a positive attitude and they want to emphasise that the talks were at the invitation of the us. they stopped short of saying that note unilateral trade measures would be accepted. we will see exactly what unfolds. these we re will see exactly what unfolds. these were the first formal discussions since washington slapped tariffs on chinese goods and since then both sides have gone back and forth imposing all kinds of penalties with tens of billions of dollars on each other‘s products. the us has also slapped $200 billion potentially more on chinese products. us officials have several demands but there is one sticking point. they wa nt there is one sticking point. they want chinese companies to end policies that pressure us companies to tra nsfer policies that pressure us companies to transfer their technology. the shares have a downward trend before this news broke, but they are still in the red and perhaps traders are

seeing positive steps for these two companies. let's look at the figures for asian stock. some of them have been trading more to the nikkei which has barely changed since it opened. and there is also the financial turmoil in turkey influencing the dow. there is also the possibility that china and the us could come to a negotiating agreement later in the month after all those trade tensions, which is helping the share prices. and another company that a lot of analysts will be looking at today is uber. the ride—hailing app has narrowed its losses in the three months tojune but will be looking to do better before it goes public. 0ur north america technology reporter dave lee has more. uber is of course a private company which means technically it doesn't have to release its finances to anyone other than its private investors, but the firm is trying to be more transparent, and that is partly because they are planning on

entering the public markets some time in the future. investors in the company are slightly worried that some of the recent troubles for the firm could mean that when it eventually goes public, the value could be considerably lower than where it is now, which is around $70 billion. there is some good news in the latest figures. bookings are up 6% on the last quarter. that means year on year bookings are up by a0%, and that includes bookings for car journeys and also from the food delivery service uber eats. there are still big areas of this business bringing in huge losses, most notably the self driving car programme, which is reportedly getting through around i million every single day. currently not bringing in too much in terms of results. —— from $1 million every single day. and of course a uber car was involved in a fatal crash earlier. it is still seen as an

important part of the business, so you want if saving the money now could put the company at risk further down the line. david lee in san francisco. sonja laud is head of equity at fidelity international. as david was saying, uber are still making losses but the losses have narrowed compared to last year, but is this continual loss—making pattern matter as you big ears towards this much trumpeted and much—publicised situation at the end of 2019? i don't think this is the main area to focus on because there area main area to focus on because there are a lot of ipos. in terms of the ipo, people will be interested in the corporate governance, and whether there is a corporate culture in uber that is sustainable and better than it was when the new ceo took over last year. besides them, it will be around the trajectory of

narrowing losses and profitability, expected profitability, in the various areas. it is not only the driving services, as we have just heard, it is bike sharing, uber eats, the autonomous driving, and there are so many parts of the business that we need to get a grip on and where they are heading and whether they are at least on their way to profitability.” whether they are at least on their way to profitability. i should clarify that when we say ipo it is potentially going public because it is the most highly valued private company at the moment. yes. and let's talk about the markets generally because i was talking about european market is opening in positive territory. what are investors thinking about and what is on their minds? today we have got to put into context what happened over the last couple of days. you mentioned the idea around renewed trade talks between the us and china, which is obviously a positive. at the forefront is another part, which is turkey, which has been on the mind of investors for some time. we have not yet seen

a solution and it is a very interesting game of two very strong man, president erdogan, and president trump, and we will have to see how they resolve that crisis. for the time being it seems that there will be ongoing pressure on there will be ongoing pressure on the lira, although the central banks have tried to step in. and the core issue here is that there is a lot of foreign currency denominated debt in turkey which has got to be serviced by earnings that are in lire and thatis by earnings that are in lire and that is the core of the mismatch. it has been happening around emerging markets but it is exacerbated by the political situation unfolding. slight respite since the qatar investment. thank you. and you will ta ke investment. thank you. and you will take is to the business pages later. —— you will take us through the business pages later. still to come: hopes hinge on hydrogen. 0ne company wants to take hydrogen—fuelled buses to asia and beyond in a bid to drive into the lucrative transport market. you're with business live with maryam and alice from bbc news.

kingfisher, the owner of b&q and screwfix, said sales at b&q were up 3.5% in may, june and july. screwfix up even more at 5.5%. with homebase announcing store closures this week too, does this mean that diy has had its day? thomas slide is a diy retail analyst at mintel. what do these results tell us about the way that people view diy? we had the way that people view diy? we had the beast from east earlier in the year and everyone was talking about doom and gloom. surely the heatwave has improved things? absolutely. what we see from the figures that came out this morning, the first half of the year for kingfisher, it has really been a tale of two quarters. the beast from the east, west and depressing easter, it meant people didn't go out and didn't spend, and sales across all the diy

retailers in that period were very bad. the second quarter has been the polar opposite. we have had incredible weather, extended periods of good weather, which has encouraged people to go to b&q, the garden centres, to do up their homes and spend. the big question is whether the second quarter would be enough to offset the first quarter. we knew it would be better but how much? the answer is possibly not. the figures add b&q was still in negative territory, which says a lot about the longer term problems affecting the diy sector. and what about the numbers outside britain? they are european wide. absolutely. kingfisher has problems in other markets, probably more so in france. the b&q equivalent in france was particularly poor and it has been for a long time and there are a lot of problems in that market. it is almost further down the road than

the uk on that front. but the equivalent of screwfix in france is doing a lot better. the shift from the diy wholesale stores to the trade markets. thank you so much. more on that story and plenty other business stories on our website including the business life page, so do go there if you want to know more about the diy sector and kingfisher. you're watching business live. our top story: walmart, the world's biggest bricks and mortar retailer, is hoping big investments will pay off when it announces results in a few hours. a quick look at how the markets are faring. i forgot to tell you this earlier,

kingfisher, his results we have been talking about, they have bounced back after a difficult time. their share price is down 4% on the london market. cutting the greenhouse gasses that lead to global warming is a top priority for governments around the world. and when it comes to transport there is a big focus on electric cars but that's not the only part of the solution. all together transport is estimated to account for 14% of all the world's greenhouse gas emissions. one way of cutting back is to find alternative fuels. there are now 386,000 electric buses on the world's roads and that's expected to more than triple by 2025. but it's not the only option. london—based ecubes arcola offer hydrogen fuel cells and it's just signed a 25 year deal with the government of south sumatra in indonesia to supply hydrogen—fuelled transport there.

i think ithinki i think i mispronounced that name! with us is richard kemp—harper, co—founder and managing director of... ecubes arcola. your company is all about hydrogen fuelled transport. talk through the benefits of hydrogen. you have got to start with an electric vehicle. the electric vehicle has the same powerframe, much the electric vehicle has the same power frame, much of the same. you are adding some hydrogen tanks and a fuel cell, and the fuel cell takes hydrogen and converts that with air and makes it into electricity. the benefit is that you can carry more energy by weight, particularly, with hydrogen, compared to batteries. so you can go further and carry more. ami you can go further and carry more. am i right in thinking that you see the two working in tandem? electrically smaller, privately owned vehicles and hydrogen from larger vehicles? people will make a choice. there are larger cars as

well. the toyota car has 300 miles and it ranges up to 400 miles, so you can go a long way, so it ranges from a sales vehicle, and someone driving long distances will take a hydrogen car. for commercial vehicles that is really where we see the benefits coming in because you can carry much more. if there are benefits in those terms and it is as clea n benefits in those terms and it is as clean as people say, and i have heard you can drink the water that comes out of the whole process because it is so pure, why aren't people using it? what is holding it back right now? it is early days of the technology in the sense that the products are onlyjust coming to market. the car only arrived in 2016 and we are developing the bus and that will hopefully be on the road in the next few years. there are more coming but it is still developing. the infrastructure is only just developing. the infrastructure is onlyjust emerging. there are 12 public refuelling stations in the uk so far. but there is funding for another ten announced recently. it is all coming. you talk about the

wider infrastructure around it. we know there is growing infrastructure for electric cars. a lot of stations that we see now around the country. and historically haven't there been big problems in terms of transporting hydrogen? how will you ove rco m e transporting hydrogen? how will you overcome both of those stumbling blocks? two things. on the development of the infrastructure, the government and industry initiatives worldwide, germany has plans for 100 by the end of next year, 400 stations in five years, andjapan year, 400 stations in five years, and japan has got a big push for the tokyo 0lympics. they almost wanted to bea tokyo 0lympics. they almost wanted to be a hydrogen 0lympics. california, france, uk, doing things. there are issues around transporting hydrogen balk in cylinders but it has been used as an industrial gas for many years. cylinders but it has been used as an industrial gas for many yearsm cylinders but it has been used as an industrial gas for many years. it is very combustible and can blow up very combustible and can blow up very easily. yes. it is slightly more combustible than cars, but that is just more combustible than cars, but that isjust a more combustible than cars, but that is just a challenge to solve that. what is your background? science or

business? i was originally a scientist. i have done a number of things including working in technology in the charity sector. i spent some time working for the government agency that funds small businesses and technology and that was a real privilege to be influencing things at the national level through funding. why did you give that up to go to a small start—up? and so many of them fail. i guess it is a question of risk and reward. it is much higher risks to work ina reward. it is much higher risks to work in a small start—up. but the rewards of having an impact on doing something exciting, personally i wa nted something exciting, personally i wanted to do really interesting things and work with good people. wanted to do really interesting things and work with good peoplem what is your goalfor things and work with good peoplem what is your goal for the company? what is your realistic vision? we would like to have a significant influence in helping particularly big companies and even countries shift and make the transition to cleaner technologies. we have got our technology focus but we would like to have that influence. we are working with partners in indonesia.

why indonesia? working with partners in indonesia. why indonesia ? why working with partners in indonesia. why indonesia? why have you focused on asia? indonesia, and south sumatra, where we are working with the government, they have a real vision. they are at the forefront of climate change and they are an island nation and they will see this impacts significantly across the country and they are developing. why not make investment clean and green if you are making that investment? they are saying that they want to go for this that they are open to working with us and our partners to make it happen. we wish you the best of luck for the future. richard, many thanks. we asked you to tweet us your thoughts on madonna as the pop star turns 60. the queen of pop. i can't believe it! we'll look through some of those in a moment but first let's take a look at some of her most memorable musical hits. let's party! if you would like, we can do

renditions of the songs. we can sing them for you! la la la! she does look amazing. we can only apologise that you can't hear it. that is me. they have taken my body and put madonna's face on it. did i tell you that? we do that before the show, a bit of limbering! apologies that there are no sound. people who don't like madonna might be thanking the technical gremlins but those who do might be getting them. we asked you to twea k might be getting them. we asked you to tweak and tell us your favourite madonna hits and whether you still think she is the queen of pop, and she is the biggest selling us female artist according to forbes 2017. she

is still a great star. you told us your favourite. i like is still a great star. you told us yourfavourite. i like get is still a great star. you told us your favourite. i like get into the groove, like a prayer. that is one of the most popular online. like a virgin. la bonita. we have had loads of tweets. she is really a phenomenon. what is your favourite? i have two. la bonita. and don't cry for me argentina. i think her evita was fantastic. what is the secret to her enduring appeal? probably her versatility. the songs you have highlighted were polar opposites. and that is probably why she appeals to so many for such a long time. the bbc has created handy charts for people interested and if you scroll

to the bottom and we compare her to other big us selling artists, she is still outselling the likes of celine dion, beyonce, etc. we are talking about three decades of her being in the business. and if you look at beyonce, some of the newer phenomenons, if they are still here in 20 years' time, maybe they will outpace madonna. but it is the versatility. the way she has reinvented her giggle all over again. now let's talk about new zealand. are you a fan of new zealand? zealand. are you a fan of new zealand ? have you zealand. are you a fan of new zealand? have you been? it is beautiful. i have been to australia couple of times but never new zealand. the new zealand government has banned foreigners, australians and singaporeans are exempt, but banned foreigners from owning a residential home in new zealand. the reason is that many more very rich foreigners are buying homes there and according to this news report it is because they want to avoid

nuclear holocaust or a global catastrophe. this is in the ft. and they think new zealand is the best place to do that. it is not necessarily a news story. we have known about this for some time and it is coming back because the government wants to take steps to prevent this. it is something that we have heard from other governments before. new zealand now is very distinct because of the fact that people want to avoid a global disaster. but for others it isjust to park some money. yes. really good to park some money. yes. really good to get your views. thank you, sonia. and thank you for watching the programme. that is it from us. and alice is off on maternity leave now. goodbye and thank you for the memories. see you. goodbye. hello. good morning.

it has been a wet start of the day across central parts of england and wales. that rain is moving to the south and east and as it clears, we will get sunny spells and showers. people will notice the cooler feel. the rain is because of this weather front, moving to the south—east, and behind it the air is coming in from the north west, and much fresher direction. that is making it feel cooler. the rain will move into east anglia and the south—east of england. pretty wet conditions on the roads and heavy rain for a time and behind it we will see clear spells. sunshine developing across much of south—west england, wales, the midlands and northern england. some showers around the isle of man, northern ireland and into scotland and some of them could be heavy and sundry during the afternoon in

between the sunny spells. —— heavy and sundry. the black arrows show where the costs will be. 13 to 14 miles an hourand where the costs will be. 13 to 14 miles an hour and feeling chilly. 16 to 20 degrees. into the evening and overnight rain clears away towards the south—east and we are left with clear spells for much of the night with a little ridge of high pressure is starting to move in. that will move away again as low pressure moves in from the atlantic. through friday, increasing amounts of cloud and rain moving in. look at the detail. the rain eventually moves its way to northern ireland, scotland, north west england and north west wales. the rain picks up again on friday. try and bright in the south—east of england. gusts of wind of up to 35 mph, and even more in northern areas on friday. temperatures 16 to 18. they might come up temperatures 16 to 18. they might come up a temperatures 16 to 18. they might come up a bit in the south—east

compared to today. 23 degrees with sunshine. into the weekend, this area of low pressure. the next tropical storm that will move its way in across the uk, particularly through saturday night and into sunday. saturday should be dry for most of us with sunshine. the cloud increases from the west with some rain and that rain will be with us on sunday. quite changeable weekend with temperatures in the high teens to mid 20s. hello it's thursday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. it's a level results day for hundreds of thousands of you in england, wales and northern ireland. this morning i wake up and see i've got the three as i needed and i'm blown away. i'm still a bit in shock, so i screenshotted the ucas track and that's framed on my wall. congratulations if you got what he needed. if you didn't, don't panic.

we'll be live with some students as they open their results. also meet one of the brainiest toddlers in britain — technically speaking this three year old has a higher iq than stephen hawking. what's 1 + 1? 2. what's 2 + 2? 4. what's 3 + 3? 6. you can meet 0phelia and her parents after 1030 this morning — and they say they are defintiely not pushy parents.