this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and ben bland. the oil giant bp doubles its profits in the last quarter. but what does fresh uncertainty over oil prices mean for the company and the sector? live from london, that's our top story on tuesday 30th of october. oil prices hit a four year high during the last quarter — helping bp make bumper profits. those prices have dipped since then. we'll find out what this means for the big oil companies. also in the programme angela merkel says this is her last term as leader of europe's biggest economy. will germany still have the loudest voice in european affairs? we'll keep an eye on the stock

markets for you. european markets building on their rebound from yesterday. asian markets mixed overnight. we'll explain why later. scheduling meetings will friends or colleagues can sometimes be like herding cats — with coordinating everyone‘s diaries proving a logistical nightmare. but could ai be the answer? we'll meet one man who says the answer is yes. and we want to know about how you get your friends or colleagues together — how easy do you find it to arrange get—togethers with friends? any tips for making sure you see each other when everyone has such busy lives? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive hello and welcome to business live. we were talking about this, organising things on a messaging service and then someone throws in a cat meme! we start with the oil giant bp — which revealed its profits more than doubled in the three months

to september — to $3.8 billion. that's in big part due to oil prices rising in the period. taking a look since february — from just over $60 per barrel — to a peak of well over $85 a barrel earlier this month. and although prices have fallen back slightly — it's thought they could surge again. us sanctions against iran come into effect this weekend. iran is the third biggest producer in the oil producers‘ club, opec — and the sanctions are expected to reduce global supplies by about a million barrels per day. sophie kilvert from seven investment management joins us now. bp and shell, companies like that, seen as the darlings of the financial markets because they are the kind of companies that make

money and paid dividends and they are in the pension funds but they'd had a tough time in recent years. is that behind them, is the profits news from bp a sign of better times? i would say never said never, they are very dependent on the price of oil, we've seen the price of oil steadily rise over the last three yea rs steadily rise over the last three years back to the kind of $80 a barrel but there are still threats to that come like the iran sanctions quit we will probably see push oil prices up stop venezuela has problems as well, but bp finding new oil as well, concerns generally about global demand. every time the price rises able finding different ways of getting the energy. we are aware that oil is so finite resource and bubble always be a threat to the big oil companies. also for companies like bp and others they have to think ahead, and variable to make money and invest in the future, being sustainable, looking at a

greener more environmentally friendly future, there is pressure on bp and others to do more research and invest in that area. there are growing environmental concerns, using oil in the same way that we haveis using oil in the same way that we have is unsustainable for the future. we have new ways of finding oil and gas, shale and fracking we are doing at the moment in the uk. but even that isn't necessarily sustainable, we need to look at environmentally friendly ways of sustaining energy, nuclear, solar, wind, that will be the top priority for all companies. in the short-term for all companies. in the short-term for bps profits doubling, higher prices, on the new oil fields, for bps profits doubling, higher prices, on the new oilfields, the future looking bright for now. for bob dudley in the team they are probably celebrating the numbers and they have upped the dividend as well. yes, share prices up 4% today, with shares in bp playing a big part in the ftse 100, good news for in the ftse100, good news for uk investors today. sophie, thank you

for now, you'll be back to talk about the wider market stories and the newspapers as well. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... and staying with the us and china. america has restricted firms from selling parts to a chinese company over national security concerns. the us commerce department said there was a "significant risk" that the chinese company — fujianjinhua — which makes memory chips and devices — could get involved in activities that may hurt us national security. tech giants including amazon, google and facebook will pay tax on their uk revenue from 2020. under plans unveiled in the budget firms will be taxed at a rate of 2% on their uk sales. shares in facebook, amazon and google owner alphabet all closed down following trade in new york. german carmaker volkswagen has reported an 18.6 percent drop in third—quarter adjusted operating profit to $3.99 billion. this has been blamed on weaker vehicle sales and headwinds tied

to the introduction of more stringent anti—pollution rules. earlier this year, the firm saw its earnings hit by a 1 billion euro fine for its cheating around diesel emissions regulations. lots of corporate news out today. among those making the headlines... bhp, the world's biggest mining company, says the global economy could be weaker than expected over the next few years. why? well, it's all to do with trade tensions between china and the us... sarah toms is in our asia business hub in singapore... we've been looking through the results, tell us more. hallo. that's right, the chief commercial officer came out and said john's policy of protecting us trade, that's the

whole america first policy, he says that won't actually ben that the us, in fact it will have a negative impact on both chinese and us growth over the next couple of years. the world's biggest miner said it hasn't seen world's biggest miner said it hasn't seen its own business affected yet but the chief commercial officer of the company says the rising trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies is creating this lose, lose outcome and as you know, the us and china have slapped billions of dollars of tariffs on each other‘s foods and of course on monday, bloomberg came up with a report that the us is preparing to announce a new round of tariffs on all the remaining chinese imports and that would be by early december if talks don't actually fail to ease the stand—off between the countries. it's no wonder really that investors and executives from bhp are rattled. sarah, thank you. let's look at how the markets are

doing. most asian markets rose tuesday as investors were cheered by donald trump's belief the us and china could reach a "great" trade deal. that helped ease concerns over a report he is preparing to lump tariffs on all chinese goods. tokyo closed higher thanks to a weaker yen — that helps japanese exporters. bp shares among the top risers on the ftse 100 after those results. and this is the state of the markets in europe after their opening a short time ago. on the other hand oil prices have dipped, dragged down by concerns that the china—u.s. trade dispute will dent economic growth. also being dragged down by signs of rising global supply despite upcoming sanctions against iran. and kim gittleson has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. and tuesday is an earnings bonanza

on wall street with everyone from coca—cola to mastercard to pfizer said to report earnings. here are two that investors will be paying attention to, the first is general electric, the company has been struggling for some time trying to figure out what its core businesses. it's badly missed its revenue targets a re it's badly missed its revenue targets are several years now so investors will be curious to see what the newly installed chief executive as to say about his plans to turn the company's fortunes around. then after markets close we will get facebook‘s earnings and it's not just investors will get facebook‘s earnings and it's notjust investors but frankly quite a view of us will want an over the company is doing to try and combat the spread of big news in the run—up to next week's midterm elections. kim, part of the team in new york. joining us is sophie kilvert from seven investment management. we've discussed bp, one of the main

stories today, but the european markets closing high yesterday, rebounding, if you will. not the case on wall street? no, certainly not. i think the us at the moment is focused on the trade war, very much focused on the trade war, very much focused on looking at the relationship between the us and china. slightly different in europe, a bit more positive, the uk market up a bit more positive, the uk market up yesterday after the budget, the positive result that philip hammond got to talk about in terms of the uk economy and europe up pretty strongly as well. some of that was on the back of angela merkel resigning, i think some people think she was certainly antigrowth, prudent in terms of her reaction to the economy and maybe a new leader would be more positive. and then looking at the ftse100 in particular, a fairly warm response to the uk budget, the finance minister setting out spending plans for the coming year at great length, one of the longest budgets in recent

history. yes, over an hour he spoke fought yesterday, scattered with plenty of jokes to fought yesterday, scattered with plenty ofjokes to keep everyone entertained! but the interesting things we got out of that was really he was quite positive in the uk economy, i think many of the spot the uk economy was not in great shape at the moment, what was the outcome with brexit next year but he was given some good figures from the office for budget responsibility which help him put together a series of quite positive budget announcement, things like the income tax boundary being raised, what people can earn more money without paying so much tax which should provide a bit of a boost to consumer spending and the opinion and the uk economy and positivity. it's the fiscal windfall it's become known as, but the question is it could all be torn up if there is no deal on brexit. exactly. you did say there would be another budget after brexit, pending on what shape bakes exit takes come next spring but he talked about this double dividend,

to try and keep some of the extreme brexiteers in shape, saying if we get a good deal, some sort of deal may be there will be more money to spend next year. sophie, you are coming back again, working hard for us on coming back again, working hard for us on the programme. we'll get her views on some of the stories this morning. we'll get you a coffee, stand—by! still to come... organising meetings with friends or colleagues — can have you pulling your hair out, what, with everyone having busy diaries. could artificial intelligence help save your sanity? we'll find out after the break. you're with business live from bbc news. if you are watching us in the uk, no breakfor you. chancellor phillip hammond has delivered what's been called the ‘largest giveaway budget since 2010'. after years of austerity, there will be gains for citizens, businesses and public services across the uk. victoria fritz has been in sheffield all morning getting reaction... all the headlines this morning about

austerity coming to an end, this on the yorkshire post, we are in sheffield this morning, talking about what all of this means for you and businesses. i'm joined by a number of guests, vicky pryce, the economist, weeping problems and promised an end to austerity but when? the truth is the economy is growing slowly, productivity in trouble, investment slow in picking up, but the chancellor has done is put some money back in the economy he has been getting through more taxes than he expected to receive, that's good news. in reality, some huge cuts in inter—departmental budgets over a number of years, we'll wait and see what happens in the spending review, he promised next year he would look at this properly from twenty20 we might start seeing an increase in the money the government spends. on day—to—day running of the various departments. i think that would be when austerity will end. in reality of course we have to wait for

brexit. depending on what happens, we will see whether those promises would be able to be kept. richard, very much a holding budget, richard wright from the chambers of commerce, was there in for businesses, is it a business friendly budget? it is, but the devil is in the detail and we will wait until the end of today to really give an impression. some good things in there, picking up the point made by vicki, the investment allowa nce point made by vicki, the investment allowance has to be welcomed, trying to stimulate more investment which, the elephant in the room, brexit coming, probably a good thing, to be honest. some help with retail on the high street, some will argue nodding off, quite important for places like sheffield. you are regenerating the city centre. we are, we have a project called heart of the city which is really rebuilding the city ce ntre which is really rebuilding the city centre in effect. we are trying to look ahead, build it as a mixed usage destination in fact. not all about retail, it's about residential

and business. that's really good. but, you know, at the end of the day, you cannot lose sight of the fa ct day, you cannot lose sight of the fact that people are changing their shopping habits. your're watching business live — our top story... oil giant bp has doubled its profits in the last quarter. it was boosted by a spike in crude prices during that period — although those prices have retreated since then. a quick look at how the markets are faring... bp boosting the ftse100 in london. sure is currently up over 4%. now let's get the inside track on meetings — they can be the curse of business life. people hate them, they loved to hate them. and that's just the taking part — setting them up and fitting them into a busy schedule can be the real pain. that's what our next guest is trying to solve. doodle is an app that's been around since 2007 and claims to change the way we host and

schedule meetings — both professional and social. and now it's about to start using artifical intelligence to take the brain ache out of getting people together. doodle's chief executive officer, gabriele ottino join us now. welcome to the programme and when we we re welcome to the programme and when we were looking at the fact you are here with us today, a young cool millennial has used doodle, for as the middle—aged technophobe, me, has never heard of it and i thought to myself, why do i need this, i managed to get together with people or business arrangements are made through lots of other means like e—mail, we'll talk to each other and it sends a message to your calendar and you say except bandits in your calendar, it's there already, isn't it? e-mail us a great example, we've a lwa ys it? e-mail us a great example, we've always been there, you really get caught up in the e—mail ping—pong that goes along over infinite m essa 9 es that goes along over infinite messages and it's just like,

that goes along over infinite messages and it'sjust like, can that goes along over infinite messages and it's just like, can you do monday afternoon? no, i can't come off what about wednesday morning... you lose track? you lose track and you don't know who can and who can't, what actually fits to your calendar, that's why... how doesn't work, how doesn't stop that ping—pong conversation, that is how we organise meetings? are you available or not? absolutely. how it uses an organiser and those to google. comp, you choose some times that might work for you. and then out of that the options, we create a link that you can share of work e—mail, messaging or whatever you like, people go on our site and vote for the best option and the option that gives most of the vote is the one that is chosen in the end. it's how we organise the office christmas party. you'll get the hang of it. tell us about this artificial

intelligence, that the next age, isn't it, how doesn't that for? absolutely, doodle is totally manual, you just go there and do it by yourself but wouldn't it be great if the software that recommends what options you should actually hand out to your friends and colleagues, or even better automatically matched their calendars and finds the best slot you can meet your friends or colleagues. that is for we are heading and for we already are with the chat bot that lives in the business messenger. the chat. that is living in your system, i dislike your personal assistant, in a way, of sorts, but what it means, i have to keep going to your website, i have to be associated with doodle in some way, is that not off—putting for people who already have what sap orare for people who already have what sap or are perfectly capable with other alternatives that they are using and have heard of and are well—known.

absolutely, that's for we are going to the next step and struggling to integrate with all of these applications. one of the first was the chat bot that lives in slack which is business messaging software and it's their father many of the cool new millennial is do their daily work communication already. and you paying the piece of software and the response you are having the... how would you penetrate audiences in other parts of the world, i note you are huge in switzerland, you are a swiss owned company but outside other areas of europe, asia, the us, china, how do you get into somewhere like china? we haven't addressed china yet, the us is already the biggest market in absolute terms, we have millions of users already in the us but in terms of penetration of the internet population, obviously we are the much lower level than we are in switzerland, but in the uk, it's got

the same penetration as in the us, more or less, and is used by millions of people already. we're used to bully, there's not a country the world, really, for we are not being used, that is a big first step for us. before you joined doodle, before you got involved, what were you doing, were you always working in the tech sector or is this a bit ofa in the tech sector or is this a bit of a change of step for you? yet, no, i've been in digital companies for a long time now, i've been over the last few years, the corporate errant of doodle and had a lot of exposure already in terms of strategy and projects that they did together with doodle and so it was... ura scientist by training. i ama was... ura scientist by training. i am a physicist, i have a masters in six. eight physicist who speaks about six languages, by the way, not that we are intimidated by that at all. but in terms of how you monetise this, the types of ceos

that come in with techno companies that come in with techno companies that are answering all are like's problems but we used to getting this for free, problems but we used to getting this forfree, google, facebook, all these services that the use, we don't pay for, how will make money? we are going to make money, we are making money already with subscriptions on the software, you get additionalfeatures subscriptions on the software, you get additional features to the normal free doodle when you pay a premium and actually, still the biggest part of the business today is advertising but that is going to change over the next year, we are focusing very heavily on the subscription part of the business. dang cute so much for coming in, been great to have you on the programme. doodling is organising a meeting. no, it's social,, for me, doodling destroying. all, literally, sorry, gosh, didn't pick up on that. i'm just a traditionalist at heart! ina

i'm just a traditionalist at heart! in a moment, we go to the business pages but before, a quick reminder how you can get in touch with us. stay up—to—date with all the business news as it happens on the bbc business live page. insight and analysis from our team of editors around the deal and we want to hear from you. get in touch on the web page. you can find us on twitter. and on facebook. business live, on tv and online come off what you need to know. i'm going to need to know then that christmas party is, ben is promising to organise it, it's out there and international television. sophie is back, working you really ha rd sophie is back, working you really hard today. let's talk about angela merkel, you touched on it earlier, a story that she broke at the press conference, markets sort of going up

in europe off the back of what she said, i wonder what she feels about that. i imagine she would have been quite disappointed, chancellor for a long time but stop and a steady pair of hands many would argue in the eurozone at a critical time. she has steadied the ship at the eurozone and driven the european project forward but i think people were concerned, markets might have been concerned, markets might have been concerned that she has been as i said prudent, austerity has been at the heart of what she has done in germany. but may be different leader would be business focused, profit focused on the way she announced, means that it allows her to have a reasonably graceful exit, she probably would not have tried to win a nyway probably would not have tried to win anyway again in 2021. but now at least to that period of uncertainty. and markets generally don't like uncertainty, while markets were up yesterday on the initial news, we'll have to see how they cope with change. and of course the fate of what happens politically in germany has an impact across the continent,

and in europe. it is, and you are right, it tries most of europe. obviously it's a big exporter as well, crucial part of the whole world economy but politically, in europe, incredibly important certainly for the european project. the main daily newspaper or one of the main daily newspapers in germany says her departure leaves germany at a crossroads, on the international stage she is seen as a strong and important leader but domestic league, very weak as it were. the reason she made the announcement yesterday. let's talk about uber, in a landmark court case, rumbling on for some time, will be significant for some time, will be significant for uber and other similar companies that rely on the gig economy. for uber and other similar companies that rely on the gig economym for uber and other similar companies that rely on the gig economy. it has been rumbling on for two years, they we re been rumbling on for two years, they were ruled against two years and they are exhausting every element of they are exhausting every element of the appeals process to try and not change the way they work with there

are not employees but the self—employed people that work is uberand self—employed people that work is uber and deliver their services. you are right, it's fundamental to the way the likes of uber and the like works, there are in use are not employees specifically, they do not get sick pay but they have the right to be flexible about how they work. that suits some people but not others and that's what this comes down to. it's notjust something that affects uber drivers. this will affect the gig economy workers as well. totally, it said the part of the economy. interestingly philip hammond brought it up yesterday in the budget, speaking about self—employed people who work for one company, trying to get those to move onto paye, that increases the tax take the government. we must leave it there, almost a come thank you. we couldn't have done without you, thank you. couldn't have done it without you. as for watching. have a great day. goodbye. hello. a cold and frosty start

across western parts this morning, further east, not been as cold, that's purely because we have this area of low pressure coming from continental europe, wringing more cloud across the eastern areas this morning, eventually some outbreaks of rain across the far east as well. from the satellite you can see the cloud associated with the area of low pressure, towards the west and northern ireland, some cloud here making it quite hazy today, any rain staying out towards the west. that rain continuing across the east, showery rain into the north—east of england, further west, some showers drifting westwards, a dry and bright afternoon across many areas. maximum temperatures 7—11d, feeling chilly across the north sea coast. the rain clearing into the north sea. more rain spreading into western areas of

the uk, keeping temperaturesjust above freezing in northern ireland. elsewhere, apache frost taking us into wednesday morning. temperatures just below freezing in places. during wednesday, quite wet for parts of scotland, through north—west england, wales, the south—west of england, around the isles of scilly, some rain at times for northern ireland before it appears. the further east you are, dry and bright with sunshine, feeling warm compared to today, certainly temperatures between 11-13d. into certainly temperatures between 11—13d. into thursday, another weather system moving northwards across the uk, initially affecting central and eastern areas throughout the day on thursday, the rain pushing away, clearing eastern parts later on thursday, elsewhere, some dry weather, some sunshine across a good part of the uk, maximum temperatures on thursday getting up to between 8—11d. into the end of the week, bad weather system

clearing, a ridge of high pressure for a time on friday before this deep area of low pressure starts to move them later in the day, that could give us some wet and windy weather on friday night into the weekend. actually as friday goes, almost it's dry, bright, lots of sunshine, pretty chilly start to the day with some frost. rain eventually moving into the far south—west of northern ireland, maximum temperatures between 9—12d. the winds increasing with that rain spreading for the weekend. goodbye. hello, it's tuesday, it's nine o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. it's one of the most notorious unsolved murders in living memory — could the mystery of estate agent suzy lamplugh‘s death finally be solved? she disappeared over 30 years ago. today the metropolitan police are searching a property in birmingham in connection with her murder. it's coming to the end of an

investigation, it ends a story then so investigation, it ends a story then so be it, from our point of view and we are removed from the process, but if it puts unaddressed, so be it, thatis if it puts unaddressed, so be it, that is another good end to that story. that is the owner of the property. we'll bring you the story. do uber drivers deserve annual leave and the minimum wage? the firm's in court today to challenge a ruling