this is the business briefing, i'm sally bundock. lifting the lid on record—breaking profits, apple sees earnings soar as iphone sales surge. countdown to brexit. how the drinks industry is working to make sure it doesn't suffer a hangover after britain leaves the eu. and on the markets: there is a very mixed picture developing in asia. you can see japan is steady, however, markets in hong kong and in china are being hit extremely hard. concerns about the coronavirus and its impact is affecting financial markets.

apple has exceeded expectations and posted blockbuster results for the last three months of 2019. profits came in at a record breaking $22.2 billion on revenues of almost $92 billion — also a record. there was a time when it was thought we had reached peak iphone. but sales have been resurgent, and accounted for almost two thirds of the company's income in the last quarter. other sectors are becoming increasingly important. services, like apple tv, apple music and apple pay, are contributing an increasing amount to the bottom line. and let's not forget wearables. from a slow start,

the apple watch has become the undisputed market leader among smart watches. charlotte gregson from the consulting agency comatch joins me now. good to see you, charlotte. so an incredible end to the year for apple. i think it is interesting to see a diversification of their portfolio and the opportunities that devices like the smartwatch give in terms of wringing new customers into the apple ecosystem. you know, and that helping drive sales across the portfolio. also things like the portfolio. also things like the airpods, apple tv, they seem to be seeing growth in most areas across apple, and this is what they have been really pushing for, isn't it? they have been very concerned, as have others, about the fact that the iphone has really dominated, and yet sales were falling. they didn't have other

things going on, et cetera. there was a worry for awhile. yes, i think so, and even with respect to the iphone, i think we are yet to see the impact of the sg rollout. i think the infrastructure globally is not yet in place to fully see the impact around that yet, and on the services side of things, and the wearables, i think it is an increasingly interesting space for them to be operating in. in terms of what is ahead, tim cook has warned about the coronavirus in china, the impact it will have on future earnings for apple moving forward. what do you think about that warning? forward. what do you think about that warning ?|i forward. what do you think about that warning? i mean, i think the way they have positioned it is appropriate in terms of thinking through the potential risks. you know, he made comments in the briefing last night around the potential impact on their supply chain. i believe they have alternative

suppliers in place, given the ones that were operating in the wuhan area. i think it will be interesting seeing the impact on their retail stores, in terms of... it is quite interesting, i put a message out to viewers this morning saying are you an apple fan, are you a customer, what do you make of apple? and so many came back and said what about taxes? are they paying taxes on all that money, and if so where? someone saying what about those who help apple build these phones in china, are they being treated well? lots of questions about apple still. yes, i mean, my understanding is they have made donations to support the families that have been affected in the province, and i am sure they are not the only company that are making efforts to support initiatives in area. and in terms of negativity about tax, and that kind of thing, that won't go away quickly, willet, briefly? know, but with any of these sort of large, global dominant corporate, that is something will factor into their fat four planning, iam

will factor into their fat four planning, i am sure —— into their planning, i am sure. —— will it, briefly. now let's talk about coronavirus in china. the us has dramatically expanded the number of airports monitoring arriving passengers for the virus, and hong kong has also stepped up measures to defend against the outbreak. rico hizon is in singapore. good to see you. now, markets are good to see you. now, markets a re really good to see you. now, markets are really taking this badly, as well, aren't they? markets in hong kong and china under a lot of pressure today. that's right, many governments now are taking stringent measures such as the trump administration, it is expanding screening for the virus from five to 20 us airports, sally. the government has also advised americans to avoid all non—essential travel to china, expanding its travel warning from the city of wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, to the entire country. the white house has also advised

airlines that restrictions could impact flights into and out of china, as well as airports across the us, while in the uk, we have the foreign 0ffice banning all but essential travel to china. hong kong, meanwhile, has announced plans to cut cross—border travel between the city and mainland china. you have high—speed trains and ferries across the border will be suspended from thursday. in addition, flights to mainland china will be cut in half, and people will also no longer be able to receive to visit hong kong from the mainland. thanks a lot for the latest there from rico. now let's brief you on some other business stories: deutsche bank is delaying pay rises for staff until april. salary boosts normally happen at the start of the year. the company has been working to cut costs after posting big losses. it is restructuring its operation and cutting 18,000 jobs. us authorities are suing five companies, alleging they were behind hundreds of millions of fraudulent robocalls that scammed

vulnerable and elderly americans. the justice department says the calls led to massive financial losses, and is also seeking restraining orders against the firms. the us budget deficit will exceed $1 trillion in 2020, according to a report by the congressional budget 0ffice. this would be the highest level since 2012. the report also forecast us economic growth would hit 2.2% this year. the food and drink sector is the uk's biggest manufacturing industry, with exports to the eu worth more than those to the rest of the world put together. but the big question is, just what sort of tariffs could companies face once britain leaves the eu? sarahjohn runs craft beer maker boss brewing in swansea. let's hear how she is preparing for brexit day, which comes on friday this week.

hi, i'm sarahjohn, the director of boss brewery. let me show you the main brewhouse. we start up here where all of the grain, the barley, oats and wheat, are mixed into a porridge—like substance. it is boiled and we add in the hops, for aroma, flavour and bitterness. we have a range of six beers in our core range, a range of styles — stout, ipa, pale ale, lager. at the moment we're working on a strawberry milkshake ipa. we are based in swansea, 52% voted to leave,

i am for remain, for business reasons. the best outcome now it is decided is what should be followed, uncertainty is never good for business. we can do about a50 bottles an hour, and when it's busy, about 4,000 bottles a day. i've got my own character, my daughter has, and we use that in the branding. so yes, this is the packaging stage. beer is labelled, shrink—wrapped in trays. we export to europe, and using france as an example, last week they asked us, what will happen? they're a bit concerned about taxes and duties. how will the price change? 0ur answer is we don't know, because the trade agreement hasn't been fleshed out. so that is the uncertainty they are concerned about. some of our hard—working eu workers have decided to go back, they're worried about their future. interesting how everyone is trying to get ready for this big event which is taking place on friday, at the end of this week. let's look at financial markets

and give you a sense of how things are faring in asia. hong kong down just over things are faring in asia. hong kong downjust over 2%, seeing further losses earlier today, down 2.5. looking at the main markets in mainland china, they are all down around 3% or more. this is as investors try and assess what the dangers are of the spreading coronavirus in the spreading coronavirus in the region. let's have a look at the next board, which will show you how things ended the night before in the united states. you can see a bit of a bounceback for wall street, the dow up on the nasdaq —weighted index up by nearly 1.5%. we will see how apple shares trade when wall street reopens. it will be interesting to see. that is your business briefing. government advisors on immigration have recommended reducing the minimum salary required for skilled workers

to be able to come to the uk. it is hoped that, after brexit, more teachers and nhs staff could be recruited. mark easton reports. a british patrol boat that preparing to defend the uk border in dover, as government advisers tell ministers they need to make some hard choices on who can come here after brexit. migration advisory committee describes home office plans for an australian style points system as a sound bite rather than a policy, and warn there are some unavoidable and difficult trade—offs ahead. there are some unavoidable and difficult trade-offs ahead. any changes to who is allowed or not allowed to come to the uk is inevitably going to be to the advantage of some sectors and some areas, but to the disadvantage of others. and there's no way to up with a system that pleases absolutely everyone. there you go, surely. 0ne sector that won't be

pleased his social care, with warnings in the report that without migrants, they will be direct pressure from staff shortages. the advisers say the a nswer shortages. the advisers say the answer is to pay british people more, even if that puts the cost of care up. i think we have to be realistic that people working in social care, really important job, they people working in social care, really importantjob, they need to be paid more than they currently are. and that has to be paid for in some way. and i think there is no way to avoid that. the migration advisory committee, recommends, reducing the salary threshold for most migrant workers from £30,000 110w migrant workers from £30,000 now to £25,600. this would help recruit much—needed teachers and health staff. 0verall, immigration would be lower, but the country would be poorer, with gdp or economic growth expected to slow. ministers are being told they need to act quickly so businesses can adapt. here in your, for instance, eu staff and other low—paid backbone of the tourism industry worth £500 million a year. so how should

this city respond ? million a year. so how should this city respond? cutting immigration is not pain—free. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the total number of cases of a new respiratory virus in mainland china has jumped to almost to 6,000, with more than 130 confirmed dead. president trump has unveiled his middle east peace plan, to applause from israel, but condemnation from the palestinians. now it's time to look at a few stories making headlines around the world. we begin with president trump's middle east peace initiative, and two contrasting views. thejerusalem post notes the support for the plan coming from several arab governments, including the united arab emirates. but a paper actually published in the uae, the gulf times, takes the opposite view. its headline leads with the angle that the palestinian leadership rejects mr trump's peace plan. bloomberg examines the economic

impact of the coronavirus affecting parts of china. with stores being closed, flights being cancelled and companies predicting disruption of their supply chains, the financial costs could be severe. the ft leads with the us government's concerns about the british government's decision to approve a role for huawei in its 56 mobile plans. and talking of economic costs, the irish government is to be warned of severe disruption in trade between the uk and ireland, even if a trade deal is agreed in the next phase of the brexit process. that's in the irish times. better news for apple at the business insider site. the company has reported another record quarter in revenue, up 9%. interestingly, it was driven by hardware sales rather than growth in services. and finally, a worrying development for football bosses. angry manchester united fans protested outside the home of the club's executive vice—chairman last night,

causing damage and distress, says the bbc news site. 0bviously obviously you can't see that. that was meant to be bbc sport on the man u story. with me is james hughes, chief market analyst at scope markets. are you fan? no. who do you support? tottenham hotspur. that is allowed. if we look at these side—by—side, it is illustrating a point, isn't it? the historic peace plan president donald trump as announced with the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, and prime minister, benjamin neta nyahu, and yet prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, and yet the palestinians are not on board. not in anyway. the quote from mahmood abbas, the palestinian president, is 1000 noes. the jerusalem—based newspaper here with a list of arab nations who

are supporting