mark: apple is sore on company sales and has a $70 billion boost to its capital return program. manus: crude numbers --kicking off a major week of earnings as the oil industry grapples with low prices. anna: greece reshuffled its bailout team as the prime minister says negotiations have reached a critical stage. ♪

mark: welcome to countdown. caroline: i'm caroline hyde. mark: we look ahead to the last u.k. gdp release ahead of next week's general election. manus: we are waiting for numbers which is going to be health care and consumer business. there radically -- they radically changed the shape and focus on the $25 million health market. we are waiting for those numbers to come through. organic revenue, we are waiting for, but expecting just over 5 billion euros. let's keep an eye out for those numbers. meantime, there is only one corporate story and that is apple. barn storming numbers all due to the iphone 6 and 6 plus sales.

caroline has the breakdown. caroline: it was a blowout in the second quarter, fiscal second-quarter. they have yet more cash to splash. $70 billion. let's look into the stellar report because profit really did escalate. we saw profit jumped some 33% bringing in $13.6 billion. that beat analyst estimates. sales went up 27%. it would have been even higher if it was not for the strength of the dollar. what a phenomenal amount of money. you break that down that means by the time i finished speaking, they have already made another $1 million. they are making $644 million a day. the upbringing and almost half a million dollars per minute. it is allowing them to bring that money back to the shareholder. $70 billion is the boost they

will be getting in terms of buy back. increasing their share but also boosting their dividend. capital being returned to the shareholder. let's look at the drivers behind these phenomenal numbers because was all about the iphone 6 and 6 plus. sales up 40% if you are looking at the jump, but it was really china outperforming. they don't give us a breakdown in the numbers but we did hear that for the first time ever sales in china beat of those of united states all because of giftgiving that went on in the new year. 71% surge in the sales in china. there was also some good numbers coming from other products. the mac sales up some 10%. they are able to see the other products are flying off the shelves. interestingly, we don't get the numbers for the watch. that comes next quarter. they say at the moment customer response is great. they are working very hard.

let's look at some of the challenges this company faces. you would not think there is any but the dollar strengthen is likely to bring more pressure in the next quarter. they said profit would have been 33% higher. they were up by 27% if the dollar was not so strong money from international sales would have been better. we understand some of the hedging that has been protecting the numbers, they will expire says the cfo. they are likely to see a bit more pressure from the dollar strength. also, the ipad, the tablet, a product they invented and brought into the mac market several years ago. ipod sales are d own. it is the fifth straight quarter of decline we have seen for the ipad sales. tim cook is trying to brush off these issues. he's saying is not being cannibalized.

when you have a much bigger phone with the iphone 6 plus did you really need a tablet? tim cook is saying we will see a return to growth for the tablet for the ipad. we will invest in the product. corporate sales will go up. they bought ibm. their life it is see corporate sales pick up. also, china is not saturated when it comes to the ipad but it is a worry. also, perhaps the watch. limited supplies that they are trying to rectify because demand is outstripping the supply. this is a new category, new type of product. also margins, profitability could be dragged down slightly by the watch because they are less than for your buck and they say the margins could be easing. overall, this is a company on the upward trajectory. we have seen the share prices near record high for the entire quarter.

$773 billion market cap. that is enormous. one of the most valuable companies in the world but carl icahn said he could reach $1 trillion. mark: let's give you breaking news from dutch consumer product companies. phillip's stock is up. 5.3 billion euros. the market estimate was 5.08 billion. language coming from them says it is modest sales growth. i wonder why that cautionary language is being you. used. 2016, the target are in check. growth at 4%. this is a company going to radical transformation which is already setting up to standalone

lighting companies lighting solutions which is the core business. they are on target to sell the business later this year. they say by 2016, by the first half of 2016. the vehicle that they sold off the private equities and received $2.8 billion for that. it will keep a 20% stake in that business. the standalone businesses are good to go. cautionary language, moderate sales for 2016. sticking to the 2016 targets which is all about health and consumer. we are getting older and there is more of us and they want to look after us in much better and much more timely fashion. so just to let you know, the earnings -- the adjusted earnings up $327. million i will million. that is the state of phillips. mark: bp and's on mobile

reporting earnings this week. we will see if the companies continue to get ahead based on oil prices. they are predicting it to make the industry rightpe for takeovers. what are we watching? >> the expectation among investors is that adjusted profit, the metric that is used for bp, would come in and $1.17 billion. it is less than the $3.2 billion they may just a year ago. the average oil price in the first quarter of this year was $53.90. that is 40% down from what it was a year ago. bp focused really on spending. this has been the name of the game for quite a while. they announced they will spend $20 million this year versus $23 million last year. watch out for more on spending

and more on assets. the company announced another $10 billion asset sale program. $4 billion into that. in the downturn, what is interesting to watch is the anomalies. the eccentricities of these companies. let's not forget that you refining. that typically does well. also, an interesting little part of bp has been its trading arm. it has come through to save it in the past. we shall see what they say. do they even break it out this time around? there is plenty of volatility in oil prices. that is bp. there is no question it will be a prophet decline -- profit decline. caroline: ryan different issues at play that has the refining arm. it is eurocentric. ryan: the expectation is $2.17 billion in terms of adjusted earnings.

if you look across all the integrated oil companies, that is the smallest decline year on year of any of them. the expectation is because an of stream business to actually pump more oil than many people were anticipating. angola was a real success. in addition, they are the biggest refiner of the integrated oil companies. it is the biggest chunk of their earnings. they have their own issues like i would watch out for what they have to say about their russian assets. a leadership change, new ceo in place. what is he going to do about russia? it has a big stake in the largest independent gas producer there. watch out for anything like that in the conference call which will be around 3 p.m. all of this really kicking off a big week for earnings. we have shell and exxon. mark: they are both shelving major projects. the whole theme continues in

terms of where they are going to take the risk. ryan: bob dudley says just because we see over the last month an 18% bounce in the oil price i'm not sure anybody really believes that will be sustained. if you are running a big oil company, you have to prepare yourself for lower will prices. -- oil prices. that is the responsible thing to do. caroline: thank you. meanwhile the finance minister in greece is told to take the bench after a reshuffling of the renegotiations. three months of talks have failed to unlock aid. last week, meeting between the finance chiefs ended in acrimony. prime minister severus -- prime minister tsipras is gaining friends also with angela merkel.

hans nichols will has the latest. run us through all the changes that are happening. it seems like the finance minister is being put to one side. hans: day-to-day negotiations with the creditors will be handled by the deputy finance minister. the actual eurogroup meeting on the political side of things -- it appears the finance minister will hold onto that. he will be going to eurogroup meetings in brussels. markets read this as greece willing to cut a deal that is a little unpopular. you saw the athens benchmark rally 4.5% yesterday. the yield on the three-year dropped almost 400 basis points all the way down to 22%. meanwhile the prime minister's seeing angela merkel has as much interest in cutting a deal as he

does. he wants to make sure there is no failure inside of europe. here is how he explained the finance minister getting his wings clipped. prime minister tsipras: now that we have reached a final stretch, we find yourselves in the need of reshuffling our teams because we need full control and be as efficient as possible. we are at a critical stage, the final stage. therefore the main political delegation are under the response ability of the finance minister. all of these teams, we need to have a crucial strategic team. we need a technical team negotiating with the brussels group and we need better coordination. hans: there is big payments. pension and salary has to go out of the end of the month -- 1.5 million euros. may 6, we of the first of the imf interest meetings which is about 200 million euros. lot of big payments same situation, but slightly different negotiating team. caroline: the market -- how

close is the private is to close to a deal -- the prime minister close to a deal? hans: it depends if the finance minister was the spokesman or the driver. the prime minister suggested that he was part of the team. that this was not a popularity contest. he hasis banking that angela merkel does not want to see failure herself. here is what he said on how close they are getting to a deal -- it is in the most crucial stages, the final stage. we have covered 70% of the distance and we ask them to walk the remaining 30% together. that same 30%, that looks like it is labor reform and pension reform. not a lot of indication on the european side. one quick note -- a newspaper has a report out on the revised list of what the greek government will be submitting. a new luxury tax on european holiday makers in europe.

i know that will not hit you, but it will get mr. cranny. caroline: hans live in berlin for us. thank you. mark: we are nine days from the election in the u.k. we will gauge the group of the growth of the economy before voters go to the polls. gdp is due at 9:30 a.m. and edwards is here. good morning. anna: 0.5% are the estimates that economists have penciled in according to our survey. this is the growth rate that the u.k. economy will probably register. that would mark a loss of momentum from the previous couple of quarters, certainly the end of last year. the drop of oil prices could be giving a boost to consumers. the fourth quarter was marked by a bit of a fall back in the extraction industries and the construction industry. how much is that due to the

uncertainty along the election we will find out. january and february, the production numbers and construction. perhaps some of those slightly negative numbers of the fourth quarter might continue into the first. we are looking for a loss of momentum. a slowing for the fourth straight quarter but we are coming off a fairly high basis score as the u.k. economy has registered a 10% increase since the coalition government took charge in 2010. it grew faster than any other country in 2014. that is what we will be told today. conservatives -- labor will probably point to whether this is actually felt like that good of an economic experience for the average person. jen ryan making the point that it is going to be viewed politically by all parties. just nine days of the election. bear in mind, the average revision to this data is 0.4 percentage points. even if we get half a percent,

the range of the actual number could be in the range of 0.1% or 0.9%. that is what we are looking for later today. mark: we will see you later, anna. manus: these are the top stories at this hour. the first quarter net profits ahead of estimates at 1.7 2 billion euros. the biggest bank also recorded bad loans ratio twoto 4.8%. workers struggled to treat thousands of wounded after the worst earthquake in thenep al. the earthquake which struck on saturday has so far claimed almost 4000 lives and displaced millions from their homes. economic cost of the worst earthquake in decades may reach $2 billion.

the governor of the u.s. maryland very hogan declared a state of emergency in response to riots and looting in baltimore. this followed the death of freddie gray the black man who suffered in injuries while in police custody. hogan has activated the national guard. germany's plan to raise sales in an effort to boost capital. it was eroded by was $1.5 billion fine. it is the two day meeting for the feds gets underway today. expect no rate rising as the u.s. central bank has rules. investors will be looking for clues on a change in policy particularly after some weak economic data out of the u.s. caroline: stay with bloomberg because coming up, will china

drive earnings? we break those live. focusing on consumer electronics seem to be paying off. manus will be speaking to the company's chief executive. despite online leaks of four episodes, the official game of thrones debut brings in 18 million viewers for ratio. we are looking ofat those numbers.

mark: welcome back. gdbp data before the election next thursday. whatever the reading, here to discuss the economic implications of the elections amongst others is the worlds first u.k. chief economist jeremy cook. a great piece on bloomberg today. it could be revised. it will be used as a stick to beat each other. jeremy: the biggest whip we have for the next nine days of the election cycle as we come into polling day. if it is anything less than the .5% or shows a slowing, labor will jump on it. they will tell voters that. they are saying we have done so

well in government, why would you not vote for us? it is starting to slow off. if he goes to .8%, george osborne will be all over the place. this is a big thing for the election. caroline: you are expecting the conservatives have a bigger drum to bang the perhaps l -- than perhaps labor? jeremy: we are seeing estimates that are falling. i think we could see maybe .6% maybe stretching up to .7%. we know it is been particularly good over the course. it is not matched the actual output in the construction money factoring sector. the real wage picture has been strong and that may take over the u.k. gdp. if that will do anything, that will help the blues and yellows.

manus: over 1% in the past week. up 1.2% in the past month. it is having a bit of a rebuy over the months. you said it is geowobble. jeremy: i think we are still uncertain about what we wake up on if you stay up through the night over may 7-8 -- caroline: it would be nice. jeremy: i think why we have not seen a pre-election wobble like we saw in 2010 is the absence of the klegmania. the pictures we saw in the approval ratings. given the fact that no one wants to form a coalition. they cannot. i think we see labor make a coalition with s&p with the

supply confidence vote to allow governments after about a week of coalition agreements and negotiations. i think that is what starts to wobble. if we go in monday morning and still don't have a government or far away from it -- mark: let's talk reese. greece. the finance minister has been reeled in. should we be hopeful that he is clipped? jeremy: i think it is as much symbolism as we get out of every story from greece. i would like to see behind the scenes and see what kind of deal has been put on the table and whether we are getting any closer to it. if moving the finance minister out of the limelight allows a deal to come quicker, fantastic. i think everyone from the first of july and the deadline has not expired, he could hold

himself up and say i stepped aside as result of me wanting to show everything -- no one is bigger than greece moving forward. if merkel -- tsipras came out that merkel want to deal. she does not want to be the chancellor that broke up the european experiment. it is an experiment, come on. caroline: lastly, we got gdp numbers in the u.s., central-bank meeting as well. you expect those numbers? jeremy: about 1%. on the feds, we have been looking for september. the june people got a little bit giddy at the beginning of the year. the language tomorrow is going to be really interesting. if they continue to focus on inflation, this dollar, the little wobble we have seen will come to an end fairly quickly.

we saw how little european qw e was price. manus: thank you very much jerry cook -- jeremy cook. ♪

mark: we are getting breaking news. any second now, the world's third biggest luxury carmaker should have a net income for the first quarter which is expected in increase of 66% according to the analysts we surveyed and sales up by 14%. let's move on. manus, let's do for an exchange. possibly being up by the time you come back. manus: yes let's check in on the foreign-exchange market. the biggest move i can see this

morning is the swedish krona. you are seeing the dollar -- the dollar rising and the swedish krona dives. you have that little bit of momentum overwrought. all. will the swede bank go up to -3.5% and go for an expansion on the closet of easing program. that seems to be the question. we go into the fmoc beginning today ending tomorrow. no great change on the dollar. we have been declining for four straight days. we are putting in a bit of a baselevel. we are at the eight-week low on the dollar. as i say, you begin this ratesetting, this language of ratesetting tonight. this is the loosest tightening ever from the federal reserve.

the dollar index pulling in front. 59 economists were surveyed and 73% say the fed will tighten in september. this survey was taken april 22. we are going for september, 73% up from 37%. i'm looking for something that is moving to give you a little bit of volatility. the swedish krona was the biggest mover on the deck. retail sales are the biggest drop month-to-month since 1998. that is ahead of the bank of japan. only two out of 34 analysts say the banks will go for additional quantitive easing and the market is a loose. do you have any numbers? mark: bp sales, 34.2 billion dollars in sales. the interest and taxes is $2.91

billion. $2.05 billion in the first quarter. it is been held by stronger demand in china with first-time buyers. we are awaiting the confirmation of the forecast on april. the forecasted revenue and profit. to use its word significantly this year rising. daimler beat. caroline: now to our other top stories. it is another wealth of earnings for you because phillips' first-quarter revenue rose to 5.3 billion euros and the company repeated its ipo in 2016. the company says it sees modest comparable sales growth in 2015. the first net profit has come in ahead of estimates at 1.7 2 billion euros. the biggest bank also reported a drop in loans ratio. that is down from 5.2%.

germany's second-biggest lender plans to raise $1.5 billion in a short sale. the bank was eroded by almost $1.5 billion fine due to federal investigations in the united states. manus: joining us live from amsterdam to break numbers down is the ceo frans van houten. great to have you with us this morning. sales numbers beat estimates. the earnings are looking well. i'm interested in the language you use. i noticed your margins are dipping in health care. is there a cautionary message from you? frans: i characterize the quarter as good progress. i'm encouraged by the modest growth in health care. that is a return to positive growth, also order intake.

i do see a world where china is still slowing down and because of the health care reform in the united states, we are still seeing hospitals sitting on the fence when it comes to preparing -- procuring medical could. this year, modest growth is indeed a cautionary outlook. when i look at the lighting position, 25% growth in energy efficient led lighting is great but the conventional business -- that is the flipside -- was declining. what stands out in the first quarter is our consumer lifestyle business that grew by a whopping 10% and also expanded margins on the back of locally relevant innovation. the care for kids toothbrush that we introduced, for example. manus: you are betting the house on health. $125 billion.

you are number three in the game. you are betting your reputation on health. that worries me. your language and the numbers worry me that you are making this that and you are promising the market a growth rate of 46%. you're also promising margins of 11%. if you are cautionary of the united states as you are. frans: health for us covers everything from healthy living to preventative care, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare and disease management. our consumer health and well-being business grew by 10% in the first quarter. i think that bodes very well. well on track. also, incorporating all the measures of our accelerated program. on the health care side, we still have more work to do. hence my more cautionary outlook

of modest growth. we are convinced we are on the right path. we were able to record a big order from the government to upgrade the health system in kenya. we were selected by health services in the united states to do health care. big data has become more and more important. our customers are focused on clinical outcomes. phillips is really good at building the bridge between the clinical evidence and how to support providers in delivering better care at lower cost. i think we are well-positioned with our health strategy going forward but we also still have work to do. as you recall, we are coming out of a situation where we had to improve our quality management systems. our factory in cleveland is producing again. we are shipping to our customers, but i know that we still have more work to do. hency my cautionary outlook.

modest growth this year and that we will step it up again in 2016. in january, i talked about how we look at our targets for that year. manus: i want to go on this journey with you. my personal spending on health that must be part of this phillips dream. what did you see individual spending on health with your company in the next 10 years? if i want to be more healthy how are you going to get me to treat your consumer health business like an apple product? is that the dream? frans: absolutely. we seek consumers more and more engaged on their own health. at the same time from a societal point of view, the health care burden is rising. the world's population will grow from 7 billion to 9 million billion. with a bit of luck, we will live to 80 or 90 years old.

in the united states,-- manus: what do you think i'm going to spend? if i going to spend one or dollars, $200, $300, $1000 on my health? what is the number. frans: you are spending thousands of dollars right now. you may not realize that but that is through your insurance premiums and taxes. we predict that consumers' pensions will be held more accountable for the health of the future. if you live a healthy lifestyle, thanks to our healthy living programs actually be able to get a discount on your insurance premium. the flipside, if you don't take care of your health maybe you will see the penalty of that. manus: frans, you have made a clear statement to the telegraph that we are focused on the elections here. you hired 18 million people here

in the united kingdom. if cameron calls for a referendum, with the delay products in the attic ande united kingdom? should europe change? is cameron right to call for change in europe? frans: those are good questions. levy clarify my statement comes out of my passion to seeing a strong europe. i cannot imagine a europe without the brits. i would like us to stand together in our journey to have an economically prosperous region. can europe become more pragmatic? undoubtedly. i think we are all discovery how to run this region really well. i've often gone on record to say we need to step up innovation. there has been agreement called for more r&d investments. phillips does that. we are strongly committed to investments in research and

innovation. also in the u.k., we have our research facilities and we are very pleased with the talent of your marketplace. we hope to continue that and i think we should do that without distractions. let's stand together and make europe a better place. manus: give him a call, frans van houten. a little bit of insight on how to do that. . thank you for your time. caroline: coming up the united kingdom -- can tech add growth and jobs to the u.k.? stay with us. ♪

caroline: welcome back. we get the latest u.k. gdp figures. one key sector driving growth has been technology. it is set to expand four times the pace compared to the rest of the economy. let's find out what is behind the surge with richard and sarah. thank you very much for joining us. sarah i want to kick off with you because nurturing growth with mentoring for these

startups in london. how are they setting apart? sarah: i came to google for years ago from startups. things i observed, lack of collaboration, education. we are trying to solve that by providing a place for entrepreneur's to come together. collaboration and partnership pushes everybody forward and i think london has the benefit of having this dense city. whether it is the money in the city. now is an easier time to start. you look at all the support education that is out there. that has been a massive change in terms of how we think of entrepreneurshipo. caroline: richard, talked to was about your journey because you came to starting up your company which is doing really well. multi-award-winning, because you lost your job. richard: i was very lucky in

that respect. i graduated from university, worked for two years of the recession hit. the job market was stale. you whether find yourself a new job or you are out. it was about as assessing -- necessity. i think now in a significantly different position in the economy the question is without that recession, that necessity to try something new what is going to happen to the next generation of entrepreneurs? will they have that need to try some indifferent when they are plenty of jobs out there. caroline: is that something that you feel the current situation is driving? what sort of challenges are there? sraarah: i think the number one challenge his talent. it is the technical lulls. i think we are hearing that for

marketing all the time -- from our community all the time. caroline: there is also education whether it is getting your career later in life. i think getting funding locally rather than the u.s.. sarah: if you look at what the u.k. has done with funding countries around the world allow that. that needs to continue. me to have that whiteide access. caroline: you got funding. is that something that needs to be fostered? richard: the business was bootstrapped. through friends and family, we were able to invest in product and actually we got to a stage where we had proven the technology works. we improved the commercial model. we overcame regulatory restrictions. it is a disruptive new product,

concept. it was a large u.s. silicon valley-based company in nest that that invested in our product. is a was not for the foresight of these u.s. company, would we be in the same position today? there is an eagerness and openness from the u.s. to try new ideas. they know growth has to come from innovation and that comes from startups. it is that culture of investing that has been very much ingrained in the u.s. psyche. in the u.k., we need to change our mindset more and have more openness to try something that is a relatively unproven entity which we still have a way to go. that helps us grow. caroline: looking at new areas of growth. replicating the model you have built in london in two other cities. is the u.k. at risk of falling behind? sarah: i don't think so.

there is still room to grow, but there has been a massive seachange in terms of risk in how we think about our careers even. we have canvassed in madrid. they are looking to london. you look at madrid the situation over there means they are going to entrepreneur ship. they are looking to london as their model, as the european version. that is very exciting. caroline: is it just london or a we seeing it grow? are you seeing as much appetite to come into camps as a new startup or is it the lack of austerity the economy is turning around this waiting people -- dissuagding people? sarah: i'm thinking of a company that i met on friday. they come onto london to

meet their investors sometimes. they live their lives more easily. they are doing amazing things. what they are finding is there is a lot of health check globally. it is a challenge on a smaller level. i think our job is to connect the dots around the u.k. and get people talking about the different classes. all of these areas that have great innovation going on. on the second point, it is speeding up. there is a campus in london. it was $41 million which was double the amount. i'm very bullish and confident about where the u.k. is at the moment. caroline: are you bullish? is your next round of funding will be going to a u.k. investor potentially? richard: our strategy is to grow organically. we are investing product into the business. i think the u.k. mindset

particularly entrepreneurs, is you have to raise funding to be a success. sometimes the extent that you forget about the business model. where you going to make money? the funding element is compensating for that lack of where you are going to make the money. we are going to grow in organically. the next stage is to tackle the u.s. our product is an evolution of a u.s. concept. our biggest client is from america. we would love to start to leverage those key partners to work in the big cities in the u.s. caroline: international domination. thank you very much. it has been wonderful having you both on. sarah and richard thank you very much. mark: coming up a look at our parrot stories from bloomberg digital outlets including the pop-up restaurant in london.

♪

manus: it is time for bloomberg picks -- the best of our digital outlets. we will start with -- mark: ok. manus: i'm taking the visual leave. caroline: i have not seen it.

i thought you have seen everything . mark: i love swords and dragons. i will retire one day in 14 years and watch all of these shows i have not seen. any way it is attracted an audience of 18.1 million in its fifth season premiere. that is a lot of viewers. despite the leaks, hbo's biggest program -- that does include people that watch it after, record it, download. caroline: that is why. you are not allowed to retire until you join 18 million viewers. mark: hello. manus: every day, the countdown laws is 18 million and more. mark: we will watch it together when i retire the old people 's home. manus: i will be in the young person's home. caroline: london pop-up

restaurant has been helping immigrant women from all around countries. it is a video link that they show you around the restaurant. it is about social enterprises. helping women come over, immigrants -- they have countries of brazil, ethiopia, japan, peru, philippines. mark: it gives these women a start. caroline: they all have phenomenal talents. a lot of them have other careers at home but they are not valued here. this is a wonderful way of getting them back into the workforce. go try it. to even do wedding catering. they will try to expand abroad. manus: you have a wedding coming up. house prices in sydney are up 40%, but if you're hoping your pay rises, forget it. wages went up by 2.5% in 2013.

up by 2.4%. house prices have gone up by 40%. 40%. should have got in there. we are back in two minutes. ♪

mark: apple profits soar on china sales. the company slashes the cache with a $70 billion boost to its capital return programs. crude numbers, energy giant bp kicks off a major week of earnings as the oil industry grapples with low prices. caroline: the grease finance minister was sidelined. the prime minister says negotiations have reached a critical stage. ♪

mark: welcome to countdown. bp and totela,. his here is ryan to run us through the numbers. ryan: it is a beat and a decline that will please investors much smaller decline that what investors thought. they were looking for a decline about one third. will prices for the first quarter of this year is about half of what it was this time last year. no doubt helped by the refining arm and upstream doing better than most of the integrated will companies with and goalgola. bp very much in focusis very much in focus. it is the metric we follow and investors follow.

first quarter adjustment profit coming in at $2.6 billion versus $1.2 billion. a very interesting quarter. the first quarter last year, the jets and profit came in at $3.2 billion. oil down by about half. it is a big beat. it is going to be very welcome news for bob dudley. everyone was anticipating a fall in profit. it is about how you manage it. he has been cutting spending $20 billion in february. that is down from last year. we are just coming off the back of an inflationary environment when it comes to cost. it will be interesting to see how this breaks out. they have not done it for us yet. all you can assume is that they also have a refining arm which does better traditionally when oil is under pressure. secondly, this is what i would

really like to see, they have a marketing arm. they don't really breakout. the trading side of their business which obviously benefits from volatility. we had a very volatile year. manus: on the right side of it. ryan: it has saved their bacon in the past. it may be doing the same here. analysts were expecting gloom and doom for bp. most exposed for natural gas prices in the united states which have plummeted in the back of the shale oil and gas revolution. yet, the company coming in -- mark:'s second-quarter production less than first quarter on turnaround and maintenance. ryan: back to the basis of oil drilling. very good results for bob dudley. he will be pleased. we will see what investors have to say. mark: let's focus on another company. manus: it is worth bringing this

back to where viewers attention. it is going after bmw and audi for the number one spot. earnings coming up. for daimler. mercedes-benz revenue up 15%. earnings up 56% at the mercedes-benz badge. they will spend, spend, spend. rmb, they will spend 2 billion euros. the truck side of the business as well is doing well. seeing the earnings rise by 18%. so, first quarter of the ongoing business is up 41%. mark: apple posting it second-quarter results thanks to booming iphone 6 and 6 plus

sales. china outpaced the u.s. for the first time. caroline: it is just reminding everyone why it is the most valuable company in the world. splashing the cash giving money back to investors and raking in a record revenue for the first quarter. it was a stormer of a quarter appeared profit up 33%. we saw a cool $13.6 billion being brought in in sheer profit. if you are looking at sales, $58 billion is what they made over the course of three months. that means by the time i finished speaking, they will have made another $1 million. they are making about half a million every minute. they are making $644 million per day. this company just rakes it in. capsule is being given back to the investors. they have been under pressure of seeing money go back to the

investor base. the increasing amounts of share buybacks and dividends. $70 billion is what they will be getting. monster numbers. iphone, iphone 6, iphone 6 plus sales are 40%.overall what has been phenomenal in china, we saw a calendar affect. the first quarter of this year is when they have their new year celebration. we did see surging in giftgiving surging 71% in china. significantly higher than most parts of the world. bigger than sales in the united states for the first time ever for apple. other products are selling well. it is about the mac as well. sales were up 10%. the other products are doing very well. apple watch will get in the next quarter. let's look at some of the challenges for apple. how can they keep on improving?

how can they say they will beat forecasts for the next quarter as they have done already? one key area of concern is the dollar strength. if we had seen the dollar not quite a strong, we what have seen sales up by a third. the dollar strength is hurting them and will hit them even more. it will bring more pressure so some of the hedges come off. that will be something to keep your eye out. the ipad, this is the key category that they basically brought.across the world . we have tablets from other competitors but it is when the ipad came on sale, the reinvigorated this category. sales slow to 23% for the fifth straight quarter. it is all down to the fact of cannibalization. if you have a nice six plus, do you really need a tablet? they will see corporations

businesses by ipads that much more. this space will get better. meanwhile, the watch. what will that start to see supply meet demand? they are saying they're held back but they are trying to rectify the situation. there slightly going back in the margins. once the overall numbers, this is why it is the most valuable company in the world. three quarters of a trillion dollars. manus: let's move along and take the story back to greece. the prime minister sidelines the finance minister. he was told to take the bench after reshuffling the negotiation team. three months of talks with creditors failed and last week meetings ended in acrimony. yet, prime minister singh for tsipras is winning friends which is brewing ahead of greece's tensions and wage payments which

is due at the end of the month. days aways. hans is on the case with this story. hans this is an interesting shift in negotiating team and really the prime minister pointing out his relationship with angela merkel is strong. hans: they do have deadlines coming up. athens is $400 million short on their pension and salary payments that are due at the end of the month. 1.5 billion euro bill. at the same time the prime minister gave a three-hour interview with local television. he talked about may 9 being the new deadline. he did talk about his important and crucial relationship with angela merkel, but he sees his team as being close to getting to a deal. that is a different team. the deputy finance minister

will now be heading day to day operations. the finance minister still will go to the eu meetings. he says he is not going anywhere. here is how the prime minister described having his wings clipped. private us to tsipras -- prime minister tsipras: we need to have full control and be as efficient as possible. we are at a critical stage, the final stage. the main political delegation, all of these are under the responsibility of the finance minister. all of these teams we need is a strategic team, a technical team and better coordination here. hans: one important thing about this long interview that he gave last night is that he did not rule out any sort of referendum if negotiations fail. however, he did rule out fresh elections for himself. does not look like the makeup of

change but if negotiations change greece is holding out this chance they will take some sort of referendum to their voters and that could be an up or down vote. do you want to stay in the euro? if you do what are the sacrifices you are prepared to make? we have talked about it before. it is coming up on may starting on may 6 with about 200 million that is due in interest to the imf. manus? manus: how close are we to getting into the details? and to a deal? hans: theyn ar are talking about a 70/30 split. it is 30% that athens and berlin have to meet halfway. it depends on whether or he not you think the finance minister which is the spokesman for the policy or driving the policies.

when you look at what they publicly say the prime minister in the finance minister say the same thing. tsipras goes out of his way to be friendly and not antagonize. we have heard the quote from the finance minister quoting fdr i welcome their hatred. we have a different negotiating team. whether or not the policy is altered and there is still big differences, that is what everybody agrees on -- to bridge before the payments come due. manus: thank you very much. let's see what the new incumbent brings. mark: top stories on bloomberg -- daimler reports its first quarter results. revenues of 32.2 billion euros from an estimate of 33.5 billion. it confirmed its four-year forecast. international sanctions placed on russia have added impact on rusal. the chief executive said rather

than hinder business, sanctions boosted the russian market. >> through substitution, we can maintain the russian market. mark: the chairman and chief executive has given his backing to the new nigerian administration. in a wide ranging interview with bloomberg, africa's richest man says he plans to lift his company on the london stock exchange and see the new government taking the country forward. >> there is quite a lot of challenge on the incoming government to make sufficient changes. they deliver the promises they have given -- we have to be very focused. mark: earnings on the other side

of the atlantic. some of the companies reported today. see how much of an impact the strong dollar had in the first quarter. caroline: give us your views on the conversation on twitter. let us know what you think about the show about the strong dollar. as mark said with sean passion -- strong passion. reaches on twitter. that's reach us on twitterh0 -- reach us on twitter. manus: taking his jacket off. make sure to get your votes in. still to come -- let's go for camera five. a little bit of luxury and i like it. the property market in london and globally. one developer is seeing the biggest returns that starts of the financial crisis. stay tuned, we talked to the

grosvenor ceo. that is next. ♪

manus: let's turn our attention to property and the u.k. one global developer said that returns this quarter was the highest since the start of the financial crisis. let's get more with the man at the helm. it is mark preston, the ceo of grosvenor group and a first on bloomberg. great to have you with us. these are great sets of results for you. total return rises by 13%. all regions are delivering profits. good set of results all around. mark preston: i think they have been good. the confluence of good results in the international business in asia.

and the u.k., 17%. overall, higher returns since the last several years. mark: should we talk elections? i know you're luxury when people think about grosvenor. talk about the lack of supply in the u.k. it was best to provide the building of hundreds of thousands of homes this country needs in the next five years? mark preston: grosvenor is known rather for quality than luxury. we operate at all levels of the market. we are best known for what we do. actually, whether it be 500 or several hundred more in cambridge or vancouver, hong kong, tokyo -- these are all levels of the market of high-quality.

as far as your main question is concerned i think what matters to us is will the policies stand the test of time? all political parties are favored too much on the short-term. i think when one looks at the problem we have in terms of housing it is not a demand-side problem. all we are hearing is more and more fiddling with the demand side of which we have had before. it actually made the problem worse in the past. i have no reason to suppose it will grow any better this time around. we need a more considered objective long-term for the housing situation. perhaps, you would expect a company with a heritage of 340 something years needs to take that, but not enough people are. caroline: how do you fix it?

but we going to have to encroach on greenfield sites? working we build? -- where can we build? mark preston: is a planning problem, skills shortage, but just a good problem. all of these things need fixing. to your point about where, i think jeter vacation is the first place i would go. -- gentrification is the first place i would go. paris is more densely populated. when you think about central paris, it is six or seven stories. i think that is the first place to go. caroline: knocking down lower high-rises. mark preston: we want to be very sensitive about heritage buildings. i think there is plenty of scope before necessarily having to go

too far or extensively. there is a considerable volume of brownfield sites that could be brought forward. i mean a loving playing field -- level playing field. they have not shown any initiative and i think that need to have it. caroline: there are tower blocks down the road that's that half empty. they are dense and going high-rise. the problem is investors from abroad are coming in buying them and not renting them out. mark preston: i think you are turning to a 10 year question. there needs to be a variety of different types. we have one in five people in this country that are renting which is a big change from a decade ago. the different forms of tenure rather restrict. the sector is a very interesting area. we will probably go to the new generation of people who will

probably rent. i was talking to girls at a school a couple weeks ago and they were talking about how they thought they were going to buy a house. when i introduced the idea of renting, it was an alien concept for people's parents owned properties. that could be a real change in this country. manus: some people would say that change is brought about by a revit market with -- rampant market which is distorted because of interest rates. mark preston: i would say the u.k. is the aberration. in terms of ownership. in germany, it is much more common to rent. manus: it is cultural in france and germany. let's move the agenda along. this is where i want to understand for grosvenor as well. i like what you said in article recently. you say hi and residential in

london is the part of the sector that is least attractive to you. you sold off quite a lot of high-end properties last year. is that a structural call? a market call? mark preston: in 2013, we made those. manus: my apologies. mark preston: we wanted to pursue our agenda which is a key objective for us. international diversification. we're invested in 60 different cities around the country and about 70 different offices. north america, asia, europe. in terms of her capital deployment, we are increasing to other parts of the world, other sectors largely because from a risk point of view, we can manage the cycle much better when investing in markets. unusual in 2014, all of our markets are the reason why we

had the returns we had. in a financial crisis where one market goes down, another goes up. returns in 2008 on were minus three, minus four. when it was really -16. that is very important to have that cycle. mark: give us an idea where are the returns in your 60 cities around the world? they want to know where to invest. your involved in all .. where about? mark preston: i will give you three answers. tokyo is very early in its cycle. we think that is interesting. southern europe, we have seen fall -- the operating results are beginning to pick up as people are spending again. in 2014, we have seen valuation movements come back again.

we are now beginning to see our own patiennce because we did not bailout at the bottom of the cycle. we are seeing that vindicated with the recovery. that is an interesting market for investors. finally, the west coast of the u.s. and canada, these are really busy markets. very low vacancies. many people moving back into the city center especially in san francisco. they now want to be back into the center of the city. mark: the economic recovery which the ecb is praying for with qe, is bearing fruit. mark preston: ultimately, it will trickle down to spending. we have been up to track on the moqarkets we are spending on. month by month, week by week, a gradual pickup. mark: in commercial or retail?

mark preston: retail. mark: thank you for joining us this morning. i think you have given us some food for thought. manus: correcting our perception of grosvenor. mark preston, ceo of groaner group. mark: coming up, refining and trade upsets face a 50% drop in oil prices. we will take a look ahead at these markets. . ♪♪

manus: welcome back. trying to find occurrences that had some volatility. some traders are happy for the reprieve. we are going to build up over the next 24 hours. will they go to negative .35%? what would that mean?

you would have to go to 100 billion quantitative easing. let's have a look at the past 30 days. we will keep an eye over the next couple days. the dollar index is virtually flat. you see the results of the language tomorrow evening around 7:30. we had an eight-week low in the dollar. the dollar is supposed to be the most sought after currency. 96.78 is where we are. he said this is the loosest tightening ever. we have a poll of 59 economists we surveyed.

73% say september will be the month for the rate hike. the yen is virtually anemic as the week goes on. retail sales down. >> french oil producer hotel beat estimates. the company's profit came in at 2.6 billion, add of the 2.2 billion estimate. bps first quarter adjusted the profit. dividends matched estimates. the dutch company reported its fourth consecutive quarterly loss. this comes in the same month that fedex announced plans to

take over the company. >> a little later we get the latest u.k. gdp figures. it is set to expand four times faster than the rest of the economy. let's find out what is behind the surge. thank you for joining us today. we were just looking at the markets today. you have now moved around 3 billion pounds worth of foreign currency. what has been the breeding ground to set up such a successful company? >> it really starts with resolving for our country -- customers. our customers are used to getting the service. we can provide faster service for a much lower price. that is what we are seeing is

the root of our success. ask what about u.k. tech in general? has it been a perfect storm in terms of government support, in terms of the economy? what set the united kingdom apart? >> we're definitely seeing the tech sector historically, we are seeing there are more silicon valley's booming across europe and the world. it is the second biggest hub. it is the busiest part of the world where activity is concentrated. there are more jobs in london than new york or silicon valley. u.k. having a government helping us. >> what about the elections coming up? we might have a change in government. is there concern the policies that help foster growth can change?

>> i hope not. it is not on who is running the government. we are seeing that they have promised a lot of support for the tech sector in general. labor is supporting, and we are very hopeful. >> what would you say if you had ed miliband or david cameron here? what are the key challenges that are holding you back at the moment? >> a few things to focus on. thinking about how we get access to more employees. how do we get this quickly? how do we improve access? there is lots of funding in the u.s.. let's focus on transparency and finance. we have seen it was picked up by the tories.

also to make sure they do not go completely out of control. you have one of the most famous investing in you. >> we have proven you can successfully be a u.k. company. you can fund raise from any investor in the world. if we look at the sectors, more companies are raising money. i think we have to realize they have a 50 year advantage. if the government helps i think

we will see more capital in europe as well. >> is there a concern -- we had a lot made about the u.k. coming to the home and suddenly talking about limiting immigration. has that been a concern? do you think that has in any way stopped growth in the u.k.? >> i think access to talent whether they are coming from other parts of europe, it eastern europe or germany or the u.s. or asia is the key. in any government you think about how do we make it easier. we have grown from 50 people to 300 50 now. access to people is key. caroline: are you worried about

the potential for a grexit? >> that would be a disaster. >> would the concern if we have a referendum, would that stop you from hiring at the time being? or are you realistic? >> i think it is too early to say. they have to think about it. i haven't heard too much concern yet. i think it is too early. if it becomes more of a risk it will be discussions. caroline: if you could it be in the united kingdom, where in europe is starting to grow as well? >> we think in europe the next ones are berlin. piland, estonia, stockholm.

we could maybe think about israel. these are the next hubs. >> it has been wonderful speaking to you. thank you very much indeed. about to jet off to san francisco himself. manus: great interview. let's give you a sneak preview of london. stocks are indicating an eight lower. the commerzbank is going for a capital raising patching up. stay with countdown. we are back in just two minutes. ♪

manus: keep -- mark: the company has rebranded following a shift to renewables. that's get to paris. we are joined by the cfo. good morning. thank you for joining us today. >> great to be with you. mark: i must start with aengie. many of you will not know that it has rebranded. what is in a name? what does the name signify for you? >> it really signifies a new way of doing business. we are happy about our enterprise projects.

we are looking at the energy transition and speeding up our strategy. mark: is another company that shakes things up. would you say energy utilities are a bit of a dying breed right now? >> i wouldn't necessarily compare us. it's a starting position that is quite different. you are alluding to the fact rolled is changing around us. when i look at our portfolio, we are very well-positioned to respond to these changes because they are a global company.

i always say to people we are french-based. we are proud of our roots here, but we are a global company. it goes to show you what a global company we have become over the last decade. mark: how much will it be through the year when it comes to cost cutting? you are lowering the spending for 2015. is that going to help turn around the newly branded company? >> we are happy with the first quarter results, because they are in line with the trajectory we're looking at for the total year. we know going into the year the oil prices were going to put pressure on our earnings. that's why we put in place the reaction plan you are referring to, looking at our costs and being a little more cautious.

when you compare our first quarter two last year, there are a few things that make for a tough comparison. last year energy prices or oil prices were still very high. comparing this to this year's energy prices, that makes for a tough comparison. it's in line with what we expected. that is why we were confident to confirm our guidance. mark: do you think oil prices have rebounded? >> i would certainly hope they have bottomed out. many people you're going to talk about give different answers on this question. there has been an increase in the last few months. that is what we are hoping is going to happen for the future.

mark: could we talk about russia? europe and yourself remain big importers of russian gas. how does it affect your relations with import plans? do you think it is justified? >> i would not comment if it is justified or not. we have had solid relationships with russia as a guest provider in the past, and we are hoping that is going to continue in the future. mark: let's talk about m&a. you lowered your spending. does that mean there won't the any significant increases? which sectors would you say are most interesting for potential takeover target? packs we have about 2 billion to 3 billion a year available on

acquisitions. that's the kind of envelope we are looking at. there are a few areas we would be interested in. i think typically they would be outside of europe in terms of energy and production, but we are looking at a number of things at the moment. we have a balanced cash equation, so there is money available. if you look at last year, the acquisitions were mainly in the services sector. that's an area we would be happy to invest in the future. there is clearly some money available. we have lots of options we can look at. mark: you have been cfo since a month or so ago. what is your biggest challenge

going forward? >> i have been hit by a number of things. the clear strategy i am completely in line with. not that i expected anything different, but it's great to see the level of professionalism in the company. when we talk about the way forward, it really goes to show you there is a lot of good energy. we feel we are well-positioned to address the different topics that are ahead of us. >> thank you, and good luck. we will speak to you again soon.

manus: thank you for that. coming up big oil and fast cars. we take a look at the stocks to watch. futures a little bit lower. we have had the numbers from bp hotel. we will talk about the numbers. ♪

>> time for the bar charts. it might not have escaped your notice, but u.s. economic data has been missing estimates for quite a while. here's a chart which illustrates this. this is the top chart, which measures weather data is beating or missing forecasts.

there is zero in the far right-hand corner. data is missing. the figure above zero shows data is beating estimates. it has been below zero. the red circle is at the lowest level since the financial crisis at -7.34, the lowest since the financial crisis in 2000. this showed a barometer of service activity slumped in april for the first time since september. that represents uneven. here is a chart measuring the output for inflation. the difference between five-year government bonds.

it has risen to 1.7%. that means traders see inflation averaging 1.7 percent a year over the next five years. that is below the 2% target. that is an encouraging trend for janet yellen. the current inflation which janet yellen prefers to see through right now, it less encouraging. this third chart is the personal consumption expenditures data. this is the preferred measure of inflation. it rose .3 percent in february from a year earlier. improvements from january's .2% figure are still way below the 2% go all as it has been for three years. a recovery in crisis is key for

the fed to begin normalizing monetary policy. as they begins a two-day meeting today, these are the three charts for fed chair janet yellen to consider. manus: let's hope she tunes in and has a little look at that. profit is up 32%. commerce raising capital. commerzbank about 5% lower on the back of that. keep an eye on daimler. the stock crawled up 2%. >> keep an eye on some big news. the second biggest oil company in europe. phenomenal, profit down. they are managing to curtail spending, try to cut costs. there is also an interesting

piece of news from caustic coffee. >> stay with us. "on the move" is next to you tomorrow. ♪

jonathan: good morning, and welcome. moments away from the start of european trading. let's get straight to the morning brief. the company boosts its capital return program by $70 billion. we get the first estimate of

growth. growth is expected to slow for a third straight quarter. they will dominate ahead of the open. >> we are looking at a couple ticks slower. banking is going to dominate the agenda. we had the man saying they were sweeping around the periphery of europe. that is where they are based but they are sweep