Open, london benefiting from a wea ker open, london benefiting from a weaker pound, rest of europe weaker pound, the rest of europe treading water. And when is a cake, not a cake . When it means a 365,000 difference in your tax bill. We meet the firm that asked a judge to rule on whether their product fell foul of uk tax laws. Well explain why a little later. Today we want to know how soon is too soon . As one Famous London Department store opens its Christmas Store 149 shopping days before christmas would you be tempted to buy . Let us know just use the hashtag bbcbizlive personally, imjingling personally, im jingling all the way to that well known Department Store hello and welcome to business live. We start with the pound, which has fallen further in asian trading overnight, as investors worry about the increasing likelihood of a no deal brexit. Its now at a 30 month low against the us dollar. It comes as the uk Prime Minister borisjohnson has toughened his rhetoric on brexit. Michael gove, who is in charge of planning for a no deal exit from the eu, says britain is currently working on the assumption of that outcome. Lets take a look now at where sterling is against the us dollar. Investors dont like that a little bit, sterling now at this werejoined by rebecca mcvittie, investment director, Fidelity International nice to see you. We see that there are quite plain, a pretty tough time for the pound right now but we were told, rightly, markets had factored this in, they were sort of expecting this in, they were sort of expecting this would happen. Why the change . I think the tough stance that the government is currently taking is really rattling investor nerves, people listen very carefully to the rhetoric kind of language thats been used and its been ramped up, this idea that we could exit with no deal. Is this a tough stance or is ita deal. Is this a tough stance or is it a negotiating tactic . deal. Is this a tough stance or is it a negotiating tactic . I think its really difficult for us to get a handle on that to be honest, because what you have is one country, the uk, facing a series of nations, the eu is taking a relatively tough stance thus far. We could be and there could be some degree of jostling, could be and there could be some degree ofjostling, could be part of a planned but well have to see that play out over the coming weeks. Who are the winners and losers in all of this . We should remember that some firms will do pretty well from this. Uk tourism clear beneficiary, people coming to the uk, thinking about the pound that they had to spend, they will be in a better position. Some of the businesses which export will be doing particularly well, i think theres a caveat to that, if you export and you have components you have to import, clearly there is a higher cost to importing those components. When we look at what might happen, there are so many different options, so many different ways this could ultimately play outcome of what are investors keeping an eye on . This ties to central bank policy, one of the things front and centre this week is a number of the Central Banks will talk about rate policy, it is not anticipated the uk will cut rates but if we move into an environment when the economy is suffering, that could trigger a rate cut. The challenge is balancing inflation, if the pound is very weak inflation will rise and thats typically an environment you would look for rates to go up. Businesses have been very vocal about this potential no deal scenario. What do they want to see happen because it strikes me we are not going to get anywhere that the government says, no deal is off the table as we had with theresa may s government. I think from a business perspective what they are arguing is a lack of clarity. 0ne perspective what they are arguing is a lack of clarity. One of the things the government has talked about as increased spending in terms of communicating their plans and the implications and its at clarity, the guidance particularly smaller businesses who dont have a lot of money to spend on exploring what the implications might be for them of a no deal brexit. Its fascinating, well keep an eye on that. Rebecca for now, thank you, i know you will be back later in the programme. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the News Financial Services firm capital one has revealed that a hacker stole the personal details of more than 100 Million People across north america. The data included names, addresses and phone numbers of people who had applied for credit cards. The announcement follows the arrest of the alleged hacker a former seattle Software Engineer on monday. Shares in beyond meat have plunged in after hours trading, following the announcement that it plans to sell more shares, just three months after it listed on the stock market. Beyond meat has increased its full year Sales Forecast after a surge in demand for its plant based burgers and sausages in the second quarter. Federal reserve policymakers begin a two day meeting today in washington. The Us Central Bank is widely expected to cut Interest Rates, amid signs of a slowdown in the worlds biggest economy. The fed has been under sustained pressure from President Trump to lower the cost of borrowing. Now to chinas huawei, the worlds biggest telecoms equipment maker and one of the largest makers of smartphones. In the past half hour, its announced a 23. 2 jump in revenue for the First Six Months to 58. 25 billion. Huawei has said that it expects to overtake samsung as the worlds number one smartphone maker next year. Smartphone shipments in the first half reached 118 million units, up 24 on the year ago period. It also shipped more than 150,000 base stations to markets around the world. But the Trump Administration has alleged its telecoms equipment could be used for espionage something huawei denies and its urged us allies to ban it from building 56 mobile networks. Werejoined by diane mullenex, head of european telecoms at pinsent masons. Good morning. What do you make of the figures . There are quite strong, arent they . They are quite strong and this is continuing growth and this was expected. They are harvesting the hard work theyve donein harvesting the hard work theyve done in the past six months. In the world. We have to note that while white revenue is 50 outside china which is a big market, this is quite a big market but theyve admitted challenges are lying ahead into maintaining the growth in revenue including against local chinese competitors. Many will be surprised to see such strong figures given how many headlines weve seen about huawei in recent months. And given the backlash internationally about what they do. I think the issue is wildly has made a really big difference into rolling out ag and the cost of changing systems is quite hefty, the estimation is around 1 billion. And also the cost, you know, the equipment for 5g in europe and the world is under strong pressure. So you know, the operator needs to invest in their struggle with margins and so therefore huawei isa with margins and so therefore huawei is a real alternative. Its interesting how wildly has been brought into the argument between trade and privacy and technology and its been brought together in one big area. Yes, because at the end of the day its how you export and import equipment into a cocked into countries and you have to look at the european union, looking into restrictive trade policies, competition policies and big tenders. And its about Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy works with companies. When we talk about margins being pretty tight, many operators will be looking for a Cost Effective way of rolling out 56 and huawei has the skill, it has the ability to keep prices down because its so big and so dominant. Mobile operators are under strong pressure and theres been a concentration on the European Market and 5g is building the network. As i said, the highway, but you have to invest in the car running on it so its going to be about content and investment. Diane, thank you. A search is under way for the owner of cafe coffee day indias largest coffee chain. Vg siddhartha reportedly went missing in the Southern City of mangalore after asking his driver to stop the car near a river. Sameer hashmi is in mumbai. What more do we know . Its intriguing, isnt it. It is intriguing, isnt it. It is intriguing and its been the top story here in india this morning. What we know is on monday evening he was driving to the city when he asked his driver to stop the car, he said he was going across the bridge and he would come back in some time but he never returned. His mobile number has been switched off and now the police have put teams over there in that area to look for him and theyve also put in a rescue team to search the river because the spot where he got down was close to the river. There are some local reports that say that he jumped off in the river, we have not been able to confirm that independently. Thats why the police is not ruling out suicide at this point in time. He is a very prominent entrepreneur because he runs indias largest coffee chain, with over 1700 outlets across the country but the business has been facing pressure over the la st has been facing pressure over the last few years ever since the entry of other Companies Including international ones like starbucks in this particular industry. Thank you very much. A quick look at the markets. The asian markets have been doing, all eyes on the us federal reserve, the question whether or not we will see a cut in Interest Rates but whether or not the fed signalled further cuts going forward. Lets look at the European Markets. London market benefiting from a weaker pound, we saw some news today from centrica announcing a hefty loss for its first half of the year and its chief executive has announced he is stepping down, the share price on the london market down round about 10 on the day. And Michelle Fleury has the details of whats ahead on wall street today. Apple is set to report earnings and its reports are set to grab the headlines. The worlds Second Biggest Company by market capitalisation has discovered there is a limit to how much people are prepared to pay for a smartphone, another key issue is wea ker a smartphone, another key issue is weaker demand in china where the company has been heard by the ongoing us china trade spat. Wall street will be watching to see how severe the drop in iphone sales might be and whether Apple Services business, which it hopes will offset this decline, is continuing to grow. 0ther this decline, is continuing to grow. Other names reporting results include Sportswear Company and the video game maker electronic art. On the economic front watch out for more data on the us housing market. Michelle, part of the Business Team in new york with the latest. Still to come when is cake not a cake . When it makes a 365,000 difference in your tax bill. We meet the firm that asked a judge to rule on their energy bars in a row over sales tax. Well explain. Youre with business live from bbc news. The chief executive of centrica has announced he is stepping down. Ian conn has been leading the company, which owns british gas, since january 2015. The news came as the Company Published its half year results. It said the environment had been extremely challenging and the Financial Performance had been weak. It reported a half year operating loss of £aa6m. Rik smith is senior commercial manager, uswitch first of all, the chief executive stepping down, hes been there for a good while, whats his legacy . His legacy will be to take centrica out of the upstream business and no longer getting involved in the dirty business of producing oil and gas. And moving much more to focus on effectively the uk consumer and those at home. Clearly he says the market is pretty challenging and we know theres a lot of focus on prices, a lot of focus on service. Hes leaving a legacy but quite a challenge for his successor . So the Energy Market is definitely a tough place to play if you are british gas and what weve seen, weve seen them lose quite a number of customers in the uk over the past six months. But they are making gains and offering some quite attractive propositions, bundling together energy and boiler cover and services and things like that. And thats where it becomes interesting, the proposition to the consumer is much more enticing, much more interesting, the challenge for his successor will be where he or she pivots the business to do next, will they go green and really win the hearts and minds of uk consumers . 0r the hearts and minds of uk consumers . Or will it be business as usual . Lovely to have you on the programme, thank you. Much more on that story on the business web page, news from gift gaffe as well, the mobile phone operator, facing a fine of £1. 4 mobile phone operator, facing a fine of £1. A million for allegedly overcharging customers for bills, it said a problem on the billing system led to around 2. 6 million customers being overcharged, not by a little bit but by a lot, £2. 9 million. Full details on the website. Picking up on the centrica story, you can see there, shares falling nearly 10 after the announcement its chief executive is leaving and also the hefty loss for the first half of the year. Also worth pointing out a comment coming through this morning suggesting its surprising that he lasted as long as he did. Youre watching business live our top story. The pound falls sharply hitting new a 30 month low as investors worry over the prospect of a no deal brexit. A quick look at how the markets are faring having a big impact on both importers and exporters, making the price of imported goods a little more expensive but nonetheless makes good sold to overseas. Its recovered ever so slightly, ever so slightly. Depends how many decimal places you want to look into it. Im a big decimal girl. Youre definitely not a small decimal guy, are you . Now when is a cake, not a cake . And what difference does that distinction make . Well, in the case of our next firm its meant not having to pay a 365,000 tax bill. Yes, a judge ruled that the compa nys snacks were a cake, and not confectionery on which vat is charged. And that ruling could make a big difference to its bottom line. The healthy Snacks Company called pulsin was set up by Three Friends in 2007. One of the founders is simon ashburner, who joins us now youve brought in these cakes, very careful to call them cakes. Talk us through what happened, you started the company and you initially tried to market them as cakes, did you, to avoid the vat but it didnt work out . Yes, when we started the company in 2007 made a range of snacking products and some of which we re snacking products and some of which were the chocolate brownies. We wrote to hmrc to ask for advice on how we should treat the flat, they wrote back saying its confectionery because its sweet and prepared food, normally eaten with the fingers normally it should be standard rated, we disagreed with that there was nothing we could do about it back then. I find it astonishing that we can go into such detail about what defines a juror not the only firm that has challenge this, theres a number of high profile firms who have done the same but what defines it, what was the definition . There is no definition of a cake. We applied a multifactorial analysis in the case so our multifactorial analysis in the case so ourargument multifactorial analysis in the case so our argument hinged on a variety of different things, does it look like a cake . Is it held out for sale isa like a cake . Is it held out for sale is a cake . Does it taste like a cake . Is a cake . Does it taste like a cake . Would is a cake . Does it taste like a cake . Would it be consumed on a similar occasion to a cake . The thing about cakes is when vat law was introduced on cakes cakes were pa rt of was introduced on cakes cakes were part of a male so they should be zero rated food for vat whereas confectionery is a luxury that is eaten outside of a meal so that should be standard rated. We dont eat three meals a day sitting down with the family anymore, we have meals on the move, habits changed and unfortunately vat law hasnt ke pt and unfortunately vat law hasnt kept up with that. Ive opened a bar, a cake part. I heard the rustling. It tastes lovely, im going to be honest. It looks like a brownie and thats the judge said, tell me what she said when she ruled. Judge amanda brown went out for her lunch break and came back with a variety of brownies and opened them all and put them out on the desk and said, looking at this, there is no distinction between them, they all look very similar, they feel quite similar, the ingredients of our brownies are very different to a normal brownie. They are gluten free, there is no added sugar, they are made with lots of nuts, they are very high in fibre so the impact on health is very different to a normal brownie which is typically made with lots of flour and sugar, things that are not so bad for us. However, weve made an attempt at making a brownie a Healthy Snack that can be enjoyed in between meals and actually bring a positive benefit to health at the same time. Its a pretty substantial difference that that makes, by the judge ruling in yourfavour its meant, sorry, i got brownie in my mouth, but its meant its really good for the business. Talk me through the challenges of setting up because i imagine this wasnt something you would have to deal with . The challenge of setting up the case or the business . Both, in terms of starting a new business in 2007, you know, quite a lot of challenges to get a business of the ground, i cant imagine this was your number 1 priority of concern when you thought how are we going to deal with this up . The when you thought how are we going to dealwith this up . The m