Twitter slows. Hello. Welcome to countdown. I am mark barton. I am anna edwards. In london. Welcome to the program. We begin with the earnings. First quarter profits rising 5. 2 . That is the net income increased. Analysts anticipate a profit of 1. 44 billion. The reason why it has been booted boosted by the purchase of its division in bell john. Belgium. Earnings were boosted by a drop in payments to minority shareholders after bnp body stake in one of its units for three and a quarter billion euros. It is worth noting bp hosted its profits and 08 after setting aside payments to u. S. Economic sanctions. It did say today that talks took place on the matter during the First Quarter. There is still uncertainty on the size of the penalty. Be excluded,annot but it could be significantly larger than the amount provision. That is worth noting. Bas profit rose and exceeded analyst estimates held by the person its of its provision in the elgin. Belgium. And they spoke to bloomberg. Reconsidered 1. 7 billion as a slight result. Five percent versus last year. Retail and the resilience toss her under control. Control. E it under there was caution taken for the uncertainty in europe. With a from frances alstom. And that the batter in the middle of the bid battle. Theyre saying that they are considering the offer of ges the postal. They say they have received an offer from ge. Deadline and euros is 12. 35 billion euros. That theyy are saying would use the proceeds to transport their business. They would cut their debt and they would return cash to shareholders. They would take that interest in account. Lets bring in david tweed. He has been following this story. We were bringing people over the start of people familiar were suggesting a were getting confirmation that alstom has received something of a binding nature from ge. What that means is alstom will open the bush asians with ge about this bid. We got a short statement that took place in munich yesterday. Siemens also make a bid for alstom. Not quite sure how that will look whether there make a bid for the dark company are just bid for a part of it. An attachment to that statement as well. They would make their bid, but it is pending access to Financial Information from alstom and access to alstom executives alstom give siemens wants to interview alstom executives about the financial state of the company. After which they will decide to go ahead. It is a little bit uncomfortable for alstom. Alstom is under a lot of pressure to consider all of its alstomparticularly was accused of a breach of national ethics. It opened up negotiations with General Electric without consulting the french government. It looks as if they are going to consult the french government. That interest will be taken into account. The french government is a huge client of alstom even if it doesnt own alstom shares. Siemens. Ntioned they have been in gauging in a little bit of mna at 70 on the side. A activity on the side. Their gas turbine and compressor business is a business nowhere near the scale of alstom. Business that is the spinoff old rollsroyce. Of rollsroyce. It makes gas turbines as well. It is something that we think siemens wants and that strategy review. That is something for us to watch. And alstom shares as well. They begin trading today. Thank you, david tweed in berlin. Probably see mario this isacing political, isnt it . It is. North numbers. Or german inflation improved, but below target. Mandate to hit about two percent or just below. They are nowhere near it. Should they do more, people are produced seduced by that. Trombone is that if you listen to mario draghi, the best Case Scenario is we get. Ack toward the target areaq qe is not imminent. Youpeople betting on qe, are betting that mario draghi will be wrong. There is news about europes next round of stress tests and how they would work. Debbie catching up with a ecb. That era beenrned 90 fall in stocks and north percent inflation. Some of these basal be tested. Some are not far off a couple of those. They are serious. Banks are taking it seriously. Things have spent on the ballot. Heets by 104 billion euros that is just since last july. Take a listen here. What we find out will be less than what it will be if with that concerned awareecause the market is of what is going on. The good news. Theyre strengthening the balance sheet. The bad news is that yesterday shows that bank lending in the u. S. Is contracting. Was two things are conflicting goals. How do you get angst to write capital . Thank you. Rex twitter disappoints. Revenue goes up, but user use goes down. Hans nichols gives us the numbers and what we hope is more than 140 characters. [laughter] always been a bit of a popularity contest. On that metric, it is losing. User growth is not as strong enough. When you look to the sales number, that was decent. That is sequential growth. Take a look at the number of new users. 255 million users. That is a six percent growth quarter over quarter, your beer. Down 25 . It is slowing. Take a look at the numbers. 185 million users six quarters ago. They have gone up to 265 million. It is down 36 over the year. Theres some speculation that today it will drop below its ipo level. You look at the crucial issue of user engagement. Lets take a look at what the ceo says that he needs to tweak some things. We are in the process of working to increase the value of the experience. People are looking at their timelines little bit more. Overall, the growth is lower there. I might taught you at the top of the next hour about how many users you had for your sequential growth is. Once i get nasty notes from producers, be prepared. Oh, taunt away, hans. Im fairly confident i will get to beat my copresenter thus. Its a popularity contest. We know you were cool in high school and i wasnt. Im prepared to lose. I do not know your sources for that. I can conform or deny i was cool in high school. Confirm or deny i was cool in high school. Here to tell us more about business benefits as Caroline Hyde in london at the flag should store. Good morning. They are busy cleaning away behind me. They have teamed up with top shop. They have collection after collection, 15 collections in total. Hey had a dj it was a fantastic event. They celebrated. Many are now on ebay . Today it launches worldwide across the world and more than 340 stores. I will give you an exclusive interview later today. Well talk about what the business is with teaming up with the likes of kate moss. Thank you. She is at the shop. I thought you and out for a shopping trip. Reshuffling. Time for todays company news. The largest u. S. Operator has agreed to buy Pepco Holdings for more than five point 4 billion in cash according to people familiar with the matter. N may announce acquisition as early as this afternoon. Pepco has confirmed the washington metro area and the midatlantic. Wires proposing a deal for the consumer and business could include some of the german companys pharmaceutical assets and theyre trying to compete with the bid with reckitt. Goals Royce Holding in talks to sell its power and adjacent to siemens. It had revenue of 1. 0 5 billion pounds last year. The deal would further retooled the European Energy landscape and siemens and ge work on competing offers. Welcome back to countdown. I am mark barton. I am anna edwards. It is 60 minutes past 6 a. M. In london. Our clays is set to move its commodities into a bad bank of unwanted assets. The news comes after skip mcgee is scarce stepping down as americas division. Is one of the best paid officials. Joining us is the head of Global Equities at anderson and global investors. Welcome. Thank you for coming. Talk about barclays. This new surrounding Management Changes in the u. S. Lots of people talk about a take rate from the past. Break from the past. His look something different. This looks different. They are talking about a bad and 2010. 2009 they are responding to pressure from the regulator. U. K. Regulators believe what they leave is appropriate and put pressure to shrink down the asset. This is to be one of the themes. I mean that barclays has to take more action in ensuring that. What would that look like . It would require shrinking the bank and the commodities business. We will see a reduction in size. What i find interesting is that lots of management. Strongly about preserving investment banks. Now it seems strong quite considerably. It could only be a reactive strategy. Per Share Holders of Oil Companies how do we react to news from Vladimir Putin is of the further actions sanctions could jeopardize the u. S. And eu russia . They are planning an art to drilling alliance. How are we to react to news like that. Theres so much uncertainty. The talk about how well it has performed. The prices are up. Investors themselves are looking for defensive growth. Theyre very concerned about emerging markets still. Caps on the high evaluations it has attracted. Sector. As been quite a most of the stocks trade at roughly similar levels. The geopolitical tensions were talking about. But if you do have exposure exelon clearly does and shell clearly does. Shouldnt that be added into populations . Manyr bp and so diversified, these are global businesses. They are exposed to some of the changing parts of the world. The value of these businesses is the Long Duration of the assets. Talk about russia and exposure to rusk, bmp has been talking to us about spotter to russia, bnp has been talking to us about it. Are you focused on Something Else . Interesting is that there time to discern the more you train banks. Wings are no longer that ms. Valued assets that they were a year ago. Russia and Eastern Europe in general given the threat to ukraine and other ramifications in terms of slowdowns, you give some credit. Beesley. You matthew much more to come when we returned. Welcome back to countdown. I am mark barton. I am anna edwards. It is 6 23 a. M. In london. Is back with the spirit lets look at some of the macros. No change in policy. Do we forgive them for not doing anything right now . In short, yes. Thatone is understanding we will see more data at the top of the hour i believe today. They lost it by the preamble of the tax rise. That has happened. That is is that no surprise that they will wait until at least the summer. There arer strong expectations of further stimulus in the summer. If that doesnt happen, that will be a negative effect. You have been focusing your attention more on europe and japan now at the expense of north america and emerging markets. Whats going on . Theres a lot of Automotive Companies and change in japan. It has been very helpful. There is some inflation in japan. It is a hiccup in domestic demand. Youre seeing some signs of life there is a pick up in domestic demand. Youre seeing signs of life. How much of that statement applies to europe . How many bottomup companies that you can pick . A lot. Costs have been paid that aggressively year after year. And most are seeing a stabilization is not some real growth coming through an underlying revenues. The focus is to have fixed would easy leverage. I was adjustment a corporate went be surprised at how much leverage they have. And it has been a tricky month for those Fund Managers who have had a red banner your last two. What is going on . That has been a very tough month. Suddenly the perception is lots of leverage investors reduce the amount of leverage that i had. Has been an aggressive coverage of shorts and selling winners. Did well last year. That is important. And twitters user growth is slowing. Shares falling as much as 11 after hours. Were still working on mar k. Yes. [applause] [laughter] sales are still going down. Thank you. Stay with us. And earnings break in a matter of seconds. A comeback. I am anna edwards. Lets get welcome back. I am anna edwards. Lets go to Jonathan Ferro for the fx check. The bank of japan is exactly what many people expected it to be. The yen get stronger the right now theyre holding and sitting tight. That is what were waiting for the next couple of hours. Elsewhere, we look at the euro dollar. Pretty much unchanged. You can see that move right there. German emplacement it was an improvement. It was less than many people forecasted. A lot of people think it might have come under that because of the german inflation data from yesterday. It is one to watch. Euro, it is u. K. Time. Thank you. These are the Bloomberg Top headlines. Barclays is planning to move its Commodities Division of wanted assets. The unit will be overseen by the cohead of an investment bank. There were oversee businesses at the londonbased firm made footers exit quadrant. President Vladimir Putin is warning further sanchez could jeopardize deals in the energy sector. He says for now, russia will not retaliate the latest round of sanctions. Bloomberg spoke with the former minister at the milken afferents. There is a willingness to take on russia over its actions in ukraine. Crisis sends a much deeper and broader message that europe is no longer in the comparable state of mind in believing it is a secure place. At the end ofs may will be a powerful accelerator of the countries wheeling to put the act together. International Olympic Committee says the separation for the 2016 summer games of the worst that they have ever seen. The Vice President says that situation is critical. They said the situation is even worse than it was in athens where the venues were still being built on the eve of the investment. A Carlo Shumaker out with its numbers with the First Quarter profits. 1. 79 alien euros. Euros. S 1. 7 9 billion it is benefiting from demands for its newer model such as the mercedesbenz compact sedan. Deliveries rose in the First Quarter. Their rising at a faster pace than bmw. The ceo says they are progressing to regain that top spot in global luxury car sales. The growth push is rolling out 30 mercedes models by the end of the decade, including a dozen new vehicles. Is that earnings in taxes from ongoing businesses this year. It will be significant. Are expecting significant increases in sales and delivery. Sales Beat Estimates as well. Profits Beat Estimates. Far so good. For more, lets head over to berlin with hans nichols. Great. Numbers are lets be clear about this. 69 estimate increase. They beat the estimate by think 700 million euros. Exceeds me, 70 million euros. I want do the math for you, but it is growing almost as fast as s would hers account. It is heavy on china and suvs. Twitter account. It is heavy on china and suvs. They want to add 100 more in the coming years. They have some 400 outlooks. They really see a big growth there. It is the suv story in china that is driving the growth. When you look at the number of suvs over the last two years to now, take a look at market share. Global demand. 26 in will go all the way up to 40 in 2019. Overall, a good course of the auto industry. The reported earnings that was up 22 . We will be taking more into these numbers just to see how much they were hurt by the strong euro and what the fx trade did. Numbersll be remarkable great it looks like mercedes had a very good quarter. Thank you. Every time he mentions twitter, dementias my name. Im slightly ahead of he mentions many. Im slightly ahead of you. Im feeling inexplicably confident. Thank you very much for that. Kate a fouryear moss is teaming up with top shop. Here to tell us more about moss mania, Caroline Hyde is here on the flagship store. How did it go last night . It seemed to be a huge crowd here at yesterday. It lost a fanfare of djs. Kate moss was taking to the stage. Once again, the british style icon teamed up with the british powerhouse in retail. Time, theyh gathered. It moss unveiling a large collection of pieces. 600 pounds for one dress. 17 million [indiscernible] than thousands of crochet. Is to be a collaboration. It is. This is a company in which top 350 has stores in almost countries right now. Really pushing hard to germany and france. Kate mavs is not just a british style icon. She is a worldwide famous face. She has helped launch kate styles not just a british icon. She is a worldwide famous face. She has helped launch many i think it was in 19 [indiscernible] at the tender age of 14. This is why this is all about kate moss the business. She rates and 12 million pounds. Gather inre tax x i. Collection good there was a stampede to get in when it was unveiled. People were snatching dresses off the racks. In the likes of there are many tactics. U. K. Ct, if youre in the or from the united states, all of the designs of kate moss from nordstrom, it will be out before the rest is out good you can go online and start ordering. It will be interesting to see how many are there for ebay. Still buy some of those dresses for 130 pounds. She does seem to be a bit of an icon. It launches across the world later. Back to you. Thank you. I look forward to that. Think the the People Strategy was to drink wine. [laughter] im sure that something a dangerous combination. Coming up, the worlds biggest supplier. Er cork a decision hasre been made when we come back. Boiler room in london. Time for todays company news. Air france has its firstquarter loss as their field drops. Increased. Ng loss says secondquarter revenue will be lower than analyst estimates. Net loss after taking a 3 billion charge. That gives ebay about 6 billion in u. S. Cash for possible acquisition. A bank build out an italian bank with 5 billion euros of capital from investors next month. The money will be used to repay a great a capital buffer. Bloomberg spoke with a bank chief executive. The main goal of this Capital Increase is quite clear. Ofis to reverse 3 billion [indiscernible] welcome back to countdown. I am mark barton. I am anna edwards. 44 a. M. In london a company canceled its ipo. It seemed like a winning ipo combination mixing china and the appetite for pork. Mia, why is it off . They called it off. This little piggy is not going to the market. They say timing is everything. Right