28/01/2016 BBC Business Live

Live from London, that's our top story on Thursday

Shell shareholders have given the green light -

now it's up to investors in BG Group to seal the deal.

And to say they are on board. With prices at around $30 a barrel, does

it make financial sex. Tax transparency -

will the new OECD deal make corporate giants pay

the right amount of tax.? And it's a mixed picture emerging

in Europe on financial markets - lots of companies have reported

earnings as investors cherry pick Monarch Airlines was close

to collapse just two years ago, but it's set to return to profit

after rebranding itself And how much is your

information worth? Facebook says it makes $3.73

a year from each of us, so we want to know -

is it right that firms profit Let us know, use the

hashtag BBC BizLive. Royal Dutch Shell shareholders have

given the go ahead for its takeover It's a merger that would make Shell

the world's biggest liquified The deal is worth $49 billion

dollars - and as well as LNG assets, it would also give Shell access

to valuable oil resources But some Shell shareholders have

questioned the logic of the deal - as oil has dropped from 55 dollars

a barrel when it was first announced in April - to just 30

dollars a barrel. BG Group shareholders

are expected to approve the deal If it goes ahead, the companies

would merge on the 15th of February. Christopher Wheaton,

Energy Analyst at Allianz Global Welcome. $49 billion, the deal, but

makes financial sense given the makes financial sense given the

sell-off in oil. Clearly shareholders in Shell think it does.

We have had mixed views in the market but it is important to note

the value of the deal has come down the third, $25 billion, since it was

announced last year. That is because Shell chose to pay sensibly part in

shares in part in cash and the falling price has been reflected in

the lower price they are paying. On paper it seems to make sense because

it is about streamlining operations and controlling a bigger slice of

the market. What is in it for both sides, when we talk about potential

gains? BG, they get part of a bigger business. Shell, it is important

they focus on the parts of the oil industry they are good at, such as

liquefied natural gas and deepwater offshore oil and gas industry. If

you look their history, that is where they have made the highest

return on capital. It makes sense for Shell to focus on the bits of

the industry it is good at. What is interesting in the climate of lower

oil prices, yesterday reports that officials from the IMF and World

Bank looking at Azerbaijan, and an emergency loan to prop up their

industry, given their dependence on oil. Are we likely to see more of

that, with countries dependent on the price of oil, in the same way

these companies look at the price, these countries say they cannot

afford to pay their bills? The industry is screaming in pain at $30

oil. And countries like Azerbaijan, you could add Nigeria, Columbia, and

Middle Eastern nations. It is hurting. We will see more of this

intervention at government level. There have been issues in Russia on

whether they need to tax the oil and gas industry to raise more

government revenue because the budget does not work at $30 oil. We

will see more of this, just as in the commercial sector more banks

trying to recover money they have led to the oil industry,

particularly the US shale industry over the last five years. To return

to this merger issue. What happens next? Shell shareholders giving this

the green light, are we set for it to go ahead? That is one formality,

the BG shareholder vote today which will almost certainly go through.

And the green light goes on on the 15th of February. Thanks very much.

Good to see you. When we hear about that result, the

vote, which is expected to be approved, we will let you know.

Facebook has been winning more friends on Wall Street.

Shares in the social media giant jumped almost 12 per cent

in after-hours trading after it said profits doubled in the last quarter.

Revenue was up strongly - as were the number of active users

Facebook has now beaten analysts' expectations for ten quarters

in a row as advertising revenue continues to surge.

EBay's shares have fallen sharply after it forecast lower

than expected earnings that could mean a decline

EBay is struggling with competition from rival Amazon and traditional

retailers like Wal-Mart that are boosting their online presence.

Rules to stop companies using complex tax arrangements

to avoid paying corporate tax have been agreed by 31 OECD members.

They will make it harder for firms to hide money in tax havens or play

one country's tax authority against another.

Firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook must now pay tax

in the country where the profits are made.

Staying with the theme of tax, I want to take you to the life page

because the Today programme have spoken to a Commissioner responsible

for the deal over taxes and a debate about whether the EU could force

Google and other companies to pay more tax in the country's revenue is

earned. It has been debated, Starbucks, Tech giants, specifically

related to this row. A debate on the life page about whether the EU could

make a firm start paying fairer tax in the countries in which they earn

the money. I was going to jump in to say something I noticed today, this

is my opportunity to mention it, we have results coming in, Apple,

Boeing, eBay. Yesterday we had a steep fall on the markets in the US.

Apple and Boeing plunging on disappointing results. Together the

share price fall accounted for more than half the slide on the Dow Jones

industrial average. They are such big companies, and Apple the biggest

in terms of market capitalisation. That is interesting. Please agree

with me! The world is glad he reported on that news. We have heard

from many big names in technology. Samsung has reported profits down

40% for the fourth quarter, It is squeezed at both ends of the

smartphone market we can talk to Sarah. Give us more detail on how

Samsung is doing. Hello, Sally. After years of record profits it

appears things are finally slowing down for Samsung Electronics.

Profits fell by about 40% down to $2.7 billion in the first three

months to December. That is significantly below estimates.

Samsung warned it would be difficult to maintain profits this year.

Smartphone sales hit by strong competition, and cheaper Chinese

rivals and at the top of the market, Apple. The slowdown in China is

taking its toll. The most recent top of the range handset, Galaxy Essex,

fails to excite consumers and their other core business, semiconductors,

faces we can demand, for personal computer. It makes components for

the iPhone and that too is also facing a slowdown in sales. Thanks.

Ling us in on Samsun, it is one of those companies that has a massive

impact on the market here. The big loser on the Dow Jones, Apple, and

Boeing. Six and a half per cent down, Apple shares. A lot of

companies have come up with earnings. Diageo, better than

expected news. The FTSE was up. And Germany France hovering around the

same level, one third. It is reading between the lines as companies

reveal how they are faring stock companies like Diageo and the

American firms, some of them affected by the dollar. For a look

ahead today and what we can expect, we can go to the US. Microsoft

should impress and it is looking at how the strong dollar is affecting

revenue. The company has been more focused on its cloud business.

Amazon will look to beat expectations when it reports

fourth-quarter revenue. It is thought to have cornered 43% of

online sales in November and December and that combined with

strength in cloud computing should have led to strong growth. Ford

motor company is expected to announce record profits in 2015. The

US Congress department will release data on orders for US manufactured

goods which likely slipped in December because of the strong

dollar and fall in global demand. As far as financial markets are

concerned, in Asia we saw reaction to the Fed statement about interest

rates. But they are keeping a close eye on events before they make their

next choice on rates. We expect it to go up rather than down.

We are keeping an eye on UK GDP figures also today. We asked at the

start of the programme how much your personal information was worth,

relating to the fact Facebook said it makes $3 73 from each of us on

average from information we put on the site. Add that up and it comes

to a lot of money. Some comments. Never give correct details, says

Jerome Hurel. Protect your security data. Is he

really called to Rome?! If you are a product and you are

using it for free, you are the product and they are entitled to

make that money from you. Alistair says few people know how

Facebook generates their revenue, including HMRC. Perhaps like me the

best protest is to cancel our Facebook accounts, he says.

Another says, perhaps there should be an opt out where Facebook users

could pay $4 to opt out from that data being used. Other suggest stop

using it. Still to come. Monarch Airlines was

close to going under but the company has reinvented itself as a low-cost

carrier. That move is paying off. The chief executive will be hair.

Stay with us for that. We can bring you more detail now on the figures.

We are expecting to get a number of around double .4,. .5%, something

consistent with the economy growing at 2%. Not terrible and that not

relent. Let me show you where we have been. There is the Big Dipper,

the great recession. We have been hovering -- between 2% and 3% -- the

big decrease. Recently we have seen service sector is doing well but the

bit the government would like to stimulate, manufacturing,

construction, have been pretty weak. The march of the makers has not

materialised. Manufacture has been weak. Expects the oil price plunge

to affect the North Sea, which will have an impact on manufacturing. We

expect half a per cent but it will not be the headline number that is

interesting, it will be the way it is made up and it will show a

picture of a balanced, rebalanced economy. And the cocktail of risks

facing the economy, which the Chancellor highlighted. Those are

still ringing in the air is of many. -- in the ears. We have seen big

market falls and we have had volatile stock markets. Confidence

is not running at a high level. Perhaps people are not taking on an

extra person, not investing in an extra bit of equipment. At 2%, the

Chancellor will say we are hanging in there. He would like to see it

more balanced. It is easy to underestimate the effect the North

Sea house on the UK manufacturing economy, particularly in north-east

Scotland and North East England and I expect it to show up in the

numbers. David Cameron has is visiting

Aberdeen, this is a real issue for those parts of Scotland but for the

industry as a whole in the UK. Extra help is being demanded by the

authorities in Scotland when it comes to the help that can be given

to Aberdeen. You're watching Business

Live - our top story: The energy megamerger. There is

expected to be a $49 billion deal today. We will be watching the

details. Until then we are going to turn our attention to the airlines.

In 2014 - one of the UK's oldest airlines - Monarch -

looked like it was on the edge of collapse.

But after a rescue deal and more than a year of restructuring.

It says its underlying earnings for 2015 will be more

So how did the airline manage to turn itself around?

Its workers took large pay cuts - and 700 staff were made redundant.

It also restructured its routes, axing long-haul services -

and instead focusing on becoming a low-cost carrier.

With us is Andrew Swaffield, chief executive of Monarch Airlines

He has a lot to do with the changes. Thanks are coming on the show. Just

to say that when you took over, you were not aware of how bad things

were. That's right. I came in and aware of those issues, which turned

out to be helpful for me because I think that when you come to try to

restructure the company of that size, talking to the workforce, it

was helpful that I was nothing to do with the problem and I had not

actually been aware of it. We discovered it together. Talk me

through that moment you discovered things were quite so bad. What

happened? Escape! I had 20 years with British Airways and the parent

company. I was not used to being in an environment in that kind of

state. My first reaction was that this is going to be very difficult.

I was not the CEO at the time. I was number two. From a series of events

I was asked to take over. It was as much of an instinct decision as a

logical one. We have touched on some of the measures you had to take

which were not easy. We know what it is like when bosses try to reshape

airline companies. Unions are involved, strike action, problems

for the users of the airline, how did you go through that process in

such a way that the company came out like that? I think it was in such a

way that the owners had made it clear that they were not going to

continue owning it and no new owner would buy the company with the cost

base that it had. The lack of prospects and profitability. It was

about making that clear to the employees and the trade unions, and

the great thing about airlines is many of the implied he is our

professional. If you take pilots and engineers and cabin crew, they

understand if you explain it to them straightforward, they got the

message and be understood that the alternative was the company ceasing

to exist so they chose that. We spoke in the introduction about this

move away from what the company had been towards our low-cost model.

What was on that list when you said, these are the things that we've got

to cut. It was fairly straightforward to make the

decision. That is the future of European aviation. You can see it

with the growth of easyJet and Ryanair. The long haul operation

only had two Mac planes. It was not scalable. The charter operation was

dying. That business has been in decline for years. That was an easy

decision and it inspired a lot of other decisions behind it which

allowed us to build a new business plan. We are running out of time but

I want to ask you a question about being the boss of an airline, safety

is on the mind of everybody, tell us about that area of your job. I

understand in the industry there is incredible transparency and

collaboration between airlines. The aviation industry thrives on

openness and we have thorough investigations, and then the

industry gets safer. That happened after a previous incident and will

happen with the current threat. Aviation is very good at adapting,

so whether it is a port security or in the air, it will get safer. It

takes safety very seriously. That is one of the reasons why I love it

because it is a group of professionals. On that note we shall

end the interview. Thank you for coming in.

Diageo, the maker of Johhny Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka says it

has increased its global sales, despite the slowdown in China.

Major bright spots include the high end market in Africa -

where premium brands saw sales surge 65 per cent.

Ivan Menezes is the chief executive of the drinks maker,

speaking a little earlier he gave us his take on.

China is not growing double-digit but it grew a very solid 4%. Africa

remains a good opportunity. We are used to volatility in emerging

markets, these underlying demographics and the trend towards

consumers and the middle-class drinking better, they are intact and

that bodes well for the company. We need to stay the course and handle

the volatility but I'm pleased that our emerging markets grew. We've got

some breaking news about the economy Minister of Japan, he has announced

his resignation at a press conference. A lot of attention on

Japan. The bank of Japan will be having a very important meeting at

the end of this week to decide on monetary policy. A lot of pressure

on the Japanese central bank to do more to stimulate the economy. That

has just occurred. That came as a surprise because they were hoping he

would go to New Zealand to sign a big trade deal. This relates to

Braves which he denies. Richard Jeffrey from

Cazenove Capital Management Talk with us about the other

stories. We are starting with tax. Google and apple have hit back.

Google settling with UK authorities and some said it was not as good as

it could have been, it is paying a lot more in Italy. This debate will

rumble on. I think it will. What we are beginning to see is some

international agreement that you cannot tackle these issues of big

corporations and where they pay their tax on a country by country

basis. It must be done amongst countries. There needs to be

agreement with America and the European Union in order to locate

where profits are made and insured they are taxed where they are made

rather than transferred to lower tax areas. It is quite a step forward. I

can imagine the likes of Margaret Hodge and others thinking we are

getting there. We are getting there, we are still quite a long way away

from where we want to be, but you've got to take the first steps, and

they are being taken. It is up to corporations to respond to this and

realise the environment is changing, people expect them to pay more

taxation. What we need now is a more transparent system so people can

quite clearly see where these companies are making profits and

where they are being taxed on these profits. Very nice to see you. Short

but sweet. That is all for now.