08/02/2017 BBC Business Live


08/02/2017

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This is Business Live from BBC News with Sally Bundock and Rachel Horne.

:00:00.:00:00.

Trump's travel ban gets stuck in court.

:00:07.:00:09.

Another hearing brings further delay and confusion.

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Live from London, that's our top story on Wednesday, 8th February.

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Whilst judges grapple with the arguments for and against

:00:33.:00:37.

the Trump travel ban businesses move into damage limitation mode.

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We will talk you through what is at stake.

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Also in the programme, Softbank,the Japanese

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tech giant sees a big turnaround thanks to its investments

:00:51.:00:53.

in the political hotspots of the United States and Britain.

:00:54.:00:55.

Our team in the region will have the latest.

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And this is how markets are faring in Europe at the moment -

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several key companies have reported earnings.

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We'll talk you through the winners and losers.

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She has been described as the UK's most influential black person

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and is chair of the country's biggest media agency.

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But how tough was it for Karen Blackett to get to the top?

:01:13.:01:16.

And as Barack Obama's been spotted Kite Surfing

:01:17.:01:29.

in the Caribbean, we want to know - what would you do

:01:30.:01:32.

to unwind after eight years in a tough job?

:01:33.:01:34.

Is hanging out with Richard Branson on your bucket list?

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Thank you for your thoughts. Some of which we can't mention on the

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programme! We start with President Trump's

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travel ban which has Lawyers for the US Justice

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Department have been slogging it out with those for states of Washington

:01:58.:02:04.

and Minnesota who want The appeals court judges court

:02:05.:02:06.

in San Francisco are expected to give their decision later

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in this week. Let's recap. President Trump has

:02:13.:02:26.

been trying to temporarily ban people entering the US from seven

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countries. He says this is about terror and keeping our country safe.

:02:31.:02:35.

Whilst a stricter vetting system is put in place. But as you know, there

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has been widespread protest against this ban. 127 companies have signed,

:02:41.:02:46.

put forward their legal arguments and you can see some of the most

:02:47.:02:54.

influence companies on the list. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Tesla,

:02:55.:03:00.

Levis. They have filed court submissions. In the documents they

:03:01.:03:03.

have argued multinational companies will have strong incentives to base

:03:04.:03:07.

their operations outside the United States. At the moment, many of the

:03:08.:03:12.

companies use a visa programme called H 1 B. This grants entry to

:03:13.:03:20.

85,000 skilled foreigners a year and the tech industry relies heavily on

:03:21.:03:24.

this visa programme. There are approximately three applications for

:03:25.:03:27.

every visa. That's granted. That's some of the background. Rack to

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Rachel. Moira Benigson is the Managing

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Partner Founder of MBS Group which is an executive recruitment

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agency based here in London. One of Trump's key campaign pillars

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was about bringing jobs back to America. Are your clients concerned

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about this? We're working for many of those companies because we have a

:04:02.:04:08.

very big tech and digital division and fashion. They will become

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concerned. Not right now because we're in a transition period. But if

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you look at digital and tech companies in particular, their top

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teams are very, very diverse and from all over the world. You can't

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hold back progress and these days particularly at the MBS Group all of

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our short lists are extremely balanced and come from all over the

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world. They're not particularly from one country, even though we are here

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in the UK. Now in terms of global recruitment, as you say, you can't

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hold back progress, it is a very different market, I imagine now than

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perhaps when you first started out when companies are drawing up their

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short lists, it is from more than one country, isn't it? Absolutely.

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So you know, in the, I would think ten years ago, if you were looking

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for a role in the UK, everybody would probably be from the UK. But

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we're all connected digitally, everybody is, socially, and in the

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workplace and therefore, people don't look at that anymore. And we

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find that in our fashion clients and in our tech and digital, CEOs are

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getting younger and younger and their world is completely different.

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They're not interested in borders. They want the right people in the

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right jobs, with the right teams. Moira, with this potential travel

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ban in the US, also with the issue of Brexit, what sort of concerns are

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CEOs are these executives that you recruit coming to you with or what

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decisions that wouldn't have shaped decisions that wouldn't have shaped

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their decisions a year ago? Well, I think until, I think Brexit kicked

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it off where the world was just becoming one place and is one place

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especially for very senior people and we recently were bringing over a

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CEO from France to the UK and he had signed his contract the day before

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Brexit. Brexit happened. He phoned me the next day it say, "Will I

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still be welcome in the UK?" It was a great shock for me and there I

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found myself as an immigrant telling him everything would be OK.

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And from the US have you any similar situations? Not yet, but recently

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for one of our fashion clients, in fact, just going back, it's

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generally been easier to get Europeans to go to the US than the

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other way round. Americans are quite loathe and many don't even have

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passports as we know, but in this particular instance the CEO said his

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wife did not want to raise her children for the next four years in

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America and they would be extremely happy to come to Europe. So I think

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you might see the reverse in America where they might get a brain drain.

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OK. Moira, thank you very much for your time this morning. A pleasure.

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In other news, the world's second biggest producer of iron ore,

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Rio Tinto, has returned to profit after a 12%

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The mining giant was given a boost by the recovery in commodity prices.

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Iron ore has nearly doubled in value over the last 12 months.

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Rio Tinto raised its dividend by more than expected

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Walt Disney's chief executive, Bob Iger, has warned that a trade

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war between the US and China would be bad for business.

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The entertainment company's boss told CNBC he was also critical

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of an executive order signed by Mr Trump barring

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migrants and refugees from several Muslim countries.

:08:10.:08:13.

The company reported a surprise drop in sales to just under $14.8 billion

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despite a strong performance from its theme parks and movie

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divisions which now includes the Star Wars franchise.

:08:19.:08:27.

Let's talk about Japan's Softbank. It snapped up Arm Holdings and it

:08:28.:08:35.

has been chummying up with the United States and President Trump in

:08:36.:08:39.

particular. It is doing well in terms of profits. 71% year-on-year

:08:40.:08:42.

rise. What's the reaction? Now, Softbank

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said it made $2.63 billion for the quarter after Sprint added more

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subscribers than expected. This was the first full quarter since

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Softbank coming pleated a $32 billion acquisition of Britain's

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most valuable technology company, ARM. We know the founder and CEO of

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Softbank has got big, pliing plans to make the company a company with

:09:29.:09:33.

technology investments, moving away from the telecoms business to

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becoming more diversified. It has got stakes in Alibaba.

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There is the $50 billion investment in the US that he pledged when he

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met with Donald Trump in December which would create 50,000 new jobs

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all of which will aim to transform Softbank into a technology firm with

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a difference. So much to take in there. Thank you very much.

:10:08.:10:11.

We have heard from Softbank. We've heard from the likes of Disney,

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General Motors, for the US yesterday alone, I think 80 companies reported

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earnings that are listed on the S and P 500. It is keeping traders

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extremely busy. This is how things went in general in Asia overnight

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and the night before on Wall Street. Let's look at Europe right now. So

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again, earnings are dominating. We've mentioned Rio Tinto and Rio's

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shares up 3% in London. You can see the markets fairly flat, but we've

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had Carlsberg out, brewing up a better profit as well.

:10:46.:10:49.

The Danish brewer Carlsberg has reported a rise in full-year profits

:10:50.:10:55.

The company says its expects a modest increase

:10:56.:10:58.

And Samira Hussain has the details about what's ahead

:10:59.:11:05.

Company earnings continue on Wednesday. We will be hearing from

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Time Warner. The company is being bought by AT, but the sale has

:11:17.:11:20.

been opposed by US President Donald Trump. During the election campaign.

:11:21.:11:23.

So investors will be looking for comments on that. Now US coal miner,

:11:24.:11:31.

Arch Coal will be reporting earnings. This comes at a time when

:11:32.:11:36.

the Donald Trump administration has been looking to undue regulations

:11:37.:11:42.

and support more mining. Investors and analysts will be watching for

:11:43.:11:49.

broader comments on deregulation. Finally, the grocery store chain

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Whole Foods Market will be reporting earnings. They are grappling with

:11:54.:11:58.

competition and they want to shed their nickname of whole pea cheque.

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It has been lowering prices and experimenting with its new value

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orientated grocery brand. Joining us is Richard Hunter,

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Head of Research at Wilson King We will talk about commodities,

:12:12.:12:20.

aren't we? We have seen a bounce back in commodity prices. Do you

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think it is sustainable? It could be. On the one hand you've got the

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demand from the likes of China and indeed India as you were mentioning.

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So demand is very possibly going to stay there, but the other thing that

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the commodities companies have had to do over the last couple of years

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is really start running themselves as a business. So they have been

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cutting costs sharply. They have been divesting assets that they

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don't consider core to what they're doing and in terms of the likes of

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Rio that's so diversified across so many metals, it could very much be

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sustainable now they've cleaned their books up a bit. It is

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interesting you say that. We've got Rio Tinto's results today which are

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better than expected and also they've boosted their dividend by

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quite a bit which is very welcome, isn't it, having had a rough couple

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of years? It is. Of course, particularly in the interest rate

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environment we find ourselves in at the moment. Any boost to dividend

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income is yet another attraction for shares as against other investments.

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That follows on from BP yesterday and some other mining companies and

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commodity companies. Are they back in favour now, do you think, these

:13:28.:13:31.

stocks for portfolio managers, the commodity companies? It is fair to

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say that they are a good hedge against inflation if we get to that

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point, inflation could be coming to us a bit later in the year because

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if we get inflation that will be UK-focussed, commodity companies do

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99. 9% of their business outside the UK. That's an interesting one. But

:13:50.:13:54.

whether investors, they still tend to be towards the higher end of the

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risk scale so your common investor may not go towards the mining

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stocks, but they're more popular than they were 18 months ago.

:14:05.:14:09.

Richard Hunter you will be back to discuss the papers. And what he

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would do after eight years in a tough job!

:14:14.:14:19.

We've got Mr Obama. Mark said you'd burn your suit! I'm with you there.

:14:20.:14:25.

I'd sell it. You'd put it on eBay. It depends how long you wore it for!

:14:26.:14:31.

Still to come, the inside track on diversity in the media

:14:32.:14:34.

from the chair of the UKs biggest media agency.

:14:35.:14:37.

You're with Business Live from BBC News.

:14:38.:14:45.

A day after the Government launched the Housing white paper,

:14:46.:14:49.

one UK house builder seems to be going from strength to strength.

:14:50.:14:53.

Redrow has just published it's half-year results showing revenue

:14:54.:15:00.

rising 23% to ?739 million and they completed

:15:01.:15:02.

nearly 2,500 homes in the last six months.

:15:03.:15:04.

Their CEO John Tutte joins us from the london Stock Exchange.

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John, thank you very much for your time this morning. As Sally said,

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yesterday we heard Government ministers calling the UK housing

:15:14.:15:16.

market broken. What's your reaction to that? Well, good morning

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everyone. I think perhaps it was an unfortunate title for the paper. I

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don't think it's broken. The industry has increased its output by

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50% in the last three years. What was your response to the white

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paper? There was mixed reaction. Most say they were quite

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disappointed. The one thing to put in context is it is a consultation

:16:09.:16:13.

document, and that consultation is open until the beginning of May. The

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important thing is how it moves on from here. There is a whole raft of

:16:20.:16:23.

measures proposed in there and that needs detail. It is good news that

:16:24.:16:29.

local authorities, there will be more pressure on them to allocate

:16:30.:16:33.

their housing and put their plans in place because 60% of local

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authorities have not got plans in place yet. To put them under

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pressure to do that will be good and to test the delivery of those plans

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will be good. The measures they are

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proposing on speeding up the planning system by putting more

:16:58.:16:59.

resources into planning departments, having fewer conditions on planning

:17:00.:17:01.

permission, is all good news and should help us bring outlets forward

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and assist our growth. L'Oreal is selling the body shop potentially.

:17:11.:17:13.

Their results are out on Thursday and they could be reviewing their

:17:14.:17:15.

ownership. Our top story: President Trump's

:17:16.:17:20.

travel ban has had its latest They are grappling with both sides

:17:21.:17:35.

of the argument. The conclusion will be batted to the Supreme Court

:17:36.:17:37.

Lawyers for the Justice Department told a hearing in San Francisco why

:17:38.:17:41.

it should be upheld whilst those for Washington state made

:17:42.:17:44.

A decision is expected later this week.

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It is a really busy time for earnings. Depending on whether you

:17:51.:17:57.

are Rio Tinto Allred row will depend on how you are doing today.

:17:58.:18:02.

In the advertising and media world, diversity remains a challenge.

:18:03.:18:11.

Karen Blackett's father told her as a black woman,

:18:12.:18:14.

she'd have to work twice as hard to get anywhere.

:18:15.:18:16.

She now heads up the UK's largest media agency.

:18:17.:18:18.

It manages more than ?1.2bn of advertising spend for firms

:18:19.:18:21.

Let's get the Inside Track with a media executive who's been

:18:22.:18:24.

voted the UK's most influential black person, overcoming

:18:25.:18:26.

hurdles to rise to the top of the advertising tree.

:18:27.:18:29.

Karen Blackett started her career in 1993 at CIA Media Network.

:18:30.:18:31.

She then joined The Media Business Group and was promoted to the Board

:18:32.:18:35.

of Directors in 1999 when the group merged with MediaCom.

:18:36.:18:37.

After climbing the ranks, Karen was promoted to Chairwoman

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The firm now employs more than 1,000 people in the UK.

:18:40.:18:45.

Karen is just a little bit older than me, so I feel a little bit

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inadequate listening to that. When we realised you were coming in, I

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said we would be talking to you about advertising, diversity and

:18:58.:19:01.

apprenticeships. You have knowledge on a huge agreement of subjects.

:19:02.:19:06.

What is the most important? I love my industry and I love what I do, so

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advertising is top of the tree, but part of being good at advertising is

:19:12.:19:15.

about having an inclusive workforces, and inclusive content

:19:16.:19:21.

that you create, so diversity and inclusion goes hand in hand with

:19:22.:19:26.

that. It is the buzzword in management school at the moment,

:19:27.:19:30.

diversity, how to feel diversity in an organisation. Why is it so

:19:31.:19:36.

important? There are so many studies that show when you have more

:19:37.:19:39.

inclusive workforces and cos it benefits both economic play and

:19:40.:19:45.

socially. Those companies which are more diverse tend to be those which

:19:46.:19:50.

are more financially stable and successful. It is a buzzword because

:19:51.:19:56.

it is common business sense. It is not for altruistic reasons, it is

:19:57.:20:00.

business sense. If you have to sell a brand to consumers in any country

:20:01.:20:05.

you need to reflect your consumers in the advertising content you

:20:06.:20:10.

create and in the workplace. Being called an influential black person,

:20:11.:20:15.

does it annoy you that that is still a label? It is not something that

:20:16.:20:23.

annoys me, it is something I find embarrassing but brilliant. But it

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is something that is important because I know when I was growing up

:20:26.:20:31.

in Reading I did not have many role models. My role models were

:20:32.:20:35.

immediate family and friends and in a business context I was not aware

:20:36.:20:39.

of roles I could go into because there were not people like me who

:20:40.:20:43.

worked in those companies, or so I thought. The powerless, the list

:20:44.:20:49.

that I topped, they are really important because it provides role

:20:50.:20:52.

model opportunities for people in the UK. Your dad did say you would

:20:53.:20:58.

have a tough time ahead getting on because you were black and a woman.

:20:59.:21:05.

Was that the case? It is true. My mum and dad came over from Barbados

:21:06.:21:10.

in the 60s and he was concerned because they came over to a country

:21:11.:21:14.

that they did not know and they had to try and navigate it and they had

:21:15.:21:18.

to make sure that we would have a happy and successful life, me and my

:21:19.:21:23.

sister. It was tough because people do discriminate and people hire in

:21:24.:21:30.

their own images. At that time the advertising world was quite close,

:21:31.:21:34.

nepotism did exist, and there were not many people like me who worked

:21:35.:21:37.

in the advertising industry. However, when you look at the black

:21:38.:21:44.

population in the UK and you look at the economic contribution of that

:21:45.:21:50.

population, we are worth around ?300 billion in terms of financial

:21:51.:21:55.

ability to spend. It is an incredibly important sector that we

:21:56.:22:00.

have to tap into, because people in the UK by brands and products.

:22:01.:22:03.

Unfortunately we have to leave it there. Thank you very much for

:22:04.:22:08.

joining us. You can hear more from Karen online, she is on Twitter. We

:22:09.:22:16.

are all having a Twitter chat. The rise of the robot is featuring again

:22:17.:22:21.

and the impact of automation is fast becoming one of the biggest

:22:22.:22:24.

challenges Bob governments around the world. The online retailer Ocado

:22:25.:22:31.

is increasingly turning to automation. Let's have a look at

:22:32.:22:35.

what is happening in their warehouses. This warehouse is

:22:36.:22:44.

stuffed full of algorithms and machines learning, controlling 8000

:22:45.:22:47.

of these boxes. Welcome back. This is from

:22:48.:23:39.

Bloomberg. Explain this to us. It is what is happening in Australia and

:23:40.:23:49.

it might ring bells here. How individuals are piling on debt,

:23:50.:23:52.

mainly in mortgages and they are getting mortgages up to the hilt, to

:23:53.:23:57.

quite high levels, which is OK at the moment, but interest rates might

:23:58.:24:03.

go up. Where are they in Australia? They are about 1.5% at the moment,

:24:04.:24:11.

but they could be on the way up. If you are highly indebted, each time

:24:12.:24:14.

interest rates go up, they could cause problems. They have got some

:24:15.:24:22.

bad debts and it is not crisis point yet, but keep an eye on it. Let's

:24:23.:24:27.

take a look at Barack Obama kite surfing. That is what he has been up

:24:28.:24:34.

to on a nice little two weeks away at Sir Richard Branson's Private

:24:35.:24:37.

Caribbean retreat. There he is in action. What would you do if you

:24:38.:24:43.

needed to take a break after a very demanding job? I am not sure I would

:24:44.:24:49.

get on the speed style to Richard Branson. We will put it out there.

:24:50.:24:57.

You never know. It could be water-based. I fancy the idea if you

:24:58.:25:02.

had nothing to do for a month, a long cruise going to different

:25:03.:25:05.

cities. That is not really kite surfing. What would you do, Sally? I

:25:06.:25:13.

have a long bucket list, I have got three little boys. The world would

:25:14.:25:19.

be my oyster. A little sleep. Sleep would be good. We have got a lot of

:25:20.:25:27.

tweets. Some of you said you would head to the Caribbean. If Richard

:25:28.:25:30.

Branson was offering, you would not say no. We have not got time to do

:25:31.:25:38.

the next story. Thank you to Richard.

:25:39.:25:46.

There will be more business news throughout the day on the BBC Live

:25:47.:25:51.

webpage and on World Business Report.

:25:52.:25:53.

It will not be asked tomorrow, we will be having our cat naps!

:25:54.:26:08.

Good morning. It has been a cold start this morning and temperatures

:26:09.:26:15.

will not rise a great deal today and it will get colder over the next few

:26:16.:26:20.

days. A lot of cloud on the way and temperatures will be lowering and it

:26:21.:26:24.

will feel cold as the easterly wind picks up. We saw at the beginning of

:26:25.:26:30.

the week a band of rain moving across from the West, but it has now

:26:31.:26:34.

got stuck on the east side of the UK. It is a very weak feature, but

:26:35.:26:41.

behind it there is cold air that will be coming in on an easterly

:26:42.:26:47.

wind. Some sunshine in western fringes of the UK, but for many

:26:48.:26:50.

central and eastern areas it is cloudy, grey and misty and there

:26:51.:26:56.

will be some showers around as well. The wind is not too strong just yet.

:26:57.:27:01.

Sunshine in Devon, Cornwall and West Wales as well with highs of eight or

:27:02.:27:09.

nine. But across the rest of Wales, the Midlands and southern England,

:27:10.:27:14.

cloudy skies and there could be some wintry showers in northern England.

:27:15.:27:19.

In Northern Ireland brightening up with some sunshine, sunshine in the

:27:20.:27:25.

North West and the western isles of Scotland. Snow in the showers over

:27:26.:27:29.

the Grampians. A few more wintry showers coming in on the breeze

:27:30.:27:36.

overnight. Frost almost anywhere. Even under the cloud it could be

:27:37.:27:41.

cold enough for temperatures close to freezing. There will be a fresh

:27:42.:27:48.

breeze as we head into Thursday and it will freshen many parts of the

:27:49.:27:53.

country, blowing in cloud. A hint of sunshine in sheltered western areas.

:27:54.:27:59.

A bit more sleet and snow, no great amounts of snow, most of it on the

:28:00.:28:04.

hills of eastern Scotland and the North East of England. But

:28:05.:28:08.

temperatures will be lower than today. Nothing is coming in from the

:28:09.:28:13.

Atlantic where it is milder. We have got a big block of cold air coming

:28:14.:28:20.

in from the east. The wind picks up on Friday and it will feel colder.

:28:21.:28:25.

Cloudy skies across the board and temperatures at three or four at the

:28:26.:28:27.

very best.

:28:28.:28:29.

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