28/09/2012 World Business Report

or husband. Those are the latest headlines. Now

Balkan two World Business Report. Assessing the damage of Spain's

boom and bust - an independent audit is said to reveal a whole and

its banking system. The makers of Tiger beer get poured

out by Heineken. Making France competitive again -

what the nation small businesses Warned Spain in just a moment.

First, to France, where as you have been seeing, the Cabinet will

announce its new budget. It is likely to have 20 billion euros in

tax rises for individuals and businesses. The last few months

have already seen thousands of lay- offs by some of France's largest

firms such as Peugeot and Air France. Confirmation this week that

unemployment has passed the 3 million mark. Our correspondent has

Designed in northern France, but also printed, precision cut and

Sony. This firm in place 300 skilled workers and sold one

million of its custom-made flags last year. The third-generation

family member to be the firm says Addington compete against a

thousand global competitors has forced constant innovation. But he

says the burden on businesses like his has become too heavy. He was

the budget to open the door to easier implement, especially of

skilled younger people. What we try to do is to persuade the Government

to say hello. If you don't make money would have money to spend.

Protection of poor people can be a bit too much. You cannot fire

people in any easy way. I have a factory in the US we have a problem

and you can fire people. It is very easy and quick. In France it is

impossible. This company is a strong export of. It has learned to

live with high taxes on employing people and paying for their

pensions. Meanwhile, countries like Germany and the Netherlands have

carried out many reforms and the worry is that the eurozone economy

is turning into eight team at the state. The finance minister told me

a few days ago that he is trying to steeled some of the small

businesses from tax increases. taxes on the people and firms, but

the situation will not be the firm if the East -- company is big and

small. We want to invest more in the smaller and medium-size firms.

Commentators say France has lost a lot of time, failing to reform a

system which still favours employment of the inefficient and

low-skilled. Politicians did not want to tackle this issue and there

has been any increase in It means that it is very difficult

to be competitive with German competitors. France's second

largest economy desperately needs to see more jobs created at private

firms like this. But the 2013 Budget may only bring the biggest

tax hike senior. The battle for control of

Singaporean beer brand tiger. It appears to be at an end. We go

straight to our reporter in Singapore.

It was almost a two-month long battle. It essentially ends today.

Shareholders in that the company have voted to sell the company's

beer business to Heineken. The Dutch brewer will take and trawl of

Asia Pacific Breweries which makes Tiger beer. This decision was waged

for weeks. It was a battle that went on for two months between

Heineken and the second richest man in Thailand. Asia is a fast-growing

market globally for beer. It was very attractive to these firms. APB

produces many other beers besides Tiger. They are behind some of the

most popular beers in Asia. Heineken had already had a 56%

stake in APB. This was a decision to buy out at little bit of the

rest. The battle for control of the company began in January, when

companies linked to the Thai billionaire bid for stakes in the

company. That prompted Heineken to try to protect its assets in the

region by trying to gain full control of APB. The joint venture

has been going on for decades. After a huge series of news that

resembled something of a bidding war for control on 19th September.

The Thai companies finally said they would support the Heineken bid.

The Heineken takeover still has to go through a little bit more of a

process. They will have to get approval from Singapore's

regulators. The all eyes are once again on Spain this Friday as it

seeks a way out of its deepening financial crisis.

Thursday saw a crisis budget aimed at saving some 39 billion euros

next year in tax rises and spending cuts. Later today Spain's

government publishes an audit of its struggling banking system. It

will show how much money will be needed to save lenders crippled by

the country's real estate crash. The moves are widely seen as paving

the way for a request for aid from the ECB which would then buy out

Spain's government debt to bring down its crippling borrowing costs.

Time for a quick look at some other business news. Britain's financial

watchdog will apply plans to reform the setting of LIBOR, the benchmark

interest rate. It was revealed to have been manipulated by banks. It

is used to price trillions of dollars of global transactions from

home loans to credit cards. UK regulators may propose stripping

the bank's' industry body of its role in setting the rate and basing

it on actual market trades rather than but banks claim to be paying.

The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone says it lost $235

million in the past quarter. Investors had expected a far worse

number and the resorts saw stock surged 18%. BlackBerry subscriber

numbers have been boosted by sales in emerging markets like India and

Indonesia, where revenues per use are typically lower. The company is

now betting on its next generation phones to try to narrow the gap

with the iPhone and Android based phones.