:00:04. > :00:14.told. Now it is time for Show Me the
:00:14. > :00:29.
:00:29. > :00:34.Good evening. Show Me the Money, your weekly guide to who is making
:00:34. > :00:41.big cash and what it means for us. With us tonight, we will find out
:00:41. > :00:47.what changes are on the cards for Clinton with a new boss. Another of
:00:47. > :00:52.enterprises anywhere, enterprise editor at the Mail on Sunday, and
:00:52. > :00:57.the firm that makes accessories to plug into your Tablet and
:00:57. > :01:01.Smartphone. Today we have had a peek inside the Chancellor's box of
:01:01. > :01:06.economic delights. This comes ahead of his autumn economic statement on
:01:06. > :01:11.Tuesday. First up, more investment in building projects, and he wants
:01:11. > :01:16.to make it cheaper for firms to get loans. It is through a scheme
:01:16. > :01:22.called credit easing and would involve the government under
:01:22. > :01:28.writing loans for firms that turn over less than �500 million a year.
:01:28. > :01:33.Helene, just explain how this would work for us. Credit easing? It is
:01:33. > :01:37.made up of three parts. The state will guarantee bonds sold by the
:01:37. > :01:42.high-street banks, provided they use that money to lend to small
:01:42. > :01:47.businesses, up to �50 million. The benefit is for small firms that it
:01:47. > :01:52.should lead to lower interest rates on those loans. The second part is
:01:52. > :01:57.to package loans made to small and medium-sized enterprises, which
:01:57. > :02:01.gives the banks more capacity to lend yet again, and the third part
:02:01. > :02:05.is to try to increase long-term loans which are made to SMEs and
:02:05. > :02:10.the benefits of that is to give greater stability to firms if they
:02:10. > :02:13.know that loan will be held over a longer period. One of the big
:02:13. > :02:16.problems with business we keep talking about is how it is so
:02:16. > :02:21.difficult to get the money from the bank in the first place, and it
:02:21. > :02:25.sounds as though this scheme is about getting their loans are
:02:25. > :02:29.cheaper but not necessarily greater access to them. We don't expect the
:02:29. > :02:35.banks to lend to unviable businesses. But the problem is they
:02:35. > :02:39.are too cautious at the moment. If the state guarantees to underwrite
:02:39. > :02:45.a significant percentage of those loans, the banks will think, we are
:02:45. > :02:48.in more of a position where we can give those loans. Tom, your
:02:48. > :02:52.somewhat qualified because your turnover is less than �50 million a
:02:52. > :02:57.year. Would you go for it? Absolutely, we welcome anything
:02:57. > :03:02.that would give us better access to capital. I have a lot of questions
:03:02. > :03:06.about how it would be implemented and I am interested to know how it
:03:06. > :03:10.would have set the front line and how quickly it could come. My main
:03:10. > :03:15.comment is that the cost of capital isn't really the barrier for
:03:15. > :03:19.smaller businesses. It is access to capital. My questions are around
:03:19. > :03:23.how this will affect access for small firms. Coming to you on this
:03:23. > :03:30.as well, do you think it will help to restore the business confidence
:03:30. > :03:34.that is needed in the economy? welcome the statement from the
:03:34. > :03:38.Chancellor today. It will help small businesses. We need to
:03:38. > :03:42.remember why it is important to help small businesses. They are the
:03:42. > :03:48.backbone of the economy. They are the largest employer group in the
:03:48. > :03:56.country. Anything that helps us to boost unemployment, many of the
:03:56. > :04:02.large businesses today such as us, Clinton. We started as a small
:04:02. > :04:06.business. We had one store. We now employ 8,000 people. Helping small
:04:06. > :04:10.businesses is vital to the economy. Isn't part of the issue that we
:04:10. > :04:15.need to get companies to export more because even though you might
:04:15. > :04:21.give them the money, they had then got the issue of having to try to
:04:21. > :04:24.sell their services? Of course we need a balanced economy. One that
:04:24. > :04:29.has the right amount of manufacturing and financial
:04:29. > :04:36.services and the right amount of services for everybody in this
:04:36. > :04:43.country, so it is about balance. But of course, the more we export,
:04:43. > :04:51.the better it is. It is about helping small businesses get access
:04:51. > :04:55.to money. There are some people who might hear this �40 billion figure
:04:55. > :04:59.and think, where is all this money coming from? It is not money that
:04:59. > :05:04.has been handed out by the government? Absolutely not. The
:05:04. > :05:09.Chancellor does not need to find 40 billion. It is that the government
:05:09. > :05:14.will underwrite those bonds. It is a commitment as opposed to a
:05:14. > :05:18.natural cash amount. Time now for our quick flick through some of the
:05:19. > :05:23.stories you hoped you would miss this week. This lot have been
:05:23. > :05:28.camping out for six days in Texas just so they can be the first in
:05:28. > :05:32.line for the infamous Black Friday discount day. This is the
:05:32. > :05:36.traditional start to the Christmas shopping season, when retailers
:05:36. > :05:40.lure people in with massive sales. This year's events did not quite go
:05:40. > :05:45.to plan. There were reports of shopping related violence,
:05:45. > :05:48.including looting, shooting and a security guard attacked with pepper
:05:48. > :05:52.spray. Have you ever wanted to meet and
:05:52. > :05:56.greet your loved ones at the airport in a way that makes you
:05:56. > :06:00.stand out from the crowd? Amsterdam's airport has taken
:06:00. > :06:04.delivery of what is thought to be the first vending machine which
:06:04. > :06:13.prints out personalised banners in just a few minutes. The standard
:06:13. > :06:16.messages include "and Mr Hugh" and "will you marry me?". Some of you
:06:16. > :06:21.may be in a grump about the state of the world economy but this
:06:21. > :06:25.Japanese store is having none of it. It has just put on sale a golden
:06:25. > :06:32.Christmas tree for �1 million. The stock on top of the tree alone is
:06:32. > :06:37.worth nearly �40,000. It took 15 craftsmen four and a half months to
:06:37. > :06:41.complete. I can't imagine that I will be seeing that in my house
:06:41. > :06:48.this Christmas. Tom, we were talking about black
:06:48. > :06:55.Friday sales and getting people to buy products on days like this. Is
:06:55. > :07:00.it a marketing trick? No, it comes from the day that the retailers go
:07:00. > :07:05.from being in the road to being in the black. Cyber Monday is the UK
:07:05. > :07:09.online equivalent. The patterns of people's shopping, the days that
:07:09. > :07:14.retailers start to promote heavily, the issue retailers in the UK
:07:14. > :07:19.started to promote heavily with 100 hour sales and it is an exciting
:07:19. > :07:23.time. We'd just launched in the US and on Monday, the first thing I
:07:23. > :07:28.will be interested in is how our Black Friday sales were. What is
:07:28. > :07:32.your biggest day? One of the days in the run-up to Christmas and
:07:32. > :07:36.hopefully not that last one! airport banner sounds quite
:07:36. > :07:42.innovative. It is one of those products way you think, I am
:07:42. > :07:46.surprised nobody has done it before. It is innovative and that is the
:07:46. > :07:50.heart of good business, an idea that somebody has had but have
:07:51. > :07:56.never acted upon. Do you think we are seeing enough innovation was
:07:56. > :07:59.mad I think the UK is incredibly innovative. When we talk about how
:07:59. > :08:06.we are struggling, we forget that we have a huge amount of incredibly
:08:06. > :08:11.innovative companies in the UK. We just need the money now to make
:08:11. > :08:15.those innovations happen. important is innovation in your
:08:15. > :08:20.business? It is massively important. The market moves forward very
:08:20. > :08:25.quickly and we have to invest a lot in design and technology and
:08:25. > :08:30.opportunities open up every day for innovation. We put so much of our
:08:31. > :08:34.profits and capital into developing new products. Do you see much
:08:34. > :08:39.return on that? Isn't there a danger that you come up with a
:08:39. > :08:44.wacky ideas and make money of one of them? Innovation is risky. That
:08:44. > :08:49.is what business is all about, about managing risks. It is true
:08:49. > :08:53.that if you do something that has never been done before, you can't
:08:53. > :08:59.learn from others' mistakes. When we make mistakes, our competitors
:08:59. > :09:04.look at those mistakes and the second market is sometimes a more
:09:04. > :09:09.enviable place to be. We have thousands of great ideas now. There
:09:09. > :09:15.are huge technology ideas that we are addressing. We are taking risks
:09:15. > :09:21.with enervation and we hope those risks will pay off -- innovation.
:09:21. > :09:28.You would say that! Can you be innovative with a card? Of course!
:09:28. > :09:32.There is lots of innovation in the greeting cards market. Innovation,
:09:32. > :09:37.I think, it is extremely important. The thing about greeting cards is
:09:37. > :09:41.when you go and buy a card, it says a lot about yourself, this thing
:09:41. > :09:45.that you are giving to somebody else. It says a lot about you and
:09:45. > :09:50.the relationship you have so innovation is very important.
:09:50. > :09:56.do you make of the Golden Christmas-tree? A Christmas tree
:09:56. > :10:02.for �1 million? I feel a lot better about the one I got up under �100!
:10:02. > :10:07.The wider point, people want to treat themselves now and again, so
:10:07. > :10:11.having something that is premium is not a bad thing. It is all about
:10:11. > :10:16.getting the balance right. Some of your cards on a fiver which I think
:10:16. > :10:22.is pretty steep! I have your Christmas card here. When you open
:10:22. > :10:26.it up, I think you'll find... It was not quite �5 but it is great
:10:26. > :10:30.value. When I go and buy my Christmas card for my wife this
:10:30. > :10:34.Christmas, what really matters is what the card looks like and what I
:10:34. > :10:41.right inside and if I can convey my feelings for five quid to my wife,
:10:41. > :10:47.I think it is great value for money. Would you pay a fiver for a card?
:10:47. > :10:52.am a cheapskate, I am afraid I wouldn't! The point is it is around
:10:52. > :10:57.choice and variety. We have cards from 99p and cards that go up to
:10:57. > :11:01.even more than a fiver. What it is about, when you pick up the card it
:11:01. > :11:06.has to be great value for money, but also it is about to you are
:11:06. > :11:15.sending it to and what message you are trying to convey. It is about
:11:15. > :11:20.emotion. Do premium products have a place in your mow -- market?
:11:20. > :11:24.Absolutely. We sell products from premium prices to good-value prices
:11:24. > :11:28.and all sorts of different channels. We pride ourselves on having a
:11:28. > :11:33.product for every member of the family. At the premium end of the
:11:33. > :11:38.business, the competition changes. All of the metrics in the business
:11:39. > :11:43.changed but it is important for us to do, to put our innovation into
:11:43. > :11:46.premium products and then seek that innovation filter down into the
:11:46. > :11:51.lower-priced products. Do you suffer much from people selling
:11:51. > :11:56.counterfeit versions of your products? There could be big
:11:56. > :11:59.problems for you, people copying and selling it cheaper? We designed
:11:59. > :12:04.and engineered products in the UK and they are manufactured in Asia
:12:04. > :12:12.and sold all across the world. We have had some problems with designs
:12:12. > :12:17.being copied. More recently we have been selling a range of angry birds,
:12:17. > :12:23.that is the theme, and this angry birds cultural phenomenon,
:12:23. > :12:28.everywhere in the world now, and my three-year-old of tricks me up
:12:28. > :12:32.every morning asking me to play it with her on her iPad and it was
:12:32. > :12:38.introduced by somebody who was 65, so it has massive appeal all over
:12:38. > :12:43.the world and we have to control the counterfeits. Counterfeits is
:12:43. > :12:47.sold in street markets in China but also imported into Europe so it is
:12:47. > :12:51.damaging. You are the new chief executive of Clinton Cards, you
:12:51. > :12:58.have been in the job six weeks. Looking at the performance in the
:12:58. > :13:03.last year, it was loss-making until the end of the summer. How you turn
:13:03. > :13:07.it around? We recognise that perhaps we did not modernise the
:13:07. > :13:11.company as quickly as we should have. I have been in the job six
:13:11. > :13:15.weeks and an undertaking a strategic review of the company.
:13:15. > :13:19.The two biggest areas that we need to focus on his all round the
:13:20. > :13:23.customer. But in the custom at the centre of what we do. So when a
:13:23. > :13:27.customer walks into a Clinton store and wants to buy a card for their
:13:27. > :13:31.mum, we have to make it very easy for them to find it and when they
:13:31. > :13:35.pick it up, it has to be super value for money. We need to make
:13:35. > :13:41.sure that our people are doing everything they can to help serve
:13:42. > :13:50.the customers. Surely that is basic, that you label things properly?
:13:50. > :13:54.course. The thing about retell, it is about... It is in the detail. We
:13:54. > :13:58.serve 2 million customers every week. I would like to say we get it
:13:59. > :14:03.right for every customer but we don't. We are only as good as the
:14:03. > :14:06.last sale so we have to redouble our efforts and make sure that the
:14:06. > :14:11.way we lay out the stores and serve the customers, that we make
:14:11. > :14:18.progress. The second really big area is all around digital and
:14:18. > :14:23.online. We launched our website and online offers so you can go to
:14:23. > :14:31.Clinton website and personalise your cards and send it to anybody...
:14:31. > :14:35.You are a bit behind the times on Aren't you a bit late to the party,
:14:36. > :14:39.other companies do that? Of the total card market, �1.5 billion,
:14:40. > :14:44.online is 3% of the market, so we are getting in at the right time.
:14:44. > :14:49.We don't have to completely be pioneers but we aren't early enough
:14:49. > :14:54.to be able to satisfy our customers. Also about the greeting cards, back
:14:54. > :14:59.to this point about emotion, many people still want to going, look at
:14:59. > :15:02.it, take their time, to select their cards. You can almost split
:15:02. > :15:06.customers into two different groups come of those that care deeply
:15:06. > :15:11.about the card that they are buying and it is all about me and the
:15:11. > :15:17.relationship, then there is blokes, who find it more of a chore.
:15:17. > :15:23.Labelling all blokes there! I am judging them by my own standards.
:15:23. > :15:26.Then it is all about a bit of a chore and a little bit last minute.
:15:26. > :15:30.I think there is on line, room for it, but also retail will be here
:15:30. > :15:33.for many years to come. The other big thing for you at the moment is
:15:33. > :15:37.you are on a lot of high streets but we are seeing how streets hit
:15:37. > :15:41.by more and more problems, we are seeing more empty shops, we had
:15:41. > :15:45.Philip Green, the owner of Arcadia, this week saying that the shops he
:15:45. > :15:47.will close will be some of the high street once because he makes more
:15:47. > :15:50.money from the prime locations which he says are the big shopping
:15:50. > :15:55.centres. Isn't there a danger you are going to lose business because
:15:55. > :15:59.of the decline in the High Street? I think I am on record as saying
:15:59. > :16:02.and said on this programme some time ago that I am a big believer
:16:02. > :16:05.in the High Street, as in the High Street will be here for many years
:16:05. > :16:09.to come and the high street plays a very important part in our
:16:09. > :16:13.community. It is not just place to shop at a gathering place. Having
:16:13. > :16:19.said that I think it is important that we do some things to revive
:16:19. > :16:24.the high street. Our structure of rent and rates, the UK has one of
:16:25. > :16:28.the highest cost retail property anywhere in the world but also
:16:28. > :16:32.there are some things the high street can learn from the out of
:16:32. > :16:36.town. The reason people go out of town is convenience, parking,
:16:36. > :16:41.security, lighting, and there are things we can do in town centres to
:16:41. > :16:44.learn from that. Darcy, thank you. Public sector workers across the UK
:16:44. > :16:48.are due to go on strike on Wednesday. They are unhappy about
:16:48. > :16:53.the spending cuts and the proposed changes to their pensions. 25
:16:53. > :16:57.unions have voted for strike action, which will start at midnight and
:16:57. > :17:02.last for 20 bar was. The government said that if talk -- but if all of
:17:02. > :17:06.the 900,000 voters peak -- that is all for a 900,000 people who voted
:17:06. > :17:09.for the strike to strike, it will cost the economy have a billion
:17:09. > :17:13.pounds but the unions say the figure has been plucked from thin
:17:13. > :17:17.air. It is difficult to try to work out how much it will cost but what
:17:17. > :17:20.is the biggest effect for business, do you think? It is basically
:17:20. > :17:25.disruption, the uncertainty of knowing if your staff will be able
:17:25. > :17:28.to make it in or not. For most small businesses if their staff are
:17:28. > :17:32.busy -- if their staff are absent they will not be able to afford
:17:32. > :17:36.cover. It leads to knock-on costs. The his reputation will risks, if
:17:36. > :17:39.you're involved in delivering goods and you are unable to because of
:17:39. > :17:42.the strikes there are lots of people who will not necessarily
:17:42. > :17:45.think of the strikes, they will think I did not get my parcel, I
:17:45. > :17:50.wonder why. There could be a knock- on effect. It is difficult to
:17:50. > :17:54.quantify the sum but there is an indisputable effect. Delivery is an
:17:54. > :17:58.issue you have had before, Tom. You were hit by snow last year. By you
:17:58. > :18:04.worried about how the strike might affect your business? We certainly
:18:04. > :18:08.could be. We use air freight less than we have in the past but when
:18:08. > :18:11.we are using or fight normally it is because we have urgent
:18:11. > :18:17.deliveries of a hit product selling very well and we have to bring in
:18:17. > :18:21.extra stock and if we have at great expense brought product in urgently
:18:21. > :18:24.and it is coming through airports, any delays there would cost our
:18:24. > :18:27.business and customers are potentially prevent someone having
:18:27. > :18:33.an angry bird Speaker under the tree at Christmas time. You are
:18:33. > :18:36.getting all the plugs in there! We have seen the issue to do with
:18:36. > :18:39.employees. There are some people who will have children who can't go
:18:39. > :18:43.to school because of the teachers'' strike and the fact that will not
:18:43. > :18:47.be teachers there. Have you had any employees talking to you about
:18:47. > :18:54.their concerns on that? I five -- I have heard lots of schools are
:18:54. > :18:58.closing and that will affect many of our employees. Our approach will
:18:58. > :19:03.be to let the kids to come in and give them breakfast and lunch.
:19:03. > :19:07.you will pay out money for that. That is fine. Darcy, would you let
:19:07. > :19:11.your employees bring kids to work? From our colleagues at Clinton
:19:11. > :19:14.Cards, we will work with everybody and individual circumstances to be
:19:14. > :19:18.able to help. If you work in a retail store it is difficult to
:19:18. > :19:23.take your kids into it, probably easier if you work at the office
:19:23. > :19:26.but we also have a lot of part-time people and we will work with, you
:19:26. > :19:30.know, there is nothing we can do other than to deal with the
:19:30. > :19:33.situation in hand and we will work with all our colleagues to find the
:19:33. > :19:37.best solution for them. You might be able to use them to direct
:19:37. > :19:42.people towards the cards you were saying in his issue -- they were
:19:42. > :19:47.saying is an issue you mentioned earlier. Brilliant, you need to
:19:47. > :19:50.work for us. I have my own job to do. Do you worry about the effect
:19:50. > :19:53.on shoppers? There might be some people who might not bothered to go
:19:53. > :19:58.into town because it sounds like a nightmare, even though it might not
:19:58. > :20:02.be? I think if it is one day we will live with it and cope. The
:20:02. > :20:06.things that worries me more is if this is a prolonged action over a
:20:07. > :20:12.prolonged period of time. That will have a much more serious effect.
:20:12. > :20:16.But if it is one day we will work with it. The thing in business is
:20:16. > :20:22.these types of thing happen to us all the time. With any -- within
:20:22. > :20:25.any given year there are disruptions. We talked about them,
:20:25. > :20:30.whether it is whether or this. We have to navigate through it. We
:20:30. > :20:32.can't use it as an excuse. Thank you very much. We all like a get
:20:33. > :20:42.together, businesses are no different. Joining your company
:20:43. > :20:51.
:20:51. > :20:55.with other like-minded ones might Many high streets up and down the
:20:55. > :20:59.country look a bit like this one in Hertfordshire. Not a big name
:20:59. > :21:02.Brandon site. But for small independent shops like these, the
:21:02. > :21:12.threat of consumers turning to big business is always present. But
:21:12. > :21:18.this pharmacist is one of many that is biting back. These two have
:21:18. > :21:22.owned this chemists for over a decade. They have joined a group of
:21:22. > :21:26.pharmacists five years ago. Trade alliances are organisations that
:21:26. > :21:33.abounded and funded by businesses of the same type. Alliance members
:21:33. > :21:38.hope to take advantage of being part the Dodhias say they have
:21:38. > :21:43.saved over �5,000 a year in costs alone. They say there are other
:21:43. > :21:46.advantages of being an alliance member. Apart from the monetary
:21:46. > :21:51.benefit city's social networking, the support we get, services to the
:21:51. > :21:58.pharmacy like training staff and training as. The latest one we have
:21:58. > :22:04.been on is the new medicine's service. They offered us the
:22:04. > :22:08.training beforehand, so on 1st October when the service came into
:22:08. > :22:14.place we were ready for it. talk about those financial benefits
:22:14. > :22:17.but what exactly are they? As an independent we work with ourselves
:22:17. > :22:20.and when we don't have time to talk to the bigger wholesalers and
:22:20. > :22:24.manufacturers', we see our group people who talk on our behalf and
:22:24. > :22:29.negotiate a discount, where we get an extra discount which the larger
:22:29. > :22:39.stores get and that eventually builds up every year to a
:22:39. > :22:42.substantial amount. It was launched in 19 -- and needed to and it has
:22:42. > :22:45.gone from strength to strength. It is a fully established public
:22:45. > :22:55.limited company with over 1000 members. In its last reported
:22:55. > :23:01.
:23:01. > :23:05.annual results it posted pre-tax The owner of this central London
:23:05. > :23:09.hotel went one step further earlier this year. He said up his own
:23:10. > :23:14.alliance with some fellow independent hotel owners. IHotels
:23:14. > :23:19.has been up and running since May. We consulted with several hoteliers
:23:19. > :23:25.of different sizes to see what they would seek from an alliance of this
:23:25. > :23:29.nature. We consulted with lawyers, accountants, industry experts, and
:23:29. > :23:35.also looked at other alliances and how they operate. We then embarked
:23:35. > :23:40.into speaking to suppliers and picked on every expense heading on
:23:40. > :23:44.the profit and loss account to see where we would be able to mitigate
:23:44. > :23:48.costs and look at buying opportunities. Going forward, what
:23:48. > :23:52.challenges do you face? challenges are to maintain the
:23:52. > :23:57.membership, make sure they get value for money, make sure that
:23:57. > :24:01.they have the opportunities and the initiatives that we had promised
:24:01. > :24:05.initially. If you won't a small firm and think that joining an
:24:05. > :24:10.alliance would be good for business what should you look out for?
:24:10. > :24:14.is the life of the alliance? Is it a new alliance or is it an
:24:14. > :24:17.established alliance? You have to consider people that are coming to
:24:17. > :24:21.form the alliance, what reputation their upbringing. Are they going to
:24:21. > :24:25.help you with with the benefits which they are promising? If they
:24:25. > :24:30.are talking about enhanced terms and conditions for example, or
:24:30. > :24:35.better deals, are they going to be able to deliver on that? Trade
:24:35. > :24:39.alliances may satisfy one part of your business, be that marketing,
:24:39. > :24:43.be that suppliers, but what are the other options which you need and
:24:43. > :24:47.what are the resources you need? What capabilities do you need in
:24:47. > :24:52.the long term to develop and his trade alliance going to help you in
:24:53. > :24:56.differing those capabilities? Next week we have the boss of