21/12/2015 BBC Business Live

Hello, this is business life with Sally and Ben. Fighting for Tower

coalition talks loom in Spain as the election fails to produce an

outright winner. Live from London today on Monday 21st December, this

is the top story. But as the country is plunged into

uncertainty worries grow for its fragile economic recovery. We will

assess what is at stake. Also Toshiba shares sank by 10% as it

reports a loss of over $4 billion. And with just seven trading days of

2015 to go, the euphoria of the rate rise last week in America is wearing

off. Worries over the global economy returning and the Spain election

outcome is not helping restore any sort of confidence. And keeping the

wheels turning, Eric will be with us, she is the founder of port

point. The firm is trying to install lots more charging points for

parking the car and networks reportedly paid zero tax in the UK

despite revenues of ?200 million here. Would that make you change

your behaviour? Would you cancel your subscription? Use the isn't as

live hashtag. -- use the Business Live hashtag. Welcome to the

programme. Spain 's economic reforms thrown into doubt after an

indecisive election result last night. One that saw the governing

Conservative Party win the most seats but lose its majority. Now it

must form a coalition. That uncertainty could spell trouble for

the country's fragile economic recovery. The acting Prime Minister

Mariano Rahoy hoped it would help him win. What went wrong? This is

the ninth consecutive quarter of growth after Spain emerged from

recession two years ago. And employment has fallen from its

record high of 28% to 21%. Still high, the second highest in the

European Union after Greece. -- and employment has fallen. That has

worried opponents of the Conservative Party led by Mariano

Rajoy. Critics say many of the jobs created are part-time and badly

paid. Mariano Rajoy says he is optimistic that things will get

better. He scented his campaign on employment, promising 2 million more

jobs in the next five years. As these results show many voters were

not convinced by that promise. Rubin cigarette is the European economist

at the Bank of America Merril Lynch. Thank you for joining us. . Reaction

to the result, not unpredictable, we agreed, although it gives no idea of

what is ahead. I think it will take time to solve this. You need to

understand Spanish politics in three dimensions, left, right,

traditional. Where do you stand on Catalonia, and whether you are a new

party or an old one. Where you stand on reform. Given that each party has

red lines in each of those dimensions we thought any of them

crossing any red line, there's no outcome when you cannot rule out new

elections. We will be closely watching what each party says

regarding potential support. This political instability that will be

around for the foreseeable future in the short-term, depending on how

that has worked out, will depend on any policy changes for the future

and yet Spain needs strong leadership of that economy is to

grow significantly in the future. Exactly. I would distinguish it

coming in the short run, the economy is going well, they have made good

reforms and a hung parliament pretty much means you can't undo those

reforms. You have quantitative easing in place. In the medium run

Spain has challenges, they have solved some other they have a large

rate of unemployment, debt, a difficult position, and that needs

political consensus which won't happen in the next two years. That

leaves Spain in a very vulnerable position, two or three years down

the line. You have listed the problems, which is the most pressing

that, if there is any wiggle room in a coalition, where should the focus

speed when it comes to tackling at least one of those problems? It has

to be unemployment. 13% long-term unemployment, 53%... That is the

first... Is that why the other party did well? People are not happy about

the way things were done and we have had many corruption cases involving

traditional political parties. We could talk for hours about this,

thank you for coming in, time is of the essence, we will see you again.

Full coverage of the outcome of the Spanish election on the BBC website

as well as the business implications of everything we have heard from

Madrid. Brent Crude prices are falling again, down to levels last

seen in 2004, they have dropped below the lows in the financial

crisis, all down to worries of an oversupply of oil. Production around

the world is still at record highs, with new supplies looming from Iran

and the USA which will increase supplies further. Countries from the

World Trade Organisation have agreed to abolish subsidies and farming

exports from countries like Kenny, developing nations, critics say that

the subsidies have capped prices artificially low and distorted the

market, the WTO called it the most significant outcome on agriculture

since the organisation was formed in 1995. And a surprise, Star Wars, the

Force Awakens has made half $1 billion of profit in its opening

weekend and smashed the box office record in the USA, topping Jurassic

World. What Disney paid $4 billion for the rights to the series

four years ago. Have you seen it yet? I haven't. I'm going to night,

very excited. I'm going to bed early to night because I'm an air at 5am

tomorrow! Let's look at what is being talked about on Business Live

online, tracking reaction to the Spanish election, shares falling on

the main market in Spain by almost 3%. Do you remember Yanis

Varoufakis? He used to be the finance minister of Greece. He has

tweeted this. So as ever, Yanis Varoufakis is not

mincing his words. And a quick look at the spike in the cost of

borrowing. Any uncertainty about the economic situation always tends to

lead to a big spike in borrowing. Those are the stories on our pages.

A breaking story about Fifa. Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini will be

banned, says the ethics committee. They have claimed that a payment is

not convincing and was rejected by the chamber. This effectively means

that both men will be banned by Fifa and the ethics committee. More about

that as we get it. Clearly all of this relates to the bribery claims.

The other developing story has been about Toshiba, axing almost 7000

jobs, all of which are in the consumer-electronics division after

a massive accounting scandal. It has also announced record losses for the

fiscal year. We can go to our Asian business hub in Singapore. Pretty

bad news. A record loss and loads of jobs going before Christmas. That's

correct, it will be Toshiba's second straight year of losses. More bad

news is expected, shares plunged by 20 9% after the initial

announcement, a massive loss for the year, $4.5 billion and thousands of

jobs going. Those jobs are only about 3% of the overall workforce.

not huge chunk of employees. They not huge chunk of employees. They

also plan to sell their TV plant in Indonesia and shut a research

complex in Tokyo. This company makes everything from cookers to laptops,

businesses and nuclear energy, their division includes a electronics

hasn't done well. An accounting scandal broke several months ago

revealing they had inflated profits by $1.2 billion over a seven-year

period. The company is under great period. The company is under great

pressure to restructure and to bring their finances back in order. But

we've seen many top executives forced to resign and we will see a

very different company in the months ahead. Lunch Mac thank you. Toshiba

sharply. Toshiba down by 10%, all today. You can see

sharply. Toshiba down by 10%, all based on expectations of big losses.

The actual figure was confirmed after the close of training. A

slightly different picture although the euphoria of the rate rise in

America last week is now rising and again the reality, the concern of

In Europe it will be the story of the Spanish elections. The governing

Spanish Conservative Party won although it lost its majority so it

needs to form a coalition. The risk is that Mariano Rajoy will have to

make concessions on economic policy which could derail fragile growth.

More about that in a moment. First, what Wall Street has in store before

the Christmas holidays. As the year and approaches markets begin winding

down, just seven full trading days in a shortened Christmas eve session

left. Prices could hurt stocks and without a modest rally markets could

end the year down for the first time since 2011. Some fresh economic data

will come out of this week, the US Congress department will release GDP

figures for the third-quarter on Tuesday. It is expected to show the

economy grew at an annual pace of 1.9% helped by increased spending

before holidays. It's expected to show that existing home sales

increased in November the 3.4% decline in October and on

Tuesday earnings reports will be out for Nikkei and ConAgra foods.

-- ten three Mac. Richard, a lot for people to die just this Monday

morning. -- Nike. Brent Crude falling to an 11 year low and people

edging into the silly season, where people are ending the week on

Christmas Day. A strange week. Adamson and if it is the silly

season, it is the time of year when people think about the future and

what to do in terms of investment decisions for the next year. Within

that, people are thinking what is the world economy going to look

like? It won't look sparkling next year. Specific areas in which we do

see growth pick-up, in the USA growth could be a tiny bit stronger

next van this year. This year it's been OK, quite a decent year for

them. For Europe, more importantly, this might be another year in which

it gains more momentum. Two years ago it was in recession. It has

picked up since then. Next year could see growth of almost 2%.

Interesting if we look at the way that the year is ending, so

different to the way it started, some of the same issues, rate rises

and commodity prices, although nobody perhaps could have predicted

they would be quite in the position that they are with oil solo and

rates not rising anywhere apart from the US and that just a tentative

rise, there's still a lot of uncertainty and fragile as the word

we are using to describe most economies. There's a lot of

uncertainty, a lot of it created by a different tone to the world

economy, different balance of between developing and developed

economies. If you think back to pre-recession, every into the wooded

would have been about globalisation and the emerging economies in Asia,

and fractures, commodity prices booming, things like that. That was

driven by demand in the West which was growing rapidly. Demand in the

West included the seeds of its own destruction, it was founded on that.

We are growing much less quickly in the West now. That is creating a

very different environment for emerging manufacturers and quality

producers, a different balance of world growth. Richard, thank you.

Let's fill you on the news that's been breaking about the former

president of Fifa, Sepp Blatter and his Uefa counterpart, Michel

Platini, they have been handed out fines and bans as well. They're

going to be banned for eight years. going to be banned for eight years.

This NUS is just coming through there, is from the Fifa Ethics

Committee. The prosecutors were calling for a lifetime banment the

ban will be for eight years, but the fine, a hefty one, 50,000 Swiss

francs for Sepp Blatter and 80,000 francs for Michel Platini. This

relates to the investigation into ethics at world football's governing

body. Lots more information on lin and we will be updating you as we

get the information. Still to come: Powering ahead

as electric cars become an increasingly common sight

on our roads, we ask how technology is keeping the wheels moving

and the batteries charged. The boss of the UK's

leading charging network, You're with Business

Live from BBC News. Here in the UK, it's been a hectic

weekend of last minute But whilst the shops

might have been full, many have already slashed prices

to get customers through their doors and whilst it might boost

sales, it hurts profits. Emma Simpson has been finding out

whether retailers have lost their nerve and

cut prices too soon. Well, we have got a few days left

until Christmas and they will be big shopping days, but if you look over

December as a whole, we are satisfied with our sales results.

One retail analyst told me that he detected a whiff of panic on the

high street. What's your sense? No panic here in Peter Jones as you can

see. All calm and orderly. No, I understand

discounting come from, but it is discounting come from, but it is

simple, that's all to do with the weather. It has been an extremely

mild autumn and that led fashion retailers to reduce their price, but

there is no surprise there, that's ever been thus. I think it is a more

stable position than the commentators are calling and to be

honest we have got to wait to see the whole period through right until

the end of clearance. In other words, it ain't over until

it's over. It is all to play for. it's over. It is all to play for.

Yeah, that's true. A few days left before Christmas, but we have said

this is about three peaks, black Friday, Christmas and clearance and

John Lewis has not discounted any of its home products in the run up to

clearance. It is a big period for us and it is only when you have gone

through that you can genuinely tell the profitability of Christmas. This

Christmas people have more disposable income in their pockets.

But that's not necessarily translating into greater retail

are feeling a little better than are feeling a little better

last year. The stats are clear. They last year. The stats are clear. They

have definitely got a little more money than last year, but it is

proving hard for retailers to continue to take the same share of

that spending. One of the practical consequences for retailers on that,

because presumably the gap is widening between the winners and the

losers? I think we are going to see a huge range of performances and

remember as online takes an ever greater share, those retailers who

really worked out how the bricks and the clicks come to go, those who

distribution chain, fulfilling the distribution chain, fulfilling the

orders, they will be the winners this Christmas.

Sandy Street the managing Director of John Lewis.

The Times is saying Sir Ken Morrison owns 2.6 million shares in

Sainsbury's. Surprising! Our top story: Political

uncertainty in Spain. Rajoy fails to win a majority

despite promising economic growth. The Fifa Ethics Committee has banned

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini for eight years from all soccer related

activities. Both have been issued fines. That's the story that's

emerging as we speak. The Fifa Ethics Committee banning Sepp

Blatter and Michel Platini for eight years from anything soccer related.

This is relating to the charges brought against them. Ethic judges

ruling that Blatter broke the Code of Ethics and breach of loyalty and

offering gifts. Michel Platini being found guilty on breaking rules on

conflict of interest and loyalty. As electric cars become

an increasingly common sight on our roads, the battle

between the car makers hots up. Nissan, Tesla and Toyota

are all vying for the top spot Last year more than 320,000 electric

cars were sold around the world, but all of those need somewhere

to recharge and that means many more electrical charging

points are required. One of the firms leading

the charge is Pod Point, who run the UK's leading electric

vehicle charging network. Since 2009 it has sold more

than 20,000 electric vehicle charge points and developed one of the UK's

largest public charging networks. Erik Fairbairn is the founder

and Chief Executive of the company and says one in ten of us could be

driving an electric car by 2020 Welcome to the programme. The first

car? I have, absolutely, yes. Where car? I have, absolutely, yes. Where

do you charge it? At home and when I drive into the office I charge at

the office and when I'm out doing my shopping or my leisure time I plug

in anywhere I can. Are you London? I'm far outside London, but my

office is in London. It does depend on where you live as to the

accessibility of chargers outside of your driveway? Electric vehicles are

following population density. I don't see them as that in long

run. I think in the long run they are applicable to all of us, but

they have to start somewhere and the cities is perhaps where they are

starting at the moment. With new technology there is the chicken and

the egg thing. Is it the take up of electric cars will be determined by

to charge them or the charging to charge them or

points will be determined when there points will be determined when there

is sufficient people already driving an electric car? You can't have one

that leads the other by too farment you have to be developing both

things at the same time and they have to be proportional. It would be

lovely to have a charging point everywhere you could go, but in

reality, we have to ramp that up along with the vehicles. As you say,

you get area which have great charging infrastructure and some

areas which are bare, but when we look back at this time, we will see

a rapid roll-out of the electric a rapid roll-out of the electric

vehicle. You need full coverage for this to be a viable proposition

because it is no good thinking I will invest all this money in an

electric car, but you want to go and see friends who live in the country

and you realise you could drive there, but you can't drive back

because you can't plug the car in. It really needs full coverage or not

at all? You're probably right, but the way that these things

the new technologies arrive is the new technologies arrive is

certain parts of population start to adopt them and the availability of

charging infrastructure is one of the things that makes your people

adopt them. Perhaps at the moment there is people who live in the

South East of England where there is more of these things, that's where

prevalent. If you live in rural prevalent.

places, it will take longer, but places, it will take longer, but

this is normal. These things don't arrive everywhere all at once. Your

company was the first in the UK. You have clients around the world.

Norway is a big client of yours. Why did you start this? Is this a

is that where you're coming from? My is that where you're coming from? My

mission is to make sure that travel mission is to make sure that

doesn't damage the Earth. So I doesn't damage the Earth. So I

think, you know, looking to the future we should be able to travel

whenever we want and whenever we need to, but the challenge is making

sure that doesn't have a climatic impact and it is about getting rid

of carbon. I looked at the industry and said, you know, I can't solve

this alone, but what I can do is do get my company to make

charge points and together as charge

entrepreneurs, we can actually make entrepreneurs, we can actually make

a really big step forward in terms of the carbonising -- decarbonising

transport and making sure it doesn't damage the Earth. Thank you very

much Erik. It is popular out there. Any

technology and any new changes with regards the environment and

business. We will be here with that. I want to bring you up-to-date with

new lines on the Fifa investigation story.

News the Fifa Ethics Committee banned Sepp Blatter and Michel

Platini for eight years from all soccer related activities. Michel

Platini had bid to succeed accept platter as president, but that's

clearly not going to happen. -- Sepp Blatter as president, but that's

clearly not going to happen. Platini broke rules on conflict of interest

and loyalty. All this is this with the Fifa Ethics Committee. More on

that at the top of the hour. Both that at the top of

men said they would appeal against men said they would appeal against

any sanction. This is a story that's likely to run and run. More at the

top of the hour. Richard Jeffrey from

Cazenove Capital Management Your thoughts, it is another company

that's been named and shamed? This is another international, big

international technology company which has been accuse. Accused of

sheltering income in a low tax area. Netflix are saying there are lots of

development costs and we're not making money internationally, there

is a hint that they are booking revenues in areas where they pay

less tax and they are not booking less tax and they are not

revenues in the places where they revenues in the places where

make them. This is an international make them. This is an international

problem. It is not a problem that the UK can solve on its own. It is a

problem the major countries have to get together and sort out and it is

to do with fairness. It is interesting this should follow on

last week and said it paid more in last week and said it

taxes in the UK as part of that taxes in the UK as part of that

announcement. New Year's Eve s that a big thing for you? Well, it will

be a big thing for us. I know what you're going to ask me. We're going

to be on Exmoor which will be a very nice New Year. Dubai is about

conspicuous consumption, if you're into conspicuous consumption you're

going to go to the place where it costs the most. And that's Dubai!

More on the Fifa story at the top of the hour. We will see you soon.