:00:00. > :00:00.Hello, this is Breakfast with Charlie Stayt and Louise
:00:07. > :00:22.It is the super exchange, as London and the German stock exchanges
:00:23. > :00:28.announce new marriage plans we ask for their make it to the altar this
:00:29. > :00:48.time. Fly from London that is our top story today.
:00:49. > :00:54.Third time lucky, a British German marriage may be on the cards as the
:00:55. > :01:03.200-year-old stock exchange announces plans to try to merge
:01:04. > :01:09.again. Europe's biggest playmaker cuts production of one of its jets
:01:10. > :01:18.as profit and revenue takes off. The markets have opened, boil down we
:01:19. > :01:30.will tell you why. We have more on the referendum, today we look at
:01:31. > :01:33.Norway. What do the Norwegians think about this and does it work? As
:01:34. > :01:56.ever, do get in the conversations. Welcome to the programme, let's
:01:57. > :01:59.start with the top story. Finally, could a British German
:02:00. > :02:08.marriage be on the cards? Whoever is sitting on a autocue was
:02:09. > :02:10.you wake up because we are going to talk about the British and German
:02:11. > :02:13.marriage of the stock exchange. After many failed tie-up attempts,
:02:14. > :02:15.the 215-year-old London Stock Exchange Group
:02:16. > :02:17.and Germany's Deutsche Borse are in talks over what the LSE calls
:02:18. > :02:20.a "merger of equals". The move that would create
:02:21. > :02:24.a European industry champion and one of the world's largest
:02:25. > :02:26.exchanges for trading To thrive on a global stage,
:02:27. > :02:38.you need to be a Super Exchange to compete with rivals CME Group
:02:39. > :02:43.and Intercontinental Exchange in the US and in Asia,
:02:44. > :02:45.Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. But it's been a painful
:02:46. > :02:49.history of tie-up attempts. LSE and Deutsche Borse have tried
:02:50. > :02:53.to tie the knot twice before in 2000 The LSE has also fought off bids
:02:54. > :03:11.from the high-tech Nasdaq exchange. Simon Griffiths, Partner,
:03:12. > :03:25.at the lawyers Irwin Mitchell As Aaron stipulated, these two have
:03:26. > :03:30.tried to team up before and not succeeded so what is different about
:03:31. > :03:37.this time from what we know at least? Last time was a long time ago
:03:38. > :03:41.and yesterday the announcement was forced on the London stock exchange,
:03:42. > :03:49.they didn't want to make it. Explain why. There was an upward movement in
:03:50. > :03:54.share price and our UK rules then required company to make an
:03:55. > :03:58.announcement. They made the announcement, they are trying to get
:03:59. > :04:03.together again, just focus through previously it was some time ago,
:04:04. > :04:10.they overcame some hurdles they hit last time? Who knows. There are
:04:11. > :04:19.competition hurdles and there are other bids, nobody can say there are
:04:20. > :04:29.more chances this time, this time we have the uncertainty of the breaks
:04:30. > :04:33.it -- brexit. This may have something to do with the fact that
:04:34. > :04:45.brexit is a possibility in four months' time. Why do they need to
:04:46. > :04:52.merge to form this super exchange? Its London after all. It is simply
:04:53. > :04:55.economies of scale. If you put the two businesses together you will
:04:56. > :05:03.make more money and make more money for shareholders. It is interesting
:05:04. > :05:08.because we think of the London stock exchange as a British institution as
:05:09. > :05:14.the same way that the dodger boyish is German but both organisations are
:05:15. > :05:24.international in terms of ownership of shares, it is not so much London.
:05:25. > :05:29.-- Deutsche Borse. It is so about data technology, the stock exchange
:05:30. > :05:33.produces a quarter of the revenue, it is intellectual property for
:05:34. > :05:39.which it derives most of profits. It is a global business and by putting
:05:40. > :05:44.together they become more powerful. We appreciate your input on this
:05:45. > :05:46.story and Simon inferred, there is a long way to go so we will usually
:05:47. > :05:50.touch on every twist and turn. Airbus has released
:05:51. > :05:53.its results for 2015. Europe's largest airline
:05:54. > :06:08.manufacturer saw profits last year Last month the aerospace giant
:06:09. > :06:12.revealed that they delivered a record number of planes in 2015
:06:13. > :06:14.but failed to de-throne Boeing as the world's biggest
:06:15. > :06:16.aircraft manufacturer. Airbus hopes to deliver more
:06:17. > :06:18.than 650 planes this year, with the wide-body A350 expected
:06:19. > :06:25.to help it close the gap. They have to deliver the planes
:06:26. > :06:27.before they get the money, very important.
:06:28. > :06:29.Brazilian authorities have charged the former president of mining
:06:30. > :06:31.company Samarco and six others with homicide for the mining
:06:32. > :06:35.disaster that killed 19 people last November.
:06:36. > :06:38.Samarco is owned by Brazil's Vale and mining giant BHP Billiton
:06:39. > :06:44.and on Tuesday police presented the first official report
:06:45. > :06:47.The report concluded that the accident was caused
:06:48. > :06:49.by excess water in the dam, lack of proper monitoring,
:06:50. > :06:51.faulty equipment and failure in the drainage system.
:06:52. > :06:56.JP Morgan will set aside an additional $500m to cover
:06:57. > :06:58.potential losses from its exposure to the oil and gas sector.
:06:59. > :07:01.The increase is more than 60% of the funds the bank had
:07:02. > :07:04.The announcement contrasts with the banks assertion in January
:07:05. > :07:23.that oil companies were "surprisingly resilient".
:07:24. > :07:33.Johnson and Johnson, it was ordered by a Missouri state in the the US,
:07:34. > :07:40.that was to the family of a woman who ovarian cancer was linked to use
:07:41. > :07:46.of the baby powder and shower the shower for several decades she used
:07:47. > :07:52.it for many years. I say talcum powder can cause cancer? That is
:07:53. > :07:59.what the conclusion so they have been ordered to pay $72 million in
:08:00. > :08:06.damages. This was a lance late Monday but is hitting the wires
:08:07. > :08:09.today, an interesting scenario. 10 million of damages and 62 to
:08:10. > :08:15.punitive damages. It's a key economic
:08:16. > :08:17.indicator of the region - so when Singapore releases
:08:18. > :08:19.its latest growth numbers economists take notice and today's
:08:20. > :08:27.news isn't good. It's economy grew by 2% in 2015,
:08:28. > :08:30.it's slowest rate of growth Leisha Chi, Business Reporter
:08:31. > :08:41.is in Singapore... I like living here. The figures were
:08:42. > :08:47.not good but better than expected. It expanded by 2% last year but that
:08:48. > :08:52.is the slowest since 2009, compare that to 3.3% in 2014. It looks like
:08:53. > :09:00.low growth will be the new norm for Singapore. Economists expect 1-2% in
:09:01. > :09:04.the years ahead. Which actually is very similar to other advanced
:09:05. > :09:09.economies. Singapore has been very reliant on trade but that also has
:09:10. > :09:12.made it incredibly vulnerable to swings in global demand and recently
:09:13. > :09:16.we have seen a drop in manner factoring output as well as a steep
:09:17. > :09:22.plunge in exports which is because of slowing growth in China which is
:09:23. > :09:26.one of the biggest markets. This has been somewhat offset by a growth in
:09:27. > :09:30.services in the construction sector, services like the casinos and the
:09:31. > :09:34.government is really have to push ahead with an economic restructuring
:09:35. > :09:40.so what they will do is focus more on ideas and will turn Singapore
:09:41. > :09:44.into a high-end research help. Great stuff, stay out of the casinos.
:09:45. > :09:48.Asian stocks were mostly lower on Wednesday, tracking declines
:09:49. > :09:54.on Wall Street as crude oil extended losses after Saudi Arabia ruled out
:09:55. > :09:55.freezing production, saying market forces should be
:09:56. > :10:12.Oil dropped 4% - now hovering around $30.
:10:13. > :10:15.Just adding to the global worries, those Singapore numbers -
:10:16. > :10:20.Both slowing last year predicting continued weakness this year.
:10:21. > :10:25.Europe - a steady open after those sharp losses yesterday -
:10:26. > :10:31.today's focus more on company results.
:10:32. > :10:36.But let's turn our attention to the biz-buz on the other
:10:37. > :10:41.side of the Atlantic - here she is Michelle Fleury.
:10:42. > :10:49.Remember when HP split into two companies, the business that houses
:10:50. > :10:54.the PC and printer operations is set to report its first set of earnings
:10:55. > :10:58.this Wednesday. The stock has fallen since the spin of an analysts aren't
:10:59. > :11:03.too cheerful about its prospects given the gloomy outlook for the PC
:11:04. > :11:09.market. Also weak commodity prices continue to cast a chill on
:11:10. > :11:14.earnings, oil and gas producing energy are producing a loss in the
:11:15. > :11:17.fourth quarter, compared to a profit of the year ago, investors want to
:11:18. > :11:21.know what the company would do to reduce the high debt level around
:11:22. > :11:30.eight times the market value. The plunge in crude oil is also forecast
:11:31. > :11:34.to weigh heavily on North Dakota's consonantal resources when its
:11:35. > :11:36.report its fourth-quarter results. Thank you to Michelle.
:11:37. > :11:38.Joining us is Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at CIBC
:11:39. > :11:54.Same sorts of issues but one slightly newer, the oil price
:11:55. > :12:01.slipped and the pound has sunk? Indeed it has, the sterling is under
:12:02. > :12:06.pressure. Wizards sided through the 140 barrier, the first time since
:12:07. > :12:11.around March 2009 so further negativity playing out in terms of
:12:12. > :12:19.the standings this -- the sterling perspective. The whole brexit being
:12:20. > :12:25.crystallised into the upcoming vote so there is concern about foreign
:12:26. > :12:31.investment impact and stalling foreign investment and the questions
:12:32. > :12:34.about what that implies for the UK. Investors are saying we don't want
:12:35. > :12:39.to be involved in the sterling at this juncture and have been stepping
:12:40. > :12:48.away. Not good for another soulless going on holiday. -- for those of us
:12:49. > :12:53.going. Last week we had the meeting in Doha are in Qatar, the Isa will
:12:54. > :12:58.freeze the production in January level if everybody will do it, we
:12:59. > :13:02.knew back then that not everyone was so Saudi making it clear they will
:13:03. > :13:10.keep playing this game if you will call it a game. If we go back to
:13:11. > :13:13.November, December 2014 when the Saudis said they would not cut
:13:14. > :13:17.production, that crystallised the downtrodden victory of the oil price
:13:18. > :13:21.which has continued. The question is why would they change of tack at
:13:22. > :13:27.this edition. You could argue it is hurting them financially, we saw
:13:28. > :13:32.this reflected in their budget, austerity is now ongoing so the pain
:13:33. > :13:37.is hitting them, but by taking that amount of pain why would they change
:13:38. > :13:42.strategy? Especially with Iranian oil coming back, they'll not wanting
:13:43. > :13:47.to cede market share to arrive so they will continue and freezing
:13:48. > :13:53.production is one thing and cutting production is another thing. Being
:13:54. > :13:57.Wednesday this is the day when we get the weekly oil numbers in the US
:13:58. > :14:03.and once again we are expecting to see those infantry is to build, a
:14:04. > :14:06.glut of oil beginning to accumulate and according to that it'll keep the
:14:07. > :14:14.oil price under some degree of pressure. Not enough storage
:14:15. > :14:17.nowadays, that is the problem. It is one of those classic things, if you
:14:18. > :14:21.have an asset which you think will appreciate them you may want to
:14:22. > :14:26.store it but as you say, it is becoming more of an issue. I can
:14:27. > :14:31.hear new businesses starting as we speak. You are coming back to take
:14:32. > :14:34.us through the papers. As we kick of our special series
:14:35. > :14:38.on Britain's EU referendum journey, we hear from Norway -
:14:39. > :14:40.a country that's outside but paying for the privilage
:14:41. > :14:43.of trading with the EU. You're with Business
:14:44. > :14:48.Live from BBC News. The UK is on the verge of a flexible
:14:49. > :14:51.working tipping point - when working away from the office
:14:52. > :14:54.is becoming more common Let's get more from Ben Thompson,
:14:55. > :15:09.who's in central London. We are also in central London, but
:15:10. > :15:14.he's clearly not in the studio. Tell us more about this, people avoiding
:15:15. > :15:17.the commute, but does working at home really work? Good morning,
:15:18. > :15:21.welcome to my brilliant vantage point here in central London. It
:15:22. > :15:25.seems that more and more of us are ditching the commute into the city
:15:26. > :15:31.centre up and down the country, and instead choosing to work from home.
:15:32. > :15:35.4.2 million of us now do that. 1.8 million more would like to if their
:15:36. > :15:40.employer was a little bit more flexible. Some advantages with it,
:15:41. > :15:45.some disadvantages. It seems that more of us are avoiding those long
:15:46. > :15:48.commutes. The average commute in London is 1.25 hours to get to the
:15:49. > :15:53.office. You can see why many people simply don't want to do it. Then it
:15:54. > :15:57.is with me, he runs his own marketing them from home. Told me
:15:58. > :16:02.through the advantages. What is it that made you decide that you would
:16:03. > :16:06.run your home from your kitchen table? You pointed at the first
:16:07. > :16:10.thing, cutting down on the commute. That hour and a quarter that people
:16:11. > :16:13.spend commuting to the office and back again, it can be spent more
:16:14. > :16:17.productively, getting on with work or preparing yourself for the day,
:16:18. > :16:20.or generally just a better use of time. Also cuts down on costs, to
:16:21. > :16:24.come because you don't have to pay for an office space and get caught
:16:25. > :16:27.up in longer contracts. We're much more flexible. As a relatively new
:16:28. > :16:36.at them, it is more attractive for us to work from home. Good luck with
:16:37. > :16:39.the firm. It cuts a lot of costs, a lot of time, but it also comes with
:16:40. > :16:42.some disadvantages. There is none of that face-to-face interaction, none
:16:43. > :16:47.of that quick chat over coffee in the office, which is often sometimes
:16:48. > :16:53.when the best ideas are created. One statistic that caught my attention
:16:54. > :16:57.this morning is that we spend 10,600 hours commuting over the life of an
:16:58. > :17:02.average person when it comes to work. That is over a year of your
:17:03. > :17:08.working life spent on a train or stuck in a car. Worth thinking about
:17:09. > :17:12.during your commute this morning. Big Ben and little Ben in central
:17:13. > :17:22.London. I am talking about you and the fellow next to you.
:17:23. > :17:23.More about the UK economy, Barrett profits are headed higher. About
:17:24. > :17:32.40%. Our top story - third time lucky
:17:33. > :17:36.for a marriage between the two hundred-year-old London Stock
:17:37. > :17:37.Exchange and Germany's Deutsche As the UK prepares for a June
:17:38. > :17:43.referendum on whether to leave the European Union, so voters
:17:44. > :17:45.and investors are looking at what other options could be
:17:46. > :17:53.on the table if an exit vote won. As part of our special series
:17:54. > :17:56.on the EU refereundum, we go to Norway, a European nation
:17:57. > :18:01.that's not part of the EU. It has a unique trade
:18:02. > :18:04.deal with the block. So is this a good deal
:18:05. > :18:11.for the people of Norway? The BBC's special correspondent
:18:12. > :18:23.Allan Little went to find out. The water is the border between
:18:24. > :18:26.Sweden and Norway, the edge of the European Union. You can drive
:18:27. > :18:31.straight across it without even noticing. When you cross this
:18:32. > :18:34.bridge, you are leaving the EU, but you don't have to show your
:18:35. > :18:42.passport. There is nobody to show it to, even if you wanted to.
:18:43. > :18:51.Norway may not be in the EU, but it is part of an area which means
:18:52. > :18:56.anyone can come from the EU and live and work here. 16% of Norway's
:18:57. > :19:02.population are migrants and they are entitled to the same welfare
:19:03. > :19:07.benefits as Norwegians. Norwegians rejected EU membership in
:19:08. > :19:15.referendums in 1972 and 1994. We had a lot of scaremongering, losing
:19:16. > :19:19.jobs. They said we will lose 100,000 jobs by standing outside the EU, but
:19:20. > :19:30.every single day since has shown this was false. Industries here have
:19:31. > :19:36.been a success and we sell our goods to a lot of countries. Nothing
:19:37. > :19:39.expresses Norway's Independence character more eloquently than its
:19:40. > :19:44.relationship with the sea. Norwegians have sought to protect
:19:45. > :19:47.their fisheries from EU competition after oil and gas, this is the
:19:48. > :19:52.country's last battled against industry. But staying out of the EU
:19:53. > :19:59.means this salmon processing company has to pay a tariff to sell its
:20:00. > :20:04.products in EU countries. We have turrets on smoked salmon. It's only
:20:05. > :20:08.things that is a price worth paying. I have been very constant in my
:20:09. > :20:11.belief that we should stay outside. It is like saying, you know what you
:20:12. > :20:23.have, but you don't know what you get. I live by that. But the world
:20:24. > :20:29.is changing around Norway. Despite its global reputation for quality
:20:30. > :20:31.and efficiency, Norway is facing growing competition from Poland.
:20:32. > :20:38.Similar fish products can be made their more cheaply, and sold without
:20:39. > :20:43.import tariffs. Here at Norway's parliament, the political elite,
:20:44. > :20:48.unlike the people, have tended to favour EU membership. Most of the
:20:49. > :20:51.laws and directives issued by Brussels get ratified by this
:20:52. > :20:54.parliament anyway. Norway has to fall in line with EU law, even
:20:55. > :20:59.though it is not allowed in the room when that law is made. Politicians
:21:00. > :21:03.here call that integration without representation. One foreign policy
:21:04. > :21:07.analyst here told me that every chicken, pig and fish in Norway is a
:21:08. > :21:12.member of the EU, they just don't know it. We are closely integrated
:21:13. > :21:18.into the markets, but we have lost part of the serenity through the
:21:19. > :21:22.regulations. Would it be advantageous to Norway to be a
:21:23. > :21:27.member, to have a seat at the table? I believe that, but I am in a
:21:28. > :21:32.minority today. For people who are market orientated, who we believe
:21:33. > :21:37.that grow who believe we should have more in the economic development of
:21:38. > :21:43.the world, being outside the EU has always been difficult. Norway may
:21:44. > :21:46.have stayed out, but the EU has exerted its gravitational pull here
:21:47. > :21:47.and drawn this country into the orbit of European integration all
:21:48. > :21:58.the same. Let's find out some of our other
:21:59. > :22:05.stories making the media. Jeremy is back. Let's talk about the story
:22:06. > :22:10.that developed overnight, which is online. Not a physical newspapers,
:22:11. > :22:14.but the fact that Donald Trump one Nevada he wasn't expecting to win.
:22:15. > :22:18.It was a resounding victory for the Republican nominee for the White
:22:19. > :22:23.House job. Quite astonishing. The momentum he has at the moment. It
:22:24. > :22:30.is, and the momentum looks to be increasingly unstoppable. We are --
:22:31. > :22:34.we still have super Tuesday to come next week. Because he is looking to
:22:35. > :22:38.be well set in those states that are voting next week, he looks to be
:22:39. > :22:41.moving towards that sort of winning post, as far as the delegates are
:22:42. > :22:47.concerned. It looks increasingly likely, however, and however
:22:48. > :22:51.surprising this may be, that he looks to be set fair for the
:22:52. > :22:56.Republican nominee. I'm quoting here. Mr Trump, number one with
:22:57. > :23:00.Hispanics. I'm really happy about that. Before he puts the wall and
:23:01. > :23:07.won't allow anyone more in. He is looking to Mexico to pay for
:23:08. > :23:11.the wall. Apart from the wall and apart from a few other things, not
:23:12. > :23:16.allowing Muslims into the country, except, do we know anything about
:23:17. > :23:20.his economic stands? This is the thing. There is still a huge element
:23:21. > :23:24.of gaps in terms of the political process. The two maverick candidates
:23:25. > :23:31.on both sides of the agenda, both Republicans and Democrats, in terms
:23:32. > :23:38.of Sanders and John, both have a lot of issues to deal with in terms of
:23:39. > :23:41.their microeconomic platforms. Neither have been investigated by
:23:42. > :23:44.the voters. That would be interesting, because we have had
:23:45. > :23:50.these enormous sound bite election process is undergoing and, as we
:23:51. > :23:53.say, we know about Trump's siren calls for the wall about
:23:54. > :23:57.immigration, but beyond that, there are huge issues to be clarified. I
:23:58. > :24:04.think that will be the interesting point as we move closer to the
:24:05. > :24:08.Republican delegation process reaching its conclusion, as to
:24:09. > :24:12.whether these issues are going to be put into the focus. This time next
:24:13. > :24:16.week, we will have the results from super Tuesday. That will help
:24:17. > :24:24.clarify. A story in the Financial Times, which we have already
:24:25. > :24:29.mentioned,. This is absolutely harrowing story, that is not having
:24:30. > :24:35.much attention in the media. Partly probably because of where it has
:24:36. > :24:37.happened. Apart, yes. People died, and it was in the investigations are
:24:38. > :24:45.underway and is now people are being. The environmental backwash of
:24:46. > :24:48.this process are hideous beyond the ramifications of the immediate death
:24:49. > :24:52.of 17 people. We are talking about a disaster scenario that has happened
:24:53. > :24:55.here. You're right that it hasn't had the focus that it perhaps
:24:56. > :25:00.deserves, and in a sense that is partly due to the geographical
:25:01. > :25:03.issue. It also just underlines the concern that there are, in terms of
:25:04. > :25:06.relation to the building of dams and the maintenance of those dams,
:25:07. > :25:13.because you've you don't maintain them, you create these seismic risk
:25:14. > :25:17.factors for the local populations, and that is reflected here. You can
:25:18. > :25:22.look at some other dams globally which are also in very dangerous
:25:23. > :25:28.scenarios. It just underlines the human risks of the man-made process
:25:29. > :25:34.and now they are being seen as reflected in terms of the corporate
:25:35. > :25:38.pressure being put on the executives who are behind the process. We won't
:25:39. > :25:47.get time, we only have about 15 seconds. Paramount is a struggle
:25:48. > :25:51.because of its lacklustre filming. It is the end of the game. We will
:25:52. > :25:54.talk about that in detail at the end of the day. Thank you for coming in.
:25:55. > :25:55.It has been great to have you on the programme.
:25:56. > :26:00.There will be more business news throughout the day on the BBC Live
:26:01. > :26:01.webpage and on World Business Report.
:26:02. > :26:14.Good morning. We are suddenly in the deep freeze this morning.
:26:15. > :26:19.Temperature is widely below freezing right the way across the country and
:26:20. > :26:22.the coldest spots managed to get down as low as minus seven Celsius
:26:23. > :26:23.in the likes