24/05/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.

Shell's boss in the hot seat as shareholders say they will vote

With an investor pay revolt looming, are we about to see another

shareholder rebellion? Unrest at Shelter as the company

comes to blows with shareholders over executive pay and climate

change -- unrest at Shell. How will it deal with new regulations?

Singapore Boots said this was bound BSI as to what it says serious

breaches of anti-money-laundering requirements.

-- boots out the Swiss bank BSI. The global markets are heading

south, we will explain why. And selling wine to China -

we'll get the Inside Track on how New Zealand's most successful

wineries is making a move into China and why the boss thinks Americans

could double their wine And as a new study shows the French

have the shortest working week - just 30 hours 50 minutes a week -

those in Beijing and We want to know what's your

typical working week? Just use the hashtag BBCBizLive,

and let us know where you live. We're less than 30 minutes away

from Shell's annual general meeting. Shareholders are expected to vote

against a ?7. 6 million pay packet for company's

boss Ben van Beurden after Shell saw its earnings fall 83%

in the first three So could we now be looking

at a shareholders spring? Some serious anchor store on their

part? -- and cost on their part? Last month BP shareholders rejected

a pay package of over $20 million for chief executive Bob Dudley

after the oil giant recorded its biggest ever operating

loss in history. And only last week almost 40%

of Deutsche Bank shareholders refused to support the performances

of the co-chief executives after sluggish profit growth

and mounting regulatory fines. -- refuse to support the pay deal of

the co-Chief Executive 's. Dissatisfaction with pay packets

that don't reflect performance are expected to reach a high point

next month when shareholders in the advertising giant WPP

will vote on the on the latest pay deal for the company's

CEO Sir Martin Sorrell. His 2015 pay packet totalled more

than $100 million, making him That is a lot of sea rose on that

pay packet! -- that is a lot of zeros.

Joining me now is Catherine Howarth, chief executive of the Share

There is a revolt against pay, the Shell AGM gets under way, there is a

fall in profit, the boss is getting a big pay deal, investors are not

happy? Not happy, and I expect a revolt, not on the scale of what

happened up the peak six weeks ago, but ?4.4 million for years workers

more than most of us would consider acceptable. -- for a year's work.

The votes are in the hands of institutional investors, pension

funds and fund managers, who act on the behalf of all of us. Everyone

with a pension fund in Britain as a shareholder in Shell, lots of us

will probably say no to the deal today, but it will probably go

through. Correct me if I'm wrong, they are looking at how they will

tackle climate change? It is not just the idea that we have to deal

with it, there are strict targets in place. The big oil firms need to lay

out how they will deal with those targets, and in Shell 's case they

have not done that? Lestienne was a shareholder resolution, an

opportunity to put something to the board of the company themselves --

last year that was 99% of shareholders voted macro for this

resolution calling for a clear disclosure about how the board would

handle future risks to climate regulations and so on. These high

carbon companies are becoming enormously risky. They have made a

lot of money for us in the past, their business model is deeply

threatened by the agreement struck in Paris last year. This is becoming

a major issue between shareholders and these companies around the

world. Tomorrow, we have Exxon and Chevron, the two biggest oil

companies in the US market, they have their AGMs, I think there will

be huge amount of dissent and a big shareholder rebellion. Shell is not

yet delivering the kind of clear strategy for a low carbon future

that shareholders want to see. On the issue of Chevron and Exxon, that

begins tomorrow. They have been most resistant to laying out the strategy

about how they will respond and what they will do, which is exactly what

investors want to hear? Of course. These are enormously valuable

companies, they perform an important role in our pension funds pots, we

depends on them for our rink in old age. Everyone watching this

programme who has a pension fund at all, which is everyone working in

Britain and many around the world, they want to retire on something

that they can live on, and that depends on companies having smart

strategies that deal of the future. Most of us will not draw our

retirement incomes for 20 or 30 years, we need a really long-term

focus, not a backward looking, we knew is to make a lot of money by

drilling from the ground and we can do it any more. Thank you Brexit

Lane in Best, Catherine Howarth, the chief executive of the Share Action

campaign. Revenues at Spotify have hit

$2.2 billion for the past year, but the Swedish music streaming

service still hasn't Those revenues were up 80%,

almost doubling the The site offers a paid

for subscription service Toyota is recalling nearly

?1.6 million vehicles in the US to replace potentially faulty air

bag inflators made by Takata. The Japanese auto-maker said

the latest recall includes some but not all models of the Corolla,

Sienna, and Lexus manufactured American firm Coca-Cola has stopped

producing soft drinks in Venezuela, because of a sugar shortage

in the country. Sugar cane production has been

falling, because of rising costs. The company said it would continue

producing sugarless drinks The firm's announcement comes

after Venezuela's biggest brewer closed ITS plants due

to a barley shortage. -- closed its plants. Let's take you

to the BBC website and a story that we are following, strikes that have

hit French oil refineries. This is coming through to us. This is as a

result of new labour law is spreading to all eight oil

refineries in the country, an ongoing dispute which has escalated.

20% of petrol stations have either run dry when it comes to their

supplies or are very, very low on supplies. This is a strike against

changes to labour laws which is spreading. We have been covering it

as a story and will keep an eye on that development.

The Swiss bank BSI has been forced to close its branch in Singapore

after being linked to a scandal at Malaysia's troubled

Swiss authorities also began criminal proceedings

against the bank over serious breaches of anti-money

It's the first time in 32 years that the Singapore Central Bank

Leisha, talk us through what's happened here and why?

It is quite unprecedented, 32 years since they did anything like this,

they are getting tough on the bank for alleged misdemeanours? That's

right. Singapore is taking a really tough stance on money-laundering in

the City, so BSI has really had an incredibly bad day. In the past

couple of hours, the Swiss have also announced they are launching

criminal proceedings into the bank over these allegations of

money-laundering, bribery and other offences. Singapore took the step of

shutting down the operation here, but BSI is domiciled in Switzerland

and so regulators in both countries have been examining the firm over

its dealings with this elation state firm. Over these dealings that they

have examined, they have find it several million dollars -- dealings

with this Malaysian firm. Following the decision, the group's CEO will

step down with immediate effect. Who is this Malaysian firm? It is state

funded and it has faced allegations that more than $4 billion years was

misappropriated. They have said there is no wrongdoing, but

ultimately it looks like authorities are still chasing this very, located

money Trail. Thank you for making sense of that, Leisha Chi in

Singapore. The king of the markets in Asia,

will get you up to date with what's was happening, Japan is down 1%,

Hong Kong by 0.33%. That is how the Dow closed on Wall Street.

Some of these issues dogging investors are happening. Oil prices

falling, lots of uncertainty about what is happening in the month of

June, the US Federal Reserve meeting and the UK referendum on membership

of the European Union. That is really on the mine of investors. We

could see sterling on the move. The governor of the Bank of England,

Mark Carney, is before the Treasury. He could be drilled on his views on

how a decision on our membership of Europe will affect our economy. Keep

an eye on the pound, keep an eye on those issues. Losses

across-the-board. Also deliver stories, like Deutsche Bank, Moody

's downgrading its outlook again. Its shares are on the move.

And Samira Hussain has the details about what's ahead

American electronics giant Best Buy will report earnings and choose day.

This is the biggest US consumer electronics chain. But falling sales

of mobile devices will mean that profits have taken a hit for the

quarter, and it has already said that first half quarter sales have

declined. It will be interesting to see if they make any changes to

expectations. Hewlett-Packard Enterprises also

reporting. Back in November 2015, it split into two separate companies.

Each sells computers and printers -- HP sells computers and printers,

Hewlett-Packard Enterprises deals with software and servers. Analysts

believe that the reshuffle will help the enterprise company's resources.

Joining us is Richard Hunter, head of research at Wilson King

Nice to see you, Richard. A month from now, we will know, In or Out,

by the 24th of June we will know. Hopefully! If it is really close,

you never know explanation I am optimistic that it will all be over

by the 24th. We will hear from Mark Carney today,

giving evidence to MPs about the inflation report. Likely to be a

question about the impact of Brexit or otherwise on the UK economy? The

market has been fairly nervous about this, there will be volatility,

whatever happens, even if we stay in. There has been a period of

underperformance, which we have had before the UK election and the

Scottish referendum. If we should leave, there will doubtless be

volatility downwards. But at least it will be out of the way. Positives

and negatives in terms of whatever the outcome might be. This is really

becoming front and centre now. The problem we have got, I think, in

terms of the electorate as much as the market, is that there is a lot

of vitriol beginning to come out from both sides now. This really has

to be put to one side to focus on the real arguments of In or Out.

Without question, we will know in a month. How friends and Central is it

for the US Federal Reserve? Two issues in terms of the US market. At

the moment, there are the US elections. Whoever may get in as the

president. Also the fact that the markets deems to be suggesting that

we might be getting a June rate high after all. Their decision is before

the UK referendum, will that hold them back at all, or are they not

that fussed? It is a possibility, but in terms of market movement, I

think the referendum is probably more at the forefront of investors'

minds, because even if the Fed hike, and they have said this before, it

will be fairly small. It will not really affect whatever we're doing

in Europe. Thank you for now, Richard. We will talk about working

weeks later. The French have the shortest, Hong Kong has the longest.

Let us know at BBCBizLive, we will talk to Richard later.

It's been a record harvest for vineyard's in the Marlborough

We will hear from the man behind Cloudy Bay, one of the biggest

wineries. Stay with us. It is a very important day for Greece, in

Brussels European leaders are grappling with a decision on Greek

debt and the relief of it. Finance ministers are meeting today

to reveal a new deal which would lock more bailout for Greece and

resolve the row with the IMF over debt relief for Athens.

Andrew Walker has the details. Demonstrators outside Parliament

over the weekend. Lawmakers have proved another batch of reforms

which could pave the way for bailout funds. They could include more

taxes, setting up a bailout fund and making it easier for banks to deal

with problem loans. But the mechanism for cutting spending a

financial targets are missed. The Greek finance minister needs two

things, a long, delayed bailout payment, and debt relief. He needs

the bailout cash ahead of bailout payments,...

Eurozone finance ministers will also debate debt relief. Something the

International Monetary Fund insists is needed to make Greece's debt

burden sustainable. That would likely mean lower interest rates and

more time to repay debt. But no one ducks and or hack at to the amount

that Athens must pay back. there Some of the other stories we

are trying to squeeze in. S Nationwide reporting a 23% rise in

profits. Up from as it says ?1 billion a year earlier. The story

for Nationwide is mortgage lending. There has been a rise in net

mortgage lending. It was up significantly, but repayments too.

Clearly, watch closely given the impact it has on the housing market.

If you are a Severn Trent customer. It says it is expecting to save ?670

million between 2015 and 2020 as it locks in its efficiencies. The

company supplies water across the UK Midlands and says the savings are

about ?260 million a head of their expenditure target. So they seem to

be hitting their targets. Our top story: The rebellion

against multi-million pound Today, it's Shell executives

who face a shareholder backlash. Top investor groups are opposing

the firms multi-million dollar pay You know we're fond

of discussing drink on this We're getting the inside track

on how a New Zealand based business is taking on the traditional

French vineyards. Cloud Bay is based in Marlborough

on the Southern Island of New Zealand and the company

is best known for its In 2003, Cloudy Bay Vineyards

were bought by the luxury goods firm LVMH who also own Louis Vuitton

and Moet and their wines are now Well, Victoria met

the man behind the brand, Ian Morden who is in London

for the Chelsea Flower show She started by asking him how

they cope when there That's one of the interesting things

about being in wine, but you can do a couple

of things to hedge. One of the things we do

is we are taking more grapes than we need and call it the policy

buffer and that's important because then we can deliver

the quality as much as the quantity. As a New Zealand wine,

your biggest market not surprisingly is Australia,

but it is not your biggest The US is the biggest

growing market. One of the reasons is the US came

very late to drinking wine. If you look at the numbers,

they drink 11 litres In Australia or here,

it is more like 22. So there is absolute potential

there. Why where do you see growth in

the medium-term for your business? I think in the medium-term,

the growth will be in China and it will be Pinot Noir as much

about Sauvignon blanc. And why China because a lot

of luxury companies have been really Well, I think the next generation

of wine drinkers in China is moving from Bordeaux to the lighter style

of reds like Pinot Noir. The other thing that is happening,

is people want wines that have a story, that

have good provenance. You have been owned by the luxury

goods company for 13 years now. How does that dictate the style

and the strategy of the company? Well, we work in a Matrix

organisation. So we share ideas.

We collaborate. But what it gives us

is access to capital. It gives us access to the luxury

marketing skills that come with being part of that company

and it gives us a long-term view. You need long-term thinking

to make good wine. Cloudy Bay owns a lot of its supply

chain, doesn't it and acquiring land How much of your day

does that take up? Well, for me it takes up a lot

of my time and there is a race on at the moment to secure the best

sites for quality wine. Our style is a particular style

and that means we're limited So yes, it takes up a lot of

my time. Why is that? Why is there a scarcity

factor around land? When you fly into Marlborough, we have two

mountain ranges and we have only got so much land and then there is the

sea. There are 25 hectares. Most of which is planted. A lot of which is

not of anymore interest to us anyway. So there is scarcity and on

the other side, we've got growing demand in the US and China so it is

driving value up. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Increasingly the data shows that people are spending more on

experiences and less on products for example. So how does that translate

into your business? Well, let's come back to the idea of natural will

besry. We are using the natural assets. This is why the garden is so

good. It evokes what we have in New Zealand. New Zealand is like a big

garden. Wine is a cultural connector. It is as much about the

wine as it is about the context, the place, history, culture, it is true

in Bordeaux and it is true 234 inn Marlborough. In the last 12 months

or so, I have seen an increase in visitors coming from China to New

Zealand and I think it is part of the rediscovery of some of the lost

nature for them in New Zealand. When you fly into some parts of the

world, you see how heavily industrialised it is and you see

pollution. The wines come from a pristine place and that's attractive

to people and they want to come to the source. I see that side just

growing and growing for us. You are still as a wine, a luxury. It is not

the same as clean water. So how do you position yourself to make sure

that people do still spend when times are tight? As a simple

pleasure, you know, the current marketing campaign that we have is

based around the idea of escapism, sailing away and it is not really

that complicated to take a glass of wine into the park, if you are in

Paris, here it is Hyde Park and right here, it is the Cloudy Bay

Garden. A simple pleasure. That was the Chief Executive of

Cloudy Bay. Richard is back with us. We're going

to discuss working weeks. The French, unsurprisingly, have the

shortest working week. In Hong Kong it is the longest. In France they

are in the process of banning out-of-hours e-mails. In terms of

the 50 hours for Hong Kong, it is the fact that you can work from

anywhere. You are always on-call. That includes the time you spend

doing work at home? I would have thought so. I guess that's one of

the reasons the French are doing this in an effort to restrict the

amount of hours you can... How long is your working week? It is probably

about ten hours a day I would have thought. Five days a week? Five days

a week. So you're hitting 50, not the age, I mean the number of hours

a week! Yes. I think the Monday to Friday is the main thing. You've got

those two days to recharge. Gavin points out, a lot of you getting in

touch with us about this. Gavin says, "From what I've read

productivity in France, they are the most productive per hour in the EU."

That's the issue, it is not necessarily about how many hours

you're putting in, it is how much work you do while you're there?

There is the other issue that the work-life balance, whilst it might

be the case that there are countries in Europe which have the occasional

seest ta and shorter working weeks, it is different culturally. Zac

says, "My average working week is 35 hours." Another viewer in Nairobi,

"My working week is equivalent to 55 hours." Zac in New York, hello.

You're up very late. That might be an indication. Maybe you've been

working in the office late! There is statistics about how much we're

spending on our phones. 29 extra days a year on hand-held devices? As

the article points out for UK managers doing the 29 days, that's

wiped out your holiday entitlement. The crowd funding project when it

came to solar panels in the UK, they got the money, but the company has

not really made it. No, they did get the money quickly and the management

team at the time said that was more than we would need, our investment

requirements are fairly modest and 18 months later unfortunately, the

company has collapsed into insolvency. They are making the

point that the majority of people who invested in the company

self-certified, they were professional investors, but

nonetheless, it is likely they'll get... This reminds us of the risk.

High risk, high reward. And these companies that manage to raise money

very, very quickly in an alternative way, yet, there is the risk there

still? Yes, it follows in June 2015 a claims management, that went under

with around ?800,000 funding. I'm sure there will have been successes

and start-ups in general have their backs against the wall. Crowd

funding is untried and untested, people getting into that market, but

it is a little bit still a grey area when it comes to regulation. The

regulator doesn't know how to monitor it? There will be other

things. Peer-to-peer lending should they really gain traction and gain

popularity, the regulators will be all over it, I'm sure. Richard,

thank you. Nice to have you with us too. Enjoy the rest of your day. We

will see you soon. Hello again. For some a chilly start

and for others a foggy start. But