20/06/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Alice Baxter

With just three days to go until the UK decides if it

making their views on the vote increasingly clear.

Should you listen to them though or do the voices of small

Live from London, that's our top story on Monday 20th June.

Several big car manufacturers have written to their staff recommending

week stay in the EU. Also in the programme: Markets wobble in India

and the ruble falls as research for a new governor of the Indian bank.

We will bring you the latest from the markets as well. A sea of green

arrows across the board with Europe tracking Asia higher at the start of

referendum week. It may only be Monday

morning here in London, but it's never too early for gin

and tonic on Business Live. Later in the show, the boss of one

of the UK's fastest growing alcohol brands will be speaking to us

about the renaissance And when Elon musk was asked for a

family discount, he had a cutting response. Everybody gets a family

discount, the price on the website. So what is the best discount you

have been able to get? Let us know. With just three days of campaigning

to go until the UK's referendum on its EU membership,

business and economic voices have been ramping up their support

for both sides of the campaign. Today the bosses of Nissan,

Jaguar Land Rover and Toyota have written to their staff for the first

time to say that remaining in Europe Vote Leave issued a detailed

rebuttal of the industry's claims, citing several comments by car

executives who said Brexit would not They add that many car company

executives had urged Britain to join the Euro and, "They were wrong then

and they are wrong now." On Sunday, the chief executive

of energy giant EDF Energy, Vincent de Rivaz, wrote to his UK

staff outlining what he says are the benefits of

continued EU membership. And earlier this month Lord Bamford,

chairman of JCB, one of Britain's most successful manufacturers,

wrote to his company's 6,500 employees in the UK to explain

why he favours a vote This morning's Times newspaper

is also reporting that much of London's lucrative trade in Euro

denominated currency could leave the capital for other financial hubs

inside the EU if the UK votes Richard Fletcher, business editor

of The Times is with me. Let's make sense of all of this. The

clock is ticking in earnest now. Tell us about your article in the

times newspaper today about Euro dominated trade at what it means for

the City of London. Add to move closer and the polls are neck and

neck, people are thinking about the implications of a Remain and a Leave

vote. We are looking at whether London could lose its domination. A

third of these instruments are traded in London. There was a long

court battle with the ECB about whether the trading should be in

London and the City of London, backed by the government, won that.

The question is whether we opted to leave the EU, whether there will be

a renewed assault on that trading, and whether Europe would try to pull

some of that back to the continent. It is part of wider noise and in the

coming days we will see more business leaders coming out and

airing their views on both sides of the debate, particularly on the

Remain side, I suspect, because big business is in favour of Remain and

the CBI poll shows that their members want to remain. With smaller

businesses it is more balanced. In the coming days, I think we will see

business leaders coming out and voicing their opinions. They are

voicing opinion that writing to staff and members of their

associations. Do we know what influence that has? If you work for

British Telecom and you get the letter from the boss telling you to

vote Remain, how do people respond to that? We don't have evidence but

we had Rolls-Royce warning that they would have to reconsider investment

in a new plant in Derby if there was a Leave vote. I suspect that would

have an effect if you worked for Rolls-Royce and it certainly would

on me. I think business leaders wanted to stay out of this. They

were very bruised after the Scottish referendum. You remember the

supermarket bosses and the financial employers in Scotland came out and

back to the union and they suffered a backlash. I suspect that big

businesses hope that by now a Remain vote would have been in the bag they

wouldn't have to put their heads above the parapet. But with the boat

being neck and neck that when you talk to them privately big business

does believe that we should remain, although that is not the case across

the business community, many believe that, and so they are putting their

heads above the parapet because it is neck and neck. We are out of time

so we have got to move on. But Richard is coming back to look at

the newspapers later. Don't fret. Let's squeeze in other stories. This

is always a pact programme. Xi Jinping has arrived in Poland,

as part of a 3-nation tour, aimed at strengthening ties

between China and Europe. The Chinese President will be

meeting with his counterpart in Warsaw, as well as

the country's Prime Minister. The 2 sides are expected to sign

agreements in areas such as finance, Before Poland he was in Serbia and

he had to Uzbekistan next. Brazilian prosecutors have made

a formal allegation of tax evasion and money laundering against former

tourism minister Henrique Alves. Mr Alves resigned on Thursday after

being linked to a corruption scheme. Brazil's Attorney General presented

evidence to the Supreme Court saying Mr Alves had a secret bank

account in Switzerland. Let's take a look round the world

at what business stories We learnt over the weekend

that Raghuram Rajan, the governor of India's central

bank, has decided to step down. We can now hear from Sameer Hashmi

in Mumbai, who has been Does this come as much of a

surprise? Yes. Many anticipated that he would get a second term or who

would accept a second term when his current tenure comes to an end in

September. There was speculation over the last few months or so that

the government was not keen to give him a second term because they

disagree on a lot of policies. And Mr Rajan has been critical of the

government when it comes to certain policies, particular fast economic

growth in India. He did not comment openly on whether he would like a

second term or not but most expected that he would like a second term

because there is so much global uncertainty with Brexit coming in,

the US raising rates, and also India had issued dollar bonds three years

back to stabilise the currency. They are going to mature so a lot of

dollars will flow out of the Indian market which will lead to a bit of

instability. But Mr Rajan said on Saturday that with consultation with

the government and after due reflection, he has decided to go

back to Chicago, where he is a professor. This is if the price

because most experts, analysts and economists and business leaders that

we talk to wanted him to stay on. He is seen as a credible face and

industry leaders have a lot of regard for him. He has been given

credit for bringing down inflation, which is a critical issue for the

economy when he took charge three years back. He is also cleaned up

the balance sheets for a lot of banks in India which have a lot of

debt on their books. Clearly it has come as a shock.

And with just three days to go before that UK EU referendum,

it's not just Britain or Europe on a knife edge with traders around

US stock index futures rose on Sunday

jumped on Monday on the back of polls suggesting British voters

Japan's Nikkei soared over 2% to a one-week high on Monday,

posting the biggest daily gain in two months.

Very interesting considering the wobbles it has had over the past

week. The safehaven yen also

weakened on the uptick And here in Europe, sterling has

been at the sharp end of investors' worries over a possible UK exit

from the EU, falling nearly 5 percent against the dollar this year

and nearly 9 percent But today it's jumped

by the most in 3 days. Looking at equities,

all major European markets up over 1.7% - that's

after rebounding on Friday but still posting it's third

straight week of losses. And Samira Hussain has

the details about what's ahead A few things happening this week to

keep us busy in the US. Facebook will be having their shareholder

meeting on Monday, voting on a new class of stock which will encourage

the founder Mark Zuckerberg to remain in an active leadership role.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, US Federal reserve chair will be speaking to

members of conference. This is her semiannual testimony on monetary

policies. On Thursday Britain will be voting in a referendum on whether

to leave the European Union. The impending vote has been having an

impact on US markets and so investors here will be watching that

closely. And on Friday we will see how confident Americans are feeling

when the consumer sentiment is out for the month of June.

Joining us is Fung Siu from the Econimist Intelligence Unit.

She is here to talk to us about what is going on in Japan. While these

markets have been severely on the move, we had a big week for Japan

last week. News from International Monetary Fund saying that policy

needs to be changed. Yet today we have had trade numbers from Japan

that are pretty dismal as well. Give us your take on how this is being

managed in Japan right now. They are watching the currency very

carefully. Absolutely. The government has an economic agenda on

the go. They have done what most policymakers would do in straitened

times, which they see themselves in at the moment, which is basically to

use monetary policy and fiscal policy. Monetary policy has gone

into uncharted territory with a quantitative easing programme. At

the same time with fiscal policy there are limits to what they can do

because Japan has huge public debt, about 230% of GDP, 2.3 times the

size of the country's output. There is very little that he can do on the

fiscal front but nevertheless I suspect he will carry on trying.

With all these policies in place, he is doing his best to try and get the

economy on the move. But in normal circumstances, all these policies

would work but he is facing considerable headwinds. China

slowing down is affecting exports so the trade numbers have been banned

because of the slow down in China. Had these policies being put in

place when China was expanding at rapid rates of eight or 9%, Japan

wouldn't have had any problems. Trade numbers are coming out week

because of the weak demand from China. There is a suggestion from

the IMF that they need to raise the sales tax in the country from 8% to

at least 15% to make a change. They did try. It had a bad effect. That

is because the economy is so fragile and consumer sentiment is so weak.

It sent the economy into a downtrend. Yes, they need to

increase the consumption tax only because they need to get in revenue

to pay the welfare payments because they have an ageing population. The

tax increases will come much later on. In the meantime, they will try

their best to put in place measures that will boost the economy as much

as possible. We wish them luck! It is not easy. Thank you for your

time. Keeping an eye on Japan, especially with regards to the yen.

Still to come on the programme: It may only be 8:45am in London but it

is never too early for June the clock. -- gin and tonic. We are

finding out how gin has become a global business.

Ben Thompson is in the city. He has been speaking to experts about what

is happening. Ben what, have you been hearing? Before I start can I

say the gin better come down here when you try that later! You're

right, we're in the centre of the financial heart of the country. The

City of London. Just a Square Mile, but what happens this week could be

important for its future. They are keeping an eye on what the polls are

saying in the run up to the vote. Some certainty, we will get a result

on Friday, but many suggests that's when the real uncertainty begins

when we try and work out what happens next. This really tells you

all you need to know. "Hold on to your hats, markets braced for

referendum turmoil." That's in the City AM, the business paper this

morning. I want to show you around a bit. If you're not familiar with

where we are. You can see the Royal Exchange. It has been at the centre

of the city for hundreds of years. Originally built on the site in the

1700s, it was home to traders from around the world, selling their

wares. Just across the road from that, the Bank of England, of

course, home to the governor and the Monetary Policy Committee. Amongst

other things it does set interest rates, but behind it, you might be

able to make it out in the mist and the rain, the new city, the

skyscrapers that are changing the city skyline, the Gherkin and it

contributes to the ?50 billion or so to the UK economy every year. So

those people will be keeping a close eye on the vote on Thursday. To find

out what it means for them, but also for the country as a whole. Yes, of

course, Ben this is a really big week for the city, isn't it, with

its oddly aimed buildings out there, it is not just a big political week

at all? Yeah, it will be felt particularly keenly, I know Alice

you touched on it earlier. I will talk you through the numbers,

sterling up 1.5% and the FTSE up 2%. They are keeping a close eye on what

happens. They will be hoping for some certainty, but the uncertainty

could really begin on Friday morning.

That's what the markets like the least. You may not get any gin, our

producers have got their tabs on it. Majestic's sales are up.

Our top story: Several of the UK's biggest car

manufacturers including Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover and Toyota have

written to their staff, advising them to back Britain's

A lot of smaller business leaders, those who run small companies, who

are self-employed, they have an opposite few, quite a few of them

and there is plenty of the views on both sides on our website. Do dig in

deep and read to have a lack at what's being said. Just head online

for that. Now let's get the Inside Track

on Britain's booming gin industry. Overseas sales are now worth over

?2 billion - that's around $2.9 billion and sales are up

some 46% since 2010. Brockmans is one of the boutique

distilleries that's benefiting from the UK's renaissance

as a gin-maker. The company's super-premium spirit

is one of the fastest growing Outside of the UK,

Brockmans is available in 40 This includes export markets

both inside and outside The distillery is performing

particularly well Bob Fowkes, CEO of

Brockmans Gin joins us now. And you can see the big bottle,

thick glass, that's part of the brand on the table and two glasses

of gin. So whilst he is answering our first question we will test it!

I haven't tested it yet! But just give us a sense of this brand

because that is your area of expertise Bob, it is selling a brand

and when it comes to gin, most people have heard of various

companies. But not this one. It is fairly new. Tell us how you managed

to get it out there? We launched in 2009. Firstly, you're right, my

focus is brand development. That's my background. I'm the marketing

Director of Brockmans Gin, my CEO will be pleased I pointed that out!

Our apologies. I'm one of the founders. I started this from a

blank sheet of paper and what's important is to aid develop a great

product and B, develop a great brand and to develop them in Unison. A lot

of companies develop them separately and it is important to combine them

together. A brand is a story. A story that you're showing to

consumers. You say it is a great product and you say that that it is

particularly specialist, it would have to be because it is kind of

double the price of the gins that we all know of that are on the

supermarket shelves, the names we are familiar with. . This is double

the price? We are batch distilled. We are craft disstilled. We use

natural ingredients. We use 11 which really makes for a great tasting

product. And you're currenty in Europe, aren't you? Are you looking

at other markets? We are in Europe, North America and Australia and one

of the interesting areas has been the boom in gin that happened at the

luxury end has come from Spain and Spain is starting to influence the

Latin American markets and we are starting to look at those as well.

Do people drink their gin differently? No, the Spanish led the

way and the glasses that you have in front of you, the wide, almost

balloon glasses... They are lovely glasses. They were developed in

Spain. Spain is a big market for gin, bigger than the UK. The amount

of drink in there. The key is to use lots of very big ice in a glass like

that. It is probably a double roughly a double. But it looks more

because it is a very big glass. But actually the key is to add lots of

ice to keep it really cool and refreshing for as long as you can.

Can I just ask you though, if you weren't on board with this company,

somebody who had years and years of experience of managing brands within

this industry, you worked for Diego for sometime, do you think they

would be where they are,000? I'm not saying it is all about you, but I'm

suggesting it is all about the marketing isn't it as opposed to the

quality of the product? There is lots of products out there and there

is lots of people develop new gins and they tend to be just products.

You need to have a great product and you need to develop a great brand in

tandem. I imagine many people watching now who have something they

think you develop a story. Today think you develop a story. Today

with a lot of social media, digital marketing, you have to have a story.

You develop a story that's plausible, believable, relevant and

motivating to consumers. From there you can develop their product and

your branding, your packaging. So everything needs to work in Unison.

It is not just a phase this love of gin? It is a boom that's here to

stay. Hopefully for you! LAUGHTER

All right Bob, we have to leave it there. We have got to have a taste.

Cheers! Well, there we go. Very nice. Very

refreshing. I don't normally have gin at this time of the morning!

Now, it's just three days until voters here in Britain decide

whether the UK should remain in the European Union or leave

and we've been talking to small business leaders in the UK

and Europe to find out what they believe

Guy Sainty runs the Stair Sainty Gallery in London

He feels that his business and the London art market

is suffering because of EU VAT regulations.

My wife and I run the Stair Sainty Gallery which specialises

in European art from the 16th to the 20th century.

Since 2006, the European Union required that the UK introduce

import VAT for all works of art that come into this country

Far fewer works are consigned from outside the European Union.

It's just simply too expensive for us to handle works

that are owned by say an American consigner.

It has meant that London is essentially being replaced

by New York as the major art dealing centre.

If we leave the European Union and we remove the burden of import

VAT, this will transform London and make it become the most

Richard is back as you can see. Business editor of the Times. He has

not been drinking gin. But I just want to mention tweets we have had

from our viewers. One viewer got hold of me to say a lager at 45

cents, you can't beat it! I don't think you can!

, "I don't get discounts, I haggle and get prices down in my old age."

." Thrrchlts you go. Your favourite tipple. A pint of Guinness or a nice

glass of red wine. I like all sorts. Let's talk about what is in the

papers. Of course, interesting today, all the national papers in

the UK and international press looking at this referendum, aren't

they? Absolutely. There is a piece in the New York Times which is

always interesting to see what people think of us overseas and I

don't think we don't come out very well in the article. The Brits don't

come out very well, I'm not sure Europe comes out very well. That's

always interesting to see how, it is good to see how they interpret

events overseas, that's very interesting piece actually in the

New York Times. And saying whatever happens on 23rd June, Brussels have

got to re-think the way they operate? There is a growing

Euro-scepticism in other parts of Europe, not just in the UK. All

right, well we are being told, we are nearly out of time. So Richard,

we will let you go, you have got a busy week ahead of you. Yes, I have.

And the weeks to come as do we. Thank you, we appreciate it.

There will be more business news throughout the day on the BBC Live

webpage and on World Business Report.

Hello there. It is a leap year this year so today marks the summer

solstice. Starting off cloudy and wet for many, but it is an improving

picture