:00:00. > :00:10.This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.
:00:11. > :00:17.London retains its top spot as the best place
:00:18. > :00:20.in the world to do business, but New York slumps to sixth place.
:00:21. > :00:39.Live from London, that's our top story on Wednesday, 7th September.
:00:40. > :00:42.Holding onto their crown a post-Brexit world.
:00:43. > :00:45.London takes the top spot as the world's best city,
:00:46. > :00:51.but how much longer can it expect to be top dog?
:00:52. > :00:53.Also in the programme - the wonder Down Under.
:00:54. > :00:57.The Australian economy has now been growing continuously for 25 years.
:00:58. > :01:11.The European trading day has been going for half an hour. The price of
:01:12. > :01:13.oil is up by over 1%. We will talk you through the winners and the
:01:14. > :01:16.losers. Voyage SNCF sells tens of millions
:01:17. > :01:20.of train tickets across the region. And we speak to the head
:01:21. > :01:23.of a business that has been keeping Europe's tourism industry on track
:01:24. > :01:25.during a turbulent year. Voyage SNCF sells tens of millions
:01:26. > :01:28.of train tickets across the region. Their boss will be
:01:29. > :01:30.with us a little later. And, as Apple prepare
:01:31. > :01:33.to unveil its new devices, rumours are rife that it's ditching
:01:34. > :01:37.the headphone jack on its iPhone. So we want to know -
:01:38. > :01:39.good move or bad? Where's the best
:01:40. > :02:00.place to do business? It's a question every major boss
:02:01. > :02:03.faces as they look to expand The financial services giant PwC has
:02:04. > :02:08.today published its list of the top spots around the world to live,
:02:09. > :02:10.work and do business. Well, for the second time in a row,
:02:11. > :02:16.London has taken the crown as a result of its strong
:02:17. > :02:20.intellectual capital, sense of innovation
:02:21. > :02:28.and technological readiness. That will, of course, reassure many
:02:29. > :02:31.in the city, as the UK looks It's not all good news
:02:32. > :02:35.for the UK capital though, as the report also warns that Brexit
:02:36. > :02:38.could affect the movement of talent into the city as well as London's
:02:39. > :02:41.ability to encourage So watch this space as far as London
:02:42. > :02:49.is concerned. The city-state Singapore
:02:50. > :02:51.takes the second spot, and was particularly praised
:02:52. > :02:52.for its transportation systems, infrastructure
:02:53. > :02:56.and the ease of doing business. The big faller in the list
:02:57. > :02:59.is New York which has gone from first place in 2012
:03:00. > :03:01.to sixth place now. The city performed poorly
:03:02. > :03:05.on sustainability and cost, but still comes second
:03:06. > :03:14.when measuring economic clout. He's a partner at
:03:15. > :03:24.PricewaterhouseCoopers. David good morning. Welcome. Talk us
:03:25. > :03:28.through some of this because what struck me is there are so many
:03:29. > :03:31.things that you look at when you're assessing which cities are in the
:03:32. > :03:35.league table and it is some unusual things, things we might not take
:03:36. > :03:38.into account? Yeah, I mean the things that you would expect like
:03:39. > :03:42.economic clout, ease of doing business, transportation, but we
:03:43. > :03:47.wanted to cover a broader range of measures which include things like
:03:48. > :03:51.you know cultural vibrancy, preparedness for natural disasters.
:03:52. > :03:55.You know, all the sorts of things that affect living and working in a
:03:56. > :03:59.city. We're looking here at pictures of London that's retained the top
:04:00. > :04:03.spot. Tell me what London is doing right. It scores really highly on
:04:04. > :04:06.things you might expect, economic clout, the number of global
:04:07. > :04:10.headquarters that are located in London. Ease of doing business. The
:04:11. > :04:14.ease of which you can set-up a business, recruit people, employ
:04:15. > :04:23.people, and those sorts of things it scores really well. It scores things
:04:24. > :04:27.well with cultural vibrancy. There is a tremendous history to the city.
:04:28. > :04:31.London holding on to the top spot, but a lot of other cities snapping
:04:32. > :04:37.at its heels particularly in the wake of Brexit perhaps trying to
:04:38. > :04:40.steal a lead on financial services, but there is no evidence that's
:04:41. > :04:44.happening yet? The survey was done prior to Brexit, but if you were to
:04:45. > :04:48.do it now, there would no change so far. Four of the top ten are
:04:49. > :04:53.European cities. And changes ahead with Brexit. It is too early to say
:04:54. > :04:57.what. But I think the thing for me is London is proven to be a very
:04:58. > :05:01.adaptable city. It is a very agile city. One we expect to be high is
:05:02. > :05:05.New York, falling into sixth place. So I suppose the reverse is true.
:05:06. > :05:10.You've touched on what London is doing well. What's New York not
:05:11. > :05:16.doing well? It suffers from cost of living issues. There is a lot of
:05:17. > :05:20.competition within this across the broader measures and whilst New York
:05:21. > :05:23.continues to score well with traditional things, it doesn't do
:05:24. > :05:27.well with cost of living and sustainability, those things. I
:05:28. > :05:32.suppose ultimately, businesses that are looking around the world and
:05:33. > :05:36.where to locate will be weighing up the things you've talked about. What
:05:37. > :05:40.can cities do to try and attract more business? They need to consider
:05:41. > :05:43.the broader measures and not focus on the financials. People want to
:05:44. > :05:49.experience good living within a city and I think it is important that
:05:50. > :05:50.cities look across all the sorts of broad measures we cover in this
:05:51. > :05:56.report. David, thank you. In other news, Australia's Trade
:05:57. > :05:59.Minister says it will be at least 2.5 years before his country can
:06:00. > :06:02.arrange a new trade He said Australia would negotiate
:06:03. > :06:05.with the EU before starting formal talks with Britain,
:06:06. > :06:07.and they could begin only once Swiss Banking Group,
:06:08. > :06:14.UBS, says up to 1,500 of its jobs in London may
:06:15. > :06:17.be moved abroad once the UK leaves The bank has previously said that
:06:18. > :06:22.a "significant percentage" of its London workforce would be
:06:23. > :06:26.moved if Brexit became a reality. The bank employs around 5,000 staff
:06:27. > :06:34.at its offices in London. French car-maker, Renault, may stop
:06:35. > :06:36.offering diesel engines in most The move is a reaction
:06:37. > :06:40.to the cost of ensuring that diesel engines comply
:06:41. > :06:43.with tighter emissions regulations. Last year saw a huge diesel
:06:44. > :06:45.emissions scandal involving German Renault's move was reported
:06:46. > :07:13.by Reuters and has not yet been The Business Live page dominated by
:07:14. > :07:18.one story. It is Sports Direct. It is under fire for its treatment of
:07:19. > :07:22.its staff. Some conditions have been described as a Victorian workhouse
:07:23. > :07:27.because they weren't paying staff according to more traditional
:07:28. > :07:34.contracts, it is their annual general meeting today. The boss is
:07:35. > :07:38.expected to come under fire. Lots of details about what might happen. The
:07:39. > :07:43.chairman offering his resignation but it was not accepted by the board
:07:44. > :07:47.of directors at Sports Director, Mike Ashley is the controversial
:07:48. > :07:51.figure that's been in the papers a lot, Mike Ashley. He told the BBC he
:07:52. > :07:56.plans to keep the company publicly listed. So lots of different bits of
:07:57. > :08:01.information coming in ahead of that AGM that's later on today. Yesterday
:08:02. > :08:05.they said they would offer their retail staff, those in stores, fixed
:08:06. > :08:08.hours contracts rather than the zero-hours contracts. So perhaps
:08:09. > :08:19.pre-empting the criticism that they are likely to face later.
:08:20. > :08:22.Australia has managed 25 years of continuous GDP growth.
:08:23. > :08:24.That's despite the slowdown in China.
:08:25. > :08:35.Phil explain this. 25 years of consecutive growth. It is a good
:08:36. > :08:41.figure to have, how have they done it? Well, it is a great result, 3.3%
:08:42. > :08:45.Australia's annual GDP growth, that's more than double the United
:08:46. > :08:50.States managed to garner during that period. And to explain this, you
:08:51. > :08:54.have to look at Australia's response to a fading mining boom. For the
:08:55. > :08:59.last decade-and-a-half, Australia has relied on exports of natural
:09:00. > :09:04.resources, most notably iron ore and coal to places such as China and
:09:05. > :09:08.India for its economic growth. That natural resource is fading and when
:09:09. > :09:12.you drill into the latest GDP figures this shows that Government
:09:13. > :09:17.investment and spending on infrastructure projects such as
:09:18. > :09:22.roads and other transport links are really propping up the economy. They
:09:23. > :09:25.economists are saying in Australia economists are saying in Australia
:09:26. > :09:29.that without that public spending Australia's growth would be a lot
:09:30. > :09:33.weaker. So ministers in Australia say these are very, very good
:09:34. > :09:37.results, but they do acknowledge that there are challenges ahead. You
:09:38. > :09:41.have to remember too that interest rates in Australia are at a record
:09:42. > :09:46.low. So that shows that the reserve bank wants to inject more money into
:09:47. > :09:50.the economy because it has worries about certain sectors of Australia's
:09:51. > :09:51.economic performance. So the headline result is very, very good
:09:52. > :09:57.for Australia. No recession since for Australia. No recession since
:09:58. > :10:01.the early 1990s and of course, the Australian Government is crossing
:10:02. > :10:05.its fingers that this miraculous economic run continues. All right,
:10:06. > :10:10.we'll watch this space. For now, Phil, thank you very much indeed.
:10:11. > :10:16.Phil Mercer. The Australian dollar weakening today. That's after a
:10:17. > :10:19.five-day run of a 2.4% gain. A weakening in the Australian dollar
:10:20. > :10:28.in reaction to that growth number that came through.
:10:29. > :10:34.Japan, its five day of run of gains came to a halt today. The Bank of
:10:35. > :10:37.Japan is not going to be initiating more stimulus measures there in the
:10:38. > :10:41.near future. That hit sentiment in Japan. Across Asia we saw slight
:10:42. > :10:46.falls, that's the night before in the United States. Let's look at
:10:47. > :10:53.what's going on in the UK. Among the events happening today, we have got
:10:54. > :10:57.slight losses on markets in Europe. Nothing too dramatic, but Mark
:10:58. > :11:00.Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, will be before committee
:11:01. > :11:04.later. That will be interesting. He will be getting a grilling about the
:11:05. > :11:11.Bank of England's recent action post the Brexit referendum. So a lot to
:11:12. > :11:12.go on in Europe. We will talk about that in detail.
:11:13. > :11:15.Here's Samira with what to watch on Wall Street today.
:11:16. > :11:26.It's holding its annual media event in San Francisco,
:11:27. > :11:28.where it's expected to unveil the new iPhone7.
:11:29. > :11:31.Now, these days the big challenge for Apple is to bring some growth
:11:32. > :11:34.The economic slowdown has pretty much slammed the brakes
:11:35. > :11:37.on what was once seen as Apple's next big market.
:11:38. > :11:38.Separately, PlayStation will be holding its own
:11:39. > :11:43.Now, think of the PlayStation as Sony's most important
:11:44. > :11:52.The Japanese company will likely be announcing
:11:53. > :11:55.a higher-end PlayStation 4, better equipped to handle VR,
:11:56. > :11:58.And it is also expected to show a slimmer, less expensive version
:11:59. > :12:09.of the PS4 that people have in their living rooms right now.
:12:10. > :12:15.Richard Hunter, head of research at Wilson King Investment Management.
:12:16. > :12:24.Richard nice to see you. As Sally touched on in the markets, it is all
:12:25. > :12:28.about central banks? Yes, apart from what we heard about with Japan, we
:12:29. > :12:34.have the ECB meeting later in the week as well and perhaps more
:12:35. > :12:37.pertinently in terms of the Bank of England, there is Mark Carney's
:12:38. > :12:42.potential grilling this afternoon as well. Is there an issue with Mark
:12:43. > :12:46.Carney? There is a lot of economic data that suggests that things are
:12:47. > :12:51.better than they might have forecast, he is perhaps willing some
:12:52. > :12:54.bad data to come through, they have cut interest rates and they have
:12:55. > :12:56.launched a stimulus, they may have launched a stimulus, they may have
:12:57. > :13:01.done that too soon? It is a good point. The excuse after Brexit is we
:13:02. > :13:05.have only had two weeks worth of data so they left it a month. Even
:13:06. > :13:08.then we have only had six weeks worth of data and the subsequent
:13:09. > :13:12.economic numbers that have come through, you could probably make an
:13:13. > :13:16.argument that there wasn't a need for an interest rate cut for further
:13:17. > :13:22.monetary easing as we saw. On the other hand, I suspect the reply from
:13:23. > :13:25.the bank will simply be that one of the central banks duties is to be
:13:26. > :13:33.ahead of the curve and to anticipate what we're coming into as opposed to
:13:34. > :13:38.what we might see. Richard, thank you. Nice to see you.
:13:39. > :13:41.The inside track on keeping things on track!
:13:42. > :13:44.The boss of French rail giant Voyages SNCF will be
:13:45. > :13:46.here to tell us how me navigates not one train network,
:13:47. > :13:49.but lots of them, right across Europe.
:13:50. > :14:00.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:14:01. > :14:02.Sports Direct is in the spotlight again today at their
:14:03. > :14:06.Annual General Meeting, when bosses are expected
:14:07. > :14:11.to come under fire over how it treats its workers.
:14:12. > :14:15.It pre-empted the criticism yesterday, announcing that it
:14:16. > :14:17.would offer store staff fixed-hour contracts rather than the
:14:18. > :14:20.So what are we expecting from today's AGM?
:14:21. > :14:25.Theo Leggett is in our Business Newsroom.
:14:26. > :14:33.Talk us through what we are expecting today and we've had some
:14:34. > :14:38.movement? Let me take you to the share price of Sports Direct. This
:14:39. > :14:41.is between yesterday's close and where the share price is today.
:14:42. > :14:47.Steep fall this morning. More than 7%. Now the reason for that is that
:14:48. > :14:52.Sports Direct has said that its earnings next year are likely to be
:14:53. > :14:56.around the ?300 million mark as opposed to ?380 million which the
:14:57. > :14:59.markets were expecting and which is the figure we have seen for
:15:00. > :15:03.2015/2016. That's something else that Mike Ashley and his fellow
:15:04. > :15:07.directors will be grilled about at the meeting later on today. But it
:15:08. > :15:12.is about more than just the profit forecast. It is also about corporate
:15:13. > :15:15.governance. A number of institutional shareholders are
:15:16. > :15:19.unhappy with what has been going on at Sports Direct. There has been a
:15:20. > :15:23.major scandal over conditions at its warehouse in Derbyshire. 4,000
:15:24. > :15:26.people work there. There have been allegations of bullying, allegations
:15:27. > :15:31.of abuse in the way that the six strikes and you're out system is
:15:32. > :15:34.used for discipline so if people spent too long going to the toilet
:15:35. > :15:41.or took too many water breaks, they could be fired. Yesterday, we had a
:15:42. > :15:46.report from Sports Direct admitting to serious shortcomings in the way
:15:47. > :15:50.it treated its staff. Mike Ashley has said that's unsuitable and there
:15:51. > :15:56.have been promises that things will get better. Workers at the company's
:15:57. > :15:59.stores will be able to opt-out of zero-hours contracts and gain
:16:00. > :16:03.guaranteed 12 hours minimum hours a work. That said there will be a lot
:16:04. > :16:07.of pressure from shareholders at meeting today and a lot of that is
:16:08. > :16:10.likely to fall on the head of the chairman. There will be a vote to
:16:11. > :16:17.try to oust himment Thank you.
:16:18. > :16:27.We will keep you across that. You can refer to our page, which is
:16:28. > :16:28.across the story. The AGM gets under way, and it will update all the
:16:29. > :16:33.time. Check it out online.
:16:34. > :16:38.London has been crowned as the world's top city
:16:39. > :16:41.of opportunity for the second year in a row, but faces major
:16:42. > :16:45.challenges from the Brexit vote, according to a a report by financial
:16:46. > :16:52.Singapore and Toronto make up the rest of the top three,
:16:53. > :17:02.while New York slips from second place to sixth.
:17:03. > :17:08.We should do a survey among the BBC correspondents. We know who is
:17:09. > :17:10.where, but what they think! A quick look at how
:17:11. > :17:16.markets are faring. Europe is quite mixed, very flat, to
:17:17. > :17:34.be honest. The price of oil is up again.
:17:35. > :17:41.Keep your comments in about what Apple might announce this week. We
:17:42. > :17:44.will talk about it later. Running a railway is
:17:45. > :17:45.notoriously difficult. Not least here in the UK,
:17:46. > :17:48.where train services are heavily subsidised,
:17:49. > :17:54.but still criticised for late running, overcrowding
:17:55. > :17:59.and expensive tickets. So imagine trying to run a business
:18:00. > :18:02.that brings together lots of train Voyages SNCF is a subsidiary
:18:03. > :18:12.of the French national railway firm SNCF, and sells railway tickets
:18:13. > :18:19.to destinations all over Europe. It is a key player in the tourism
:18:20. > :18:22.industry, employing up to 1,000 Last year, the group sold 83 million
:18:23. > :18:30.tickets from around 15 European rail operators, with revenues of more
:18:31. > :18:35.than four billion euros. And now, new technology means that
:18:36. > :18:38.passengers can change their journey, adapting to delays and changes
:18:39. > :19:03.across different countries To make it clear, you have brought
:19:04. > :19:09.in this beautiful train to illustrate what we are talking
:19:10. > :19:15.about, but your company is just about ticketing, so when it comes to
:19:16. > :19:22.the trains, how they operate, but they are on time or not, that is not
:19:23. > :19:26.to do with you. , business is the digital selling of rail, we are the
:19:27. > :19:38.leader in Europe in selling rail on the web. I should talk about mobile
:19:39. > :19:48.and tablets, since this business is shifting that way, have to buy it at
:19:49. > :20:02.which Price, 60% purchase on smartphones. My business is to have
:20:03. > :20:06.these beautiful trains, it is growing fast, since it is much
:20:07. > :20:12.easier, with these new tools. Talk us through the logistics. Even in
:20:13. > :20:15.one country, such as the UK, it means the different companies have
:20:16. > :20:23.to speak to each other to share the cost and to take a train from, say,
:20:24. > :20:26.London to Scotland, you might have to use different operators, so how
:20:27. > :20:32.do you get everybody talking to each other? We need to bundle the
:20:33. > :20:40.different operators' tickets to show the easiest way to go. As a
:20:41. > :20:45.distributor, we are the ones making the travel easy. You don't need to
:20:46. > :20:55.see which company you will take, you just need to say, I want to go from
:20:56. > :21:00.there to there. I want to get it easy, the cheap price, and we will
:21:01. > :21:05.sell it to you, to make you happy. We are the happy travel factory,
:21:06. > :21:09.this is what we succeed in doing. We sell a million tickets each year in
:21:10. > :21:14.the UK, 80 million tickets are around the world, and we are present
:21:15. > :21:18.in more than 100 countries, through technology, through the knowledge of
:21:19. > :21:25.the customer, and through the knowledge of why a customer will
:21:26. > :21:32.take this train. For leisure, for the purpose of discovering new
:21:33. > :21:35.landscapes, new cultures. How has your business been affected by what
:21:36. > :21:40.has been going on in France? The majority of your business is there,
:21:41. > :21:45.people passing through into the rest of Europe, or just around France.
:21:46. > :21:51.With all of the offence going on, Euro 2016, lots of terrorist
:21:52. > :21:55.attacks, that have hit key areas that are very popular with tourists,
:21:56. > :22:02.those travelling by train, talk us through that. We had two different
:22:03. > :22:08.events, the positive one, the European Championships, was a great
:22:09. > :22:13.success. For each match we had sold 20% of the capacity of the stadium
:22:14. > :22:23.through our system, so that is great. After, there were sad events.
:22:24. > :22:29.But overall, we have to cope with that and show what the situation is
:22:30. > :22:35.in France. We lodged a campaign where we can see tourists in Paris
:22:36. > :22:44.visiting and living a good experience. Did you see a fall in
:22:45. > :22:51.sales? There was a small fall since the attacks, but when we showed how
:22:52. > :22:57.the situation is, people understand that and they are keen on travelling
:22:58. > :23:01.again with us. It is nice to see you, thank you for coming in, and
:23:02. > :23:11.thank you for bringing the train we play with it later!
:23:12. > :23:17.The business life page is where you can stay ahead, with all of the
:23:18. > :23:22.day's breaking news. We will keep you up-to-date with the latest
:23:23. > :23:24.details, with insight and analysis from the BBC's team of editors
:23:25. > :23:34.around the world. We want to hear from you. It involved on the web
:23:35. > :23:45.page. We are on Twitter, and you can find us on Facebook. On TV and
:23:46. > :23:50.online, whenever you need to know. Do get in touch. You have got in
:23:51. > :23:57.touch about Apple's new iPhone this week, rumours suggest they will lose
:23:58. > :24:04.the headphones jack. Let's get to some of the tweets. Then says, if it
:24:05. > :24:08.makes the phone better, I am for it. Somebody is says, I love the
:24:09. > :24:12.headphones I have, the Apple I is rubbish in comparison. There is a
:24:13. > :24:17.suggestion you might have to purchase different headphones. There
:24:18. > :24:22.was says, nothing wrong with the humble jack plug, just a chance to
:24:23. > :24:29.corner the market again. It is not good for musicians either. Maria
:24:30. > :24:36.says, it might make me leave Apple. Richard, do you care? I imagine a
:24:37. > :24:42.lot of people don't. I have not got an iPhone. They have got a bit of
:24:43. > :24:47.previous on things like this. In terms of changing the hardware to
:24:48. > :24:53.the cost of the consumer. I suspect there will be a bit of feedback and
:24:54. > :24:58.social media. People have been talking about this for months, the
:24:59. > :25:03.fact that the jack will be changed. For those who have bought fancy
:25:04. > :25:06.headphones, it is a nightmare. It would mean the phone can be
:25:07. > :25:11.thinner and they can put in a better battery. That is what people moan
:25:12. > :25:18.about. So it is a trade-off. What if you have a wireless headset, you
:25:19. > :25:23.will not be affected. Amazon's new 30 hour working week, they say it is
:25:24. > :25:29.a great idea. They are trying to improve productivity. One of the
:25:30. > :25:33.week economic feeds in the state is not so much an implement, it is
:25:34. > :25:38.productivity, so you will get a 30 hour working week and 75% of your
:25:39. > :25:45.salary, and certain pockets of the workforce... You are just going
:25:46. > :25:49.part-time. It is not a new idea. It should also free up the ability to
:25:50. > :25:54.bring more people in. You are a Londoner, we can tell by your
:25:55. > :26:01.accent, the top spot, according to the PWC. The surprising thing was
:26:02. > :26:04.New York going down to sixth place. Thank you for your company, we will
:26:05. > :26:09.see you soon, goodbye.