13/10/2016 BBC Business Live

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

Brexit breather for sterling - the pound holds on to gains made

in the last few days but there's a bitter taste over Marmite

The price of the spread is causing a war between global giants Tesco and

Unilever. Live from London, that's our top

story on Thursday 13th October. Sterling stays steady for now

but could swing later as a legal challenge to the right

of the Government to start the Brexit process without a vote

in Parliament is posed. Tesco pulls dozens of household

brands off its website - as the currency slump

sparks a pricing row Markets are on tenterhooks, they are

falling as traders digest the latest news on Chinese exports, how the

pound is doing and the Federal Reserve minutes. How about a health

record for your car? We will meet the firm that wants you to upload

your documents to the internet. So today we want to know

are you willing to pay 10% more I can't stand marmite, so no big

brands in the supermarket. I can't stand marmite, so no big

deal for me. But let us no. Use the hashtag #BBCBizLive.

You have already sent in plenty of thoughts. We will try to mention

them. There's been some relief

for the battered pound, but how long will it last

and what are some of According to calculations by the UK

Treasury, leaving the EU single market, a so called "hard Brexit",

could cost the economy as much as ?66 billion annually,

that's around $80 billion. It says Britain's economy,

its annual output or GDP, could be 9.5% smaller within 15

years if it can't strike a deal giving access to the EU market

and is forced to operate under These figures are disputed

by Brexit supporters. But what can't be disputed

is the impact all of this is having It has lost 18% of its value

since the Brexit vote and has been down as much as 20%,

but the UK consumer is already Tesco has withdrawn some of the most

popular brands from its website, including Marmite spread, Vienetta

ice cream and Persil washing powder, after Unilever tried to put up

prices to compensate Look at the Tesco website this

morning and you'll find that dozens of its top-selling

products are unavailable. All the items, from Persil

to Pot Noodles, are made They are believed to have

demanded a 10% price hike, blaming the weakness of the pound

since the Brexit vote. And so, one of the biggest consumer

goods suppliers is said to have stopped deliveries to

Britain's biggest retailer. For the time being at least,

the problem seems to be I've just bought these

Unilever items at the store here and there was plenty of product

on the shelves. But some people are reporting

problems buying these Marmite is made in the UK,

so why should its price go up 10%? Some analysts say Unilever may be

using the pound's fall as a pretext for increasing

its prices across the board. Unilever has said nothing

at all about the current dispute. Unilever said it was quite normal to

increase costs because a currency had been devalued.

In the battle of the Marmite jars, the former boss of another big

supplier says Tesco will eventually have to give some ground.

That's where Unilever will win because, despite the fact people may

grumble about paying more for Marmite, they will

pay more for Marmite and that's what the strength

But then the people who pay more have less money

So, two giants of the food world are facing up to each other

Kathleen Brooks, Research Director, City Index, is with me.

This is where it starts to get real. We can talk about numbers, the

falling value of the pound, this is when it hits the real economy?

Absolutely, the tangible effect of the falling pound that we have seen

since June. Really, the pound has been accelerating its decline in the

last two weeks. There will be more of this to come. It's gone from

something we talk about on financial markets to the supermarket aisles,

quite literally. What you think outcome will be for people? They

will feel less well off? Those that cannot bear the generic alternative

to marmite, they will pay more for their weekly shop? Wages are not

really going up in any fast way, people will have to divert more

funds to necessities, be that marmite, if that is your thing, or

not. Ultimately, they will spend less elsewhere. Not good news for

the economy when the necessities start to go up, that is what we

really have to buy. The government will be watching this closely, so is

the Bank of England. Inflation for them is not good at the moment,

because interest rates are so low. Some winners and losers, this is

clearly an issue where consumers will lose when it comes to the price

of things in the supermarket, some winners in terms of making it

cheaper to stay in the UK for tourism, more people coming to the

UK, foreigners snapping up things in the UK, luxury goods are much

cheaper. There is a tourism benefit, a staycation benefit? Absolutely. On

one side you have winners, but then you have losers. They have to

balance it. Not everybody is going to benefit. Tourism should

definitely get a big lift from the fall in the pound. I believe it is

already. That he had, we have a sense of what the Brexit timetable

might be, the summer of 2017, sorry, 2018? When we might be leaving?

Anyway, we have a sense of the timetable. It is stilling going to

be sensitive from now until then? Will we look at these kind of

swings? What are your thoughts? We tend to think the foreign exchange

market tends to move in cycles. For a long time we had a weak dollar,

now it seems to be the pound's turn. It is driven by politics, and

unstable force. We don't really know too much about what is going to

happen. Yes, they will trigger Article 50 by next March. We will

probably leave two years after that. We don't know what that will look

like and what the trade negotiations will look like. They will be behind

closed doors, that is what Theresa May and David Davis said. That adds

to uncertainty, which the pound doesn't like. If it still looks like

there will be a big spat with Europe, it will be bad news for the

pound for the next two years, maybe even longer. It is true, that

volatility, get used to it, it will be here for a little while.

Some of your comments, Mark says I might not notice a 10% rise, it just

seems everything is getting more expensive. Helen says it is a great

opportunity for smaller brands, alternatives. Flu, I am with you, I

would not buy marmite if the price fell by 10%. -- Lee, I'm with you.

What about Ben Jerry's? That is a very different matter.

The boss of US banking giant Wells Fargo is to stand

down following a scandal over its sales practices.

The bank is investigating how two million accounts were opened

without customers' permission to boost sales figures.

Last month Wells Fargo was fined $185m and accused of "widespread

illegal practices" by US regulators.

Minutes from last month's US Federal Reserve meeting

show its decision to keep interest rates unchanged was a "close call".

They only held off because inflation was still running below the 2%

target and there was no sign of rising wage pressure.

They lend further weight to expectations that rates

Let's turn to Asia now where markets are being hit by news

Much of the recent news from China has been positive -

Yes, well, it really fell far lower than estimates. To give you an idea,

September, the value of September exports from China, fell 10% in US

dollar terms against expectations, just a 3% fall was expected. It was

forecasted to rise. With prices of key commodities, if you cut imports

of crude oil, iron ore, copper, values rose, but imports fell. The

Chinese yen has fallen against the dollar. Whatever trade has been

done, it becomes less impressive when converted into dollars. The

main factor is still we can global trade. Taiwan released similar

figures. The key question is whether this is telling us something about

China's uncertain recovery. We will know more about that as we get more

data, including GDP next week. That story is really playing out

when it comes to trade in Asia today. The news from China spooking

investors. Companies that export goods out of Japan, their stocks

fell because the yen was stronger. Hong Kong was really affected by

news out of China, that is why the Hang Seng was hit hard. Let's look

at Europe. Doing the damage today, energy stocks on these markets. The

oil price has fallen a little. Confusion about what Opec might

decide at the end of November, causing the price of oil to come off

a little bit. The pound is down by 0.25% against the US dollar. We will

see how it develops as the day progresses. An interesting afternoon

in the UK Parliament regarding Brexit. It could cause the pound to

fall further. Let's look to the US. Clear skies or turbulent ahead?

Delta Airlines are scheduled to report third-quarter results this

Thursday with the transatlantic business week, the Atlanta -based

airline's cuts to flight capacity might be enough to prop up ticket

prices. One of the big American carriers, its earnings can set the

tone for what investors can expect for the rest of the industry.

Turning to the economic front, the numbers of Americans claiming

unemployment benefit rose this week to 250 3000. That is after falling

to 249,000 last week. That is the lowest number since 1973.

Joining us is Trevor Greetham, from Royal London Asset Management.

Let's talk about the pound. I am going to get you to explain this.

Yesterday the pound dropped to a 168 year low. This is on a trade

weighted basis, as it is known as. Feel free to explain! Rather than

looking at a particular exchange rate, the pound against the euro or

the dollar, you work out whether traders, which countries matter in

terms of imports and exports. The countries with more trade, you give

a bigger weight to their exchange rate. You work out an average

exchange rate, but what matters for the UK. On The Financial Times

website, they say 168 year low against bank of England data. But

this is actually probably an all-time low against trading

partners. We touched on the fact that this is when it starts to

affect our pockets, in the real economy, this is the stuff that

matters. Before the Brexit vote, the tail end of last year, the current

account deficit has never been that extreme. That means the UK imports a

lot more than it exports. The pound is trying to find a new level, where

exports can go up. Unfortunately, a lot of exports to Europe are

financial services, not very price sensitive. Trying to find a level

where imports can go down to balance the better. They go down through

prices going up and people not being able to afford marmite any more, a

bit of a tragedy. To make it clear, you love Marmite? We have stocked up

already. Stockpile the marmite! That is clearly where it has gone.

Still to come: Keeping you moving, we'll meet the firm that wants

to help you simplify driving by keeping your tax,

service and insurance details in one place and up to date.

You're with Business Live from BBC News.

A big day for corporate results in the UK,

but we'll start with a boardroom reshuffle at Sports Direct.

The Chief Financial Officer is to stand down, just weeks

after the sportswear retailer's chief executive left the company.

Theo Leggett is across this for us, from the Business Newsroom.

It's another firm that's been hit by the weak pound.

Being locked lot of people in the company itself and it has been

criticised over Mrs Addis warehouse and it has been criticised by the

government for that and the chief Executive recently stepped down.

Mike Ashley, the founder, is now in that position. Investors are worried

about the way this company is being run. The interim finance chief will

not be sitting on the board. Loss of earnings, WH Smith doing well and

also BSkyB doing well with a 7% jump in revenues. WH Smith has reported a

increase in full-year profits. It is doing well in its travel stores at

airports and railway stations which the business has been focusing on

Hogmanay and where it can charge higher prices. We have also had a

quarterly update from the sky. That has been a big increase in revenues.

But the biggest increase in their revenues comes from the overseas

markets, Germany, Austria and Italy. A digital, the company that

specialises in computer gaming, they have not had it so good. Pre-tax

profits from ?30 million and ?58.6 million. They say it is a bad market

for computer consoles. A quick straw poll of the office and the studio

and the tech team, which side are you on the Marmite debate? I very

much love it, but my cameraman is a hater. It is a 50-50 split.

You can A lot of results are out today.

You You can 're watching Business Live,

holding steady but the effects of falling sterling

Marmite maker is pulling the spread from Tesco shelves over weak prices

over the row between the retailer and the manufacturer.

Just to clarify, it is the website. Tesco is saying it is not on the

website at the moment, but it is still on the shelves. I can imagine

the rush as we speak. And it is not just Marmite, there

are whole load of other brands. But this is not a row about one

supermarket and one manufacturer, it is around all suppliers and all

is around all suppliers and all supermarkets.

As we all lead increasingly busy lives it can sometimes be hard

to keep track of things, such as personal documents.

AA Automyze is a digital PA for your car.

It keeps track of things like insurance, car tax and service

reminders online then sends you messages when bills are due.

And it's a bit more than the notion of going paperless -

it enables users to build a transferrable digital

record for a vehicle, which could be useful for a number

Lucy Burnford, co-founder of AA Automyze joins me now.

Nice to see you. So, forgive me, but it sounds like a very simple

concept. It is about keeping all your paperwork in one place and you

can get hold of it when you need to. The service record is important.

What is it that makes you unique? It did not exist before we created it.

First service history is valuable to you as the owner of the car and is

the second owner you need to know what maintenance has been done on

it. I bought a car that did not have the history and it cost me a lot of

money to put right. You can transfer it from owner to owner. People

forget to renew their MOT on time and there are different

organisations that you have to engage with like the garage, the

insurance company, the MOT people and the tax disc, all facilitated by

different organisations. If decentralised and digitiser it takes

the hassle out of owning a new car and you can get on with driving it.

But those people who are on it when it comes to technology and digital

advantages, they tend to be people who get all this organised and they

get alerts on the MOT is due or the garage might get in touch with them

and they are reminded already. Some people are reminded already, but we

know there are a huge number of people who have driven a car without

an MOT. If you have more than one car in your household or you have a

small business with a business card, you are managing a fleet and it is a

hassle to remember all of those dates and it is easier to get a

digital service. People watching outside the UK, and MOT is a test of

making sure that your car is worthy to drive. It is about not holding

paper copies. Most people get an alert, I get an alert when my house

insurance is due. How would you take the hassle out of it? Part of the

hassle is shopping around to get a better deal. Yes, we have got the

issue of when somebody gets an alert when something is due, but how do

you know a high-quality garage will take your car? It is a consumer

issue. We have got a network of 4000 independent garages around the UK

and we have taken the shopping around hassle out so people can be

confident. This business is your idea and you decided to give birth

to the company when you were eight months pregnant! You teamed up with

somebody who was technically aware to make the technology happened. It

is a fairly competitive world, but you have teamed up with AA. For

those watching outside, it is an organisation of 4 million users who

use it as a rescue service if you break down. That is key, you get 4

million people possibly using your service. We do, we were a start-up a

couple of years ago and we went to see the AA about the opportunity for

them to offer something for their members. They loved our idea and our

commitment to building a garage network and four at the start-up to

get access to their brand, their heritage and their customer base

accelerated our business. Good to talk to you. Does this work for

other areas, not just cars? Housing issues? Potentially in the future,

at the moment we are focusing on cars, there are 35 million of them

in the UK. Do you like Marmite? I love it.

I am so outnumbered. I am in the lead, I am winning.

In a moment we'll take a look through the Business Pages but first

here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us.

We will keep you up-to-date with all the latest details with insight and

analysis from the BBC's team of editors around the world. We want to

hear from you as well and get involved on the BBC business live

web page. We are on Twitter and we can be found on Facebook as well. On

TV and online, whenever you need to know. Lots of you have been in

touch. Alistair says, not.

The website. Some people say that now the pound is low, they want more

money. When the pound was high, did we get

a discount? Have we just read that one out? I am sorry, I am not

listening to you. Some things never change. Trevor is

Joining us is Trevor Greetham, from Royal London Asset Management.

This is about inflatable defence equipment. It is the new weapon in

Russia's arsenal. Look at that picture and that is how it starts

off and look what it forms into. It is great for children's' parties. It

is an inflatable device that you can blow up, so it looks like it in the

idea is that this will be wasted on inflatable the boys. We really need

is an inflatable on the like? Everyone has employed tricks in wall

all the way back to the Trojan horse. There is nothing new here.

Donald Rumsfeld press conference and he said in a now on America would

release stories to the media, sometimes fallacious, to win the war

on terror. The generals were not sure whether to write that down or

not, but everyone does it. Give us your on and on and on with my? The

pound could continue to balance a little bit, but in the end that is a

red herring. There will be a vote on whether to do article 50 knot and

whether to do article 50 knot and not the details.

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

webpage and on World Business Report.