:00:00. > :00:00.This is Business Live from BBC News with Sally Bundock and Rachel Horne.
:00:07. > :00:07.Are we seeing the calm before the storm?
:00:08. > :00:11.Today, markets in the UK and US open for the first time this year.
:00:12. > :00:14.Some experts say business confidence is at an all-time high.
:00:15. > :00:34.Live from London, that's our top story on Tuesday 3rd January.
:00:35. > :00:37.It's set to be a defining 12 months for global businesses.
:00:38. > :00:40.We'll ask why some companies are still feeling positive
:00:41. > :00:44.despite the uncertainty of Brexit and a Trump Presidency.
:00:45. > :00:47.Also in the programme, start as you mean to go on.
:00:48. > :00:52.As we enter 2017, the Australian bank ANZ continues to sell of parts
:00:53. > :00:56.We'll cross live to Singapore for the latest.
:00:57. > :00:59.And, after the long holiday break, it's business as usual
:01:00. > :01:04.They are all headed in one direction at the moment.
:01:05. > :01:10.We'll be getting an expert view on how long it will last.
:01:11. > :01:14.We'll be talking interactive billboards and digital
:01:15. > :01:18.advertising with one of the industry's leading companies.
:01:19. > :01:22.Dentists are calling for an end to the workplace cake culture.
:01:23. > :01:24.Is there too much junk food at your work, or does it
:01:25. > :01:38.Let us know, just use the hashtag #BBCBizLive.
:01:39. > :01:50.It is never too early for cake and chocolate, just get some false
:01:51. > :01:51.teeth! Today, markets in the US,
:01:52. > :01:54.the UK and most of Asia have been open for the first trading session
:01:55. > :01:57.of the year. In 2016, surprise political results
:01:58. > :02:02.caused tremors on both sides of the Atlantic,
:02:03. > :02:05.but a new report suggests there's been a sharp increase in business
:02:06. > :02:10.confidence for the year ahead. The professional services firm
:02:11. > :02:12.Grant Thornton says the number of companies expecting
:02:13. > :02:15.to grow their annual profits Indeed, here in the UK, the Ftse
:02:16. > :02:23.recently hit an all-time record, despite ongoing uncertainty over
:02:24. > :02:25.Britain's relationship In fact, Europe's Stoxx
:02:26. > :02:30.600 has entered a bull market just this week,
:02:31. > :02:34.so it is 20% up from And it's a similar story
:02:35. > :02:38.in the United States. The Dow Jones rose 13% last year,
:02:39. > :02:43.most of the increase taking place after Donald Trump was elected as US
:02:44. > :02:49.President. The billionaire businessman has
:02:50. > :02:51.outlined an infrastructure That could give a boost to companies
:02:52. > :02:59.in the US and across the world. With me is Francesca Lagerberg,
:03:00. > :03:17.global leader for tax Looking ahead to 2017, the start of
:03:18. > :03:22.a New Year is often a time for optimism, but looking to this year,
:03:23. > :03:25.it is uncertain when the future is going, we have a new president in
:03:26. > :03:31.the White House, not a lot of visibility of what he is going to
:03:32. > :03:38.do, Brexit, European elections. What is putting up the confidence? It is
:03:39. > :03:42.fascinating seeing businesses being optimistic, 38% positivity in the
:03:43. > :03:45.businesses that we surveyed. There is something around knowing the
:03:46. > :03:51.big-ticket issues of the year last year gave some uncertainty that
:03:52. > :03:53.Donald Trump will be president, there will be Brexit, and even
:03:54. > :04:01.though we don't know that Massa Nations, there is some certainty,
:04:02. > :04:05.and businesses love certainty. 38% more confident about the future, so
:04:06. > :04:10.that still leaves over 60% who are not, what are their concerns? Some
:04:11. > :04:16.of the things coming through our around currency changes, around how
:04:17. > :04:19.other things may pan out, in the Eurozone we have big elections in
:04:20. > :04:25.France and Germany, different transatlantic agreement in Asia, had
:04:26. > :04:31.overall was a divinity at 38% is very high. Over the last 20 years,
:04:32. > :04:37.that is a very positive outlook. What businesses did you survey? And
:04:38. > :04:44.how many of them? We looked at nearly 3000 businesses, over 37
:04:45. > :04:48.economies, and they are mid-sized, the powerhouses of these economies,
:04:49. > :04:52.so they are a good gauge of where business is looking. With the
:04:53. > :04:57.businesses you survey it, but some a challenge for one is an up agility
:04:58. > :05:04.for another, so they are coming at it from different angles. The big
:05:05. > :05:09.economies, a huge rise in positivity, 54%, a massive increase,
:05:10. > :05:13.over 11% increase, compare and contrast with Mexico, which is
:05:14. > :05:18.looking north of the border at where change may be happening, and they
:05:19. > :05:24.have gone down to 8%, so there are great cultural variances. But if you
:05:25. > :05:28.are the big economies like the Eurozone, very positive in the big
:05:29. > :05:32.countries there, they see the year as having more opportunities than
:05:33. > :05:35.challenges. It is one thing for businesses to say they are
:05:36. > :05:39.confident, but to do something about it, to invest for the future, how
:05:40. > :05:45.many of them said they were going to? This is about perception and
:05:46. > :05:53.optimism, but a lot say they will invest up our Andy will go up, --
:05:54. > :05:58.research and of element will go up, and also investment in machinery.
:05:59. > :06:05.People are saying they think that you will begin at, they think next
:06:06. > :06:06.year and 2019 times when they need to invest today to make those years
:06:07. > :06:09.a success. For the first time in more than 50
:06:10. > :06:16.years, Sweden's bestselling car Instead, it was a Volkswagen
:06:17. > :06:21.which topped the sales charts. The VW Golf made up 5.9% of new cars
:06:22. > :06:26.bought in the country, while Volvo only had a 5.7% slice
:06:27. > :06:33.of sales, spread The last time Volvo was not
:06:34. > :06:38.in the top spot was 1962, when another Volkswagen,
:06:39. > :06:42.the Beetle, headed the list. Singapore's economy just
:06:43. > :06:44.recorded its best growth According to new government
:06:45. > :06:50.data, GDP grew by 9.1% on a seasonally-adjusted annualised
:06:51. > :06:53.basis, the fastest pace seen Buying a home Down Under just
:06:54. > :06:59.got that much harder, with prices seeing the biggest jump
:07:00. > :07:01.in seven years. The red-hot markets are Sydney
:07:02. > :07:04.and Melbourne, fuelled by record low interest rates boosting
:07:05. > :07:07.demand for mortgages. Annual growth in overall home prices
:07:08. > :07:14.accelerated to 10.9%, from 9.3%. This is a concern for
:07:15. > :07:16.the Australian central bank. It hoped the market would cool
:07:17. > :07:19.after regulators slapped banks Australia and New Zealand Banking
:07:20. > :07:28.Group, more commonly known as ANZ, is selling off its stake
:07:29. > :07:45.in a Shanghai bank. How significant is this? It is very
:07:46. > :07:52.significant. Currently ANZ have a 20% stake in the bank, but it is
:07:53. > :07:58.selling it for $1.3 billion, and it is part of the bank's restructure,
:07:59. > :08:01.to simplify its business, because all of Australia's major banks are
:08:02. > :08:09.battling higher funding costs and lower interest margins. In October,
:08:10. > :08:19.ANZ also announced a sale of its retail arms in five countries. As
:08:20. > :08:22.for its Chinese assets, it will be bought by Chinese companies. Through
:08:23. > :08:28.these deals, they are hoping to become better capitalised.
:08:29. > :08:34.Happy New Year to you, have not seen you get this year.
:08:35. > :08:42.Three out of four markets here have been closed since the end of last
:08:43. > :08:47.year. No action in Japan today. And Wall Street will open later today.
:08:48. > :08:52.Hong Kong up by nearly not .7%. We have a weaker dollar, it has gone
:08:53. > :08:58.down slightly today against most major currencies, which was fuelling
:08:59. > :09:03.movement in Asia today. All markets in Europe are open, but a few of
:09:04. > :09:07.them were opened yesterday, but marginal trading scene yesterday,
:09:08. > :09:16.but as many were still on a long bank holiday. In Europe, they are
:09:17. > :09:25.all headed higher, and it is interesting, because the euro Stoxx
:09:26. > :09:29.600 hit a ball market today, 20% up on its low end of February 2000 and
:09:30. > :09:34.16. Joining us is Sue Noffke,
:09:35. > :09:49.she's the UK Equities Fund Let's kick off with the London Stock
:09:50. > :09:52.Exchange, wires have said they have agreed a sale, they have had a bit
:09:53. > :09:57.for their French clearing business, which could help their tie-up with
:09:58. > :10:03.the German stock market to go through. LCA Chiswick clearing part,
:10:04. > :10:10.and the regulators have looked at the merger in the past between them,
:10:11. > :10:16.and denied them the ability to go ahead. The sale of part of the
:10:17. > :10:21.business, which removes some of the concentration risk, which regulators
:10:22. > :10:26.are concerned about pricing and the concentration of power in clearing,
:10:27. > :10:31.might make it easier for the merger between them to go ahead. In the
:10:32. > :10:39.meantime, it would seem Europe is going from strength to strength, we
:10:40. > :10:45.can see the numbers behind you. London is up, having closed at a
:10:46. > :10:49.record high at the end of 2016. We are seeing quite a lot of market
:10:50. > :10:54.optimism. It is around the sustainability of growth. The cycle
:10:55. > :11:02.is quite extended, but has been muted. What we have seen
:11:03. > :11:08.turbo-charged moss around Donald Trump does 's victory and what that
:11:09. > :11:14.means for fiscal policy. That means taxation cuts, regulatory take being
:11:15. > :11:20.torn up, spending on infrastructure projects, elongating the economic
:11:21. > :11:28.cycle and getting away from these all trilan interest rate. What will
:11:29. > :11:31.burst the bubble? Lots of things. That is what economists and
:11:32. > :11:38.strategists are warning about. Instability in geopolitics, European
:11:39. > :11:46.elections, China growth grinding to a halt, those are the types of
:11:47. > :11:53.things that in the big picture people are worried about. More work
:11:54. > :12:05.to do for you! We will talk interactive billboards
:12:06. > :12:06.with one of the industry's leading players.
:12:07. > :12:08.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:12:09. > :12:12.Here in the UK, rail passengers are facing higher
:12:13. > :12:18.fares across the country, as average price increases of 2.3%
:12:19. > :12:22.The increase covers regulated fares, including season tickets,
:12:23. > :12:28.and unregulated, such as off-peak tickets.
:12:29. > :12:33.It's being called a "kick in the teeth" for passengers.
:12:34. > :12:39.Stephen Joseph is from the Campaign For Better Transport.
:12:40. > :12:47.I issue that is your view? Yes, we think these extra increases are a
:12:48. > :12:55.kick in the teeth for rail passengers, who have been facing
:12:56. > :12:59.some very poor service in some cases, especially on the Southern
:13:00. > :13:06.Rail network, which has been hit by long-term industrial action, but
:13:07. > :13:11.also by generally poor service on the services into London from the
:13:12. > :13:15.south coast. We have argued that what we need is a simpler, fairer
:13:16. > :13:19.and cheaper system of rail fares. What we have is a complex structure
:13:20. > :13:23.that has grown up over the years, it has been added to since the railways
:13:24. > :13:30.were privatised, and we need to start again and have a much more
:13:31. > :13:33.rational system. Somewhat argued the reason why fares have gone up so
:13:34. > :13:36.soon can give for passengers is that the passengers are paying a larger
:13:37. > :13:42.percentage of the bill for the railway, from 50% to 70%, and they
:13:43. > :13:45.might say it is fair enough that the people who use the railways pay for
:13:46. > :13:50.them. The point to make is that almost no other country in the world
:13:51. > :13:55.takes that view. There is new research today showing that other
:13:56. > :14:01.countries subsidise their railways and people pay significantly lower
:14:02. > :14:05.proportions of their income on commuting, compared with people in
:14:06. > :14:10.the UK. That is because there are wider benefits from having a good
:14:11. > :14:13.and affordable rail network, including less congestion and
:14:14. > :14:17.pollution on the roads. We have some of the most congested roads in the
:14:18. > :14:25.world, as well as some of the highest rail fares. There has to be
:14:26. > :14:30.a connection there somewhere. I would imagine many of you have a
:14:31. > :14:37.view on that subject, the price of those coming up. Mine went up 20p.
:14:38. > :14:40.It is good to know! Lots on our tablet, quite says that, UK housing
:14:41. > :14:47.shortage, no policy shortage. Our top story today,
:14:48. > :14:53.markets in the US, the UK and most of Asia have been open for the first
:14:54. > :15:03.trading session of the year. Many would argue that perhaps we are
:15:04. > :15:07.a little bit too over optimistic at the moment given some of the
:15:08. > :15:16.political risk out there and geopolitical risk out there in the
:15:17. > :15:21.New Year. That's how the markets in Europe are
:15:22. > :15:24.trading right now. Most of them are open today.
:15:25. > :15:26.And now let's get the inside track on the digital revolution
:15:27. > :15:29.that's taking place in the world of advertising.
:15:30. > :15:32.No longer is some poor soul required to scale a ladder with a brush
:15:33. > :15:35.and pot of glue to paste a large sheet of paper on a billboard.
:15:36. > :15:37.Many displays are now electronic and can adapt
:15:38. > :15:41.their content to the viewer as he or she passes by.
:15:42. > :15:44.Primesight is one of the largest "out of home" advertising firms
:15:45. > :15:50.in the UK and Naren Patel, its chief executive is with us.
:15:51. > :15:58.Welcome. Good morning. First of all, just explain to us this concept of
:15:59. > :16:01.out of home advertising. Well, out of home is basically every ad that
:16:02. > :16:07.you see when you're not in your house. So it is things on rail
:16:08. > :16:13.stations, buses, airports, and on the roadside, underground. We kind
:16:14. > :16:16.of, we spend three hours a day outside our home look looking at
:16:17. > :16:22.billboards and that's the time you spend looking at these ads. Only 3%
:16:23. > :16:27.of your billboards are digital, but that accounts for 20% of your
:16:28. > :16:30.revenue. Surely that would mean you want to increase the number of
:16:31. > :16:36.digital billboards you have to increase the revenue? Yes, but the
:16:37. > :16:41.day of the man and the bucket and paste will always be there. We have
:16:42. > :16:46.20,000 in total. So we will never digitalise them all, but we are
:16:47. > :16:50.digitalising the best sites. We are about 20% of our revenues and the
:16:51. > :16:55.industry is 35%, we think it will get to 50%, but it will stabilise
:16:56. > :17:00.because we need the old traditional paper and paste because it gives us
:17:01. > :17:02.cover every where. The same ad goes up in Slough and Derby and Edinburgh
:17:03. > :17:08.at the same time and advertisers like that. They like the fame of
:17:09. > :17:12.getting their ads up. You are a UK based organisation... Correct. You
:17:13. > :17:16.mentioned the key cities in the UK. To what extent are we affected by
:17:17. > :17:20.billboards? What evidence is there to say that looking at a billboard
:17:21. > :17:24.will affect what I do with my money or what I do with my time? Well,
:17:25. > :17:30.there is loads of evidence, but the key thing you have got to look at is
:17:31. > :17:34.our advertiser base. So we our advertisers consist of the top
:17:35. > :17:38.advertisers in the UK. Mainly media companies, all the big media
:17:39. > :17:42.companies out out of home. They only use it because it works and there is
:17:43. > :17:49.a tonne of evidence. If you want to check on the IPAO they provide lots
:17:50. > :17:53.of it. And the way it works is, when you're out and about, you are more
:17:54. > :17:59.active. You have an active mindset and that makes you absorb messages
:18:00. > :18:02.and we did a bit of research last year really on, because the whole
:18:03. > :18:07.thing around smartphones which is really interesting and we tracked
:18:08. > :18:13.people's movements and we found that on the top 20 campaigns, their
:18:14. > :18:16.search increased by up to 40%. So if that doesn't prove that outdoor
:18:17. > :18:21.qorks, what does really? Where are you in the marred accounting spend
:18:22. > :18:24.with your clients? If things get tough economically, are you lower
:18:25. > :18:28.down in the pecking order when it comes to their marketing spend? Out
:18:29. > :18:32.of home this year is the second fastest growing medium. I'm talking
:18:33. > :18:36.about 2016. In terms of advertising? Of course, the internet is the
:18:37. > :18:39.fastest, and we will be second and TV will be third. We are really
:18:40. > :18:44.important and digital is what is really driving this. So we have gone
:18:45. > :18:47.from a wonderful media, in a way you could get your posters, but across
:18:48. > :18:53.the country to something that gives awe lot of flexibility. So if you
:18:54. > :18:56.are, for example, a car advertiser, all the research says people think
:18:57. > :19:01.about buying cars when they are diving home. Right. Now you can
:19:02. > :19:08.serve your ads on digital billboards between 4pm and 7pm. That's
:19:09. > :19:13.brilliant. It cuts down a lot of wastage, you are turbo charging it
:19:14. > :19:17.with digital. There are lots of good examples of using data to drive
:19:18. > :19:22.content on screens and that's what is getting the industry excited
:19:23. > :19:27.about at home. I want to talk about targeted advertising. You mentioned
:19:28. > :19:32.about targeting drivers orn the way home with ads for new cars because
:19:33. > :19:38.that's when we think about it. It is harder on billboards than on smart
:19:39. > :19:46.devices. How do you target it for the audience? I don't see Tom Cruise
:19:47. > :19:53.and Minority Report happening soon. We don't use personalised data. We
:19:54. > :19:56.pick up we buy a lot of data from smartphone networks, it gives us
:19:57. > :19:59.travel patterns, it gives us ideas of which audiences are going where
:20:00. > :20:07.and we load up our content it maximise that. So it is not about, I
:20:08. > :20:11.know you, you are looking for ladders, so I am ale going to serve
:20:12. > :20:15.awe ladder ad on a billboard. Thank you. Fascinating. It is, it is
:20:16. > :20:17.fascinating. Let's cross over to the US now
:20:18. > :20:20.because the Consumer Electronics Show is set to get underway
:20:21. > :20:22.in Las Vegas later this week. Many people consider it to be
:20:23. > :20:25.the biggest technology exhibition in the world and it's an annual
:20:26. > :20:28.fixture for many of the giants The event is now entering its 50th
:20:29. > :20:33.yearand it's fair to say it's a very different show from when it
:20:34. > :21:06.all started back in 1967. The originalising is providing
:21:07. > :21:20.education and entertainment at a very reasonable price.
:21:21. > :21:25.It is phenomenal. It is a huge show. It was an event called the National
:21:26. > :21:30.Association of Music Merchants and there was a portion, a tiny portion
:21:31. > :21:35.of the show that said we'll let the consumer electronics portion be over
:21:36. > :21:39.here and the guy who hired me said that's really unacceptable and he
:21:40. > :21:42.convinced the board of this nonprofit trade association that
:21:43. > :21:48.they should launch a show and they did in 1967 in New York called the
:21:49. > :21:56.Consumer Electronics Show and it was successful for a launch. It had over
:21:57. > :22:00.17,000 people. Had over 100,000 square feet, but it only had three
:22:01. > :22:16.products, radios, TVs and photographs.
:22:17. > :22:24.I do believe that the human touch, the live experience of being with a
:22:25. > :22:29.real person is something that will not be replaced in 50 years and as
:22:30. > :22:33.long as we will take honeymoons with our loved ones live, there will be
:22:34. > :22:37.opportunities for business events like CES where you are physically
:22:38. > :22:47.with other people and get to know them on a personal basis.
:22:48. > :22:55.Sue is with us. The photograph of CES CES50 years ago, there was a
:22:56. > :22:58.beautiful woman behind a desk doing the admin and all the delicates were
:22:59. > :23:03.men in suits. Oh how things have changed! I wanted to make what
:23:04. > :23:06.point! Sue Noffke, UK equity fund
:23:07. > :23:16.manager at Schroders - We asked you to send in your tweets
:23:17. > :23:22.about cake in the office. Some dentists have been saying we
:23:23. > :23:28.shouldn't be bringing in sweet treats and we should break it now it
:23:29. > :23:31.is January. Inside the studio and outside the studio there has been
:23:32. > :23:34.response. We have an office tradition, it is your birthday, you
:23:35. > :23:40.provide sweet treats. There is fruit. At your company? Yes, there
:23:41. > :23:48.is fruit, but the cakes are the big hit. Absolutely. Who wants fruit on
:23:49. > :23:52.a birthday? Sarah says, "Dentists hate joy."
:23:53. > :23:59.Conor says, "My lemon drizzle cake is on its way in." James says, "Why
:24:00. > :24:04.would dentists want to end this culture, it is good for their
:24:05. > :24:12.business." Wendy says, "Why should only sugar make people happy. Cut
:24:13. > :24:18.out cake and give them a Mediterranean snack." Here at 3am
:24:19. > :24:22.and 4am, we have lots of cake. I will bring Rachel cake sometime this
:24:23. > :24:26.week. Air about and about in the news, we were taug being it
:24:27. > :24:31.yesterday because of new regulations in Paris, but the Financial Times is
:24:32. > :24:34.looking at how its income in London could be curtailed? That's right.
:24:35. > :24:39.There are new regulations and air about and B are self regulating as
:24:40. > :24:43.well. So rather than pushing all the regulations on to the hosts, they
:24:44. > :24:49.are taking responsibility for monitoring this new 90 day limit on
:24:50. > :24:52.themselves which some other bookings companies are not doing. They are
:24:53. > :24:57.leaving that responsibility with the host. Now, there is... I presume
:24:58. > :25:00.that's after a lot of pressure. You don't want to take on new
:25:01. > :25:07.responsibilities unless you have to. I think a lot of these newly listed
:25:08. > :25:11.tech companies are finding that regulatory and the tax regular
:25:12. > :25:15.lasses are going after them because they are cash rich and they are
:25:16. > :25:21.successle and they are very big and there is a consumer backlash about
:25:22. > :25:25.whether they are really paying their deuce. This is an interesting
:25:26. > :25:28.response from the company stepping up and taking the responsibilities
:25:29. > :25:34.and perhaps making sure that they are not caught by the European
:25:35. > :25:39.Courts in the future. It started out just as a way to make a little bit
:25:40. > :25:44.of cash on the side, but it is being used by professional landlords?
:25:45. > :25:48.Absolutely. There is issues about how much that's really impacting the
:25:49. > :25:51.economy. Sue, thank you very much for your company. Thank you too for
:25:52. > :26:06.your company. We will you tomorrow. Join us then. Bye-bye.
:26:07. > :26:12.Well, quite a frost across the south this morning. It was minus five
:26:13. > :26:16.Celsius in Bournemouth. Glasgow, a different story, plus seven Celsius.
:26:17. > :26:17.How about today? We have got