:00:00. > :00:00.This is Business Live from BBC News with Sally Bundock and Alice Baxter.
:00:00. > :00:10.It's called the Trial of the Century in South Korea
:00:11. > :00:12.and it kicked off today - Jae Y Lee pleads not guilty
:00:13. > :00:18.to corruption charges including bribery and embezzlement.
:00:19. > :00:33.Live from London, that's our top story on Thursday, 9th of March.
:00:34. > :00:38.With a verdict expected in as little as three months' time, we'll ask
:00:39. > :00:41.what the fate of the boss tells us about South Korea's biggest company.
:00:42. > :00:49.Prices in China's factories rocket the most since
:00:50. > :00:58.Could the world's factory be making inflation for the rest of us?
:00:59. > :01:03.We will be keeping a close eye on the markets. Markets in Europe also
:01:04. > :01:14.seeing opening slightly down. Is it child's play or an incredible
:01:15. > :01:21.business idea? The former publisher who opened the door to magical toys.
:01:22. > :01:30.And the former UK Chancellor, George Osborne, is to be paid almost
:01:31. > :01:35.$800,000 a year for advising the US fund manager for just 48 days work.
:01:36. > :01:36.the money. Do you think this is the money. Do you think this is
:01:37. > :01:44.right? Get in touch. We start in the South
:01:45. > :01:54.Korean capital, Seoul, where what's being called
:01:55. > :01:59.the Trial of the Century has begun. The man in charge of the country's
:02:00. > :02:02.biggest company, Samsung, has formally denied charges
:02:03. > :02:03.of bribery and embezzlement in a scandal that has also seen
:02:04. > :02:07.the president impeached. Samsung may be a household
:02:08. > :02:09.name around the world, Jae Y Lee is vice-chairman
:02:10. > :02:20.of the company, but he's known in the South Korean media
:02:21. > :02:28.as the "crown prince of Samsung". That's because he's the only son
:02:29. > :02:33.of the chairman, Lee Kun-Hee, who was once convicted of bribery
:02:34. > :02:36.and tax evasion but later pardoned. Jae-Y has been in charge
:02:37. > :02:38.since his father had That gives you a sense of the
:02:39. > :03:33.background to the story. Geoffrey Cain is a journalist
:03:34. > :03:35.who spent five years in Seoul and is now writing
:03:36. > :03:38.a book about Samsung. He joins us from Arizona,
:03:39. > :03:45.in the United States. We talk to you before when it was
:03:46. > :03:50.unfolding. Today he is in court. If us a sense of how big a deal this is
:03:51. > :03:57.for South Korea, Samson and for politics there. It is a very big
:03:58. > :04:04.deal. This case is the trial of the century for South Korea. We have
:04:05. > :04:11.never seen this happen before the eyes chairman is arrested before
:04:12. > :04:16.being charged with a crime -- the vice-chairman. In the past, his
:04:17. > :04:21.father has been convicted but he was never arrested and never actually
:04:22. > :04:27.served any prison sentence. He was pardoned by a president. This is a
:04:28. > :04:33.very unusual case. Will we see this case happening at the same time that
:04:34. > :04:35.a sitting president is impeached, will we see the perfect storm
:04:36. > :04:42.to a change in how business is done to a change in how business is done
:04:43. > :04:46.in South Korea? I mean between it and politics? I do not think there
:04:47. > :04:51.will be a fundamental change in the way politics and business are done
:04:52. > :04:56.in South Korea. I think the general foundation will be in place, it is
:04:57. > :05:02.something that has been in place for decades. The system goes back
:05:03. > :05:06.through the history of South Korea's democracy, its authoritarian
:05:07. > :05:10.governments in the past. However, we could see more transparency in
:05:11. > :05:14.general. Broader changes that might push things in the right direction,
:05:15. > :05:17.especially considering both of these cases are popping up at the same
:05:18. > :05:23.time and the president herself, if she is found to be in this bad
:05:24. > :05:27.situation, she may also face trial. In the meantime, for the company,
:05:28. > :05:32.business as usual. The shares recently at record highs, profits
:05:33. > :05:40.rolling in, products still selling despite the scandal and the Galaxy
:05:41. > :05:45.7. That is the beauty of Samsung. It manages to get through all sorts of
:05:46. > :05:52.hard times, smoking phones, problems with the leader, the WikiLeaks with
:05:53. > :05:57.the CIA espionage against its smart TVs, one thing after another. It
:05:58. > :06:02.seems that this company has such a strong system in place that can
:06:03. > :06:07.weather all of it, they can keep making the products, the hard work
:06:08. > :06:12.and that is the bottom line. Do we think Jae Y Lee might end up behind
:06:13. > :06:20.bars or will he be pardoned like his dad? That depends on who becomes the
:06:21. > :06:25.next president. It is hard to tell. I can definitely say many presidents
:06:26. > :06:29.have taken office in South Korea and many have pledged to clean up the
:06:30. > :06:33.system, stop the systems of presidential pardons, even the
:06:34. > :06:38.current president who was undergoing her impeachment decision with the
:06:39. > :06:43.constitutional court, she also pledged to clean up the system and
:06:44. > :06:49.now she is the one in the dock for the giant scandal. I am doubtful
:06:50. > :06:55.much will really change. We have lost you for a moment. He joined us
:06:56. > :07:00.from Arizona. We spoke to him a couple of weeks ago. I was just
:07:01. > :07:05.going to ask him what the time is there. He is great.
:07:06. > :07:12.Interesting stuff. Lots of news about Samsung on our website as
:07:13. > :07:22.well. Shares in Toshiba have closed down more than 7% in Tokyo. The
:07:23. > :07:30.latest news comes after Reuters reported bankruptcy attorneys have
:07:31. > :07:31.been hired. It has cost Toshiba $6.5 billion putting the company's future
:07:32. > :07:33.at risk. Cab hire service Uber says it
:07:34. > :07:35.will ban a secret software tool from being used
:07:36. > :07:37.to evade undercover regulators. The software, called Greyball,
:07:38. > :07:41.seeks to identify officials around the world trying to catch Uber
:07:42. > :07:44.drivers operating illegally. The ride-hailing firm has been
:07:45. > :07:49.using the tool to secure early access to cities
:07:50. > :07:52.where its operations had not Reports from Vietnamese state media
:07:53. > :07:58.suggest drinks giant Coca-Cola is planning to invest an additional
:07:59. > :08:03.$285 million in the country. The beverage maker's decision
:08:04. > :08:09.highlights its interest in the Vietnam market and may put
:08:10. > :08:11.pressure on its competitors. With this investment, Coca-Cola's
:08:12. > :08:14.total investment in the country Let us talk producer price inflation
:08:15. > :08:32.in China. That's the prices of goods
:08:33. > :08:36.as they leave the factory gate - it has been soaring at its fastest
:08:37. > :08:39.rate in almost nine years. It's being fuelled by a jump
:08:40. > :08:41.in the price of steel The official data has raised
:08:42. > :08:45.the prospect that China may be about to export inflation
:08:46. > :08:55.to the rest of the world, as the What more do you have for us on
:08:56. > :08:59.this? As you mentioned, it was because of higher prices of steel
:09:00. > :09:03.and other raw materials. If you take a look at the consumer price
:09:04. > :09:11.inflation index, the prices of what consumers buy, it is cooled to the
:09:12. > :09:15.slowest pace in over two years. Going in separate directions,
:09:16. > :09:20.analysts are slightly puzzled about the strength of the broader economy.
:09:21. > :09:26.Just over the weekend, Beijing has cut its growth target for this year
:09:27. > :09:29.to 6.5%, the slowest growth, if confirmed, in nearly three decades.
:09:30. > :09:32.Overall, it seems the higher production costs have not even
:09:33. > :09:40.passed over to consumers just yet. Thank you. As we have just been
:09:41. > :09:42.hearing, the big news out of China was that producer price inflation
:09:43. > :09:46.accelerated to its fastest pace in nearly nine years, but consumer
:09:47. > :09:50.inflation cooled more than expected. And that's had a huge downward
:09:51. > :09:53.bearing on Asian markets. Energy firms also led a broad
:09:54. > :10:01.sell-off on Thursday following a 5% plunge in oil prices, but the dollar
:10:02. > :10:04.advance on the yen provided the region with one of its only
:10:05. > :10:10.advances as Tokyo's Nikkei added 0.3% to end a four-day
:10:11. > :10:15.losing streak. Meanwhile, here in Europe,ahead
:10:16. > :10:20.of today's ECB meeting where the expectation
:10:21. > :10:22.is that monetary policy markets here in London
:10:23. > :10:28.markets particularly And Michelle Fleury has
:10:29. > :10:44.the details about what's ahead They will be paying close attention
:10:45. > :10:48.to the ECB meeting. Data on the number of Americans filing for
:10:49. > :10:52.unemployment benefit is released this birthday. Most economists
:10:53. > :10:58.looking for a rise of 4000 -- this Thursday. All of this comes ahead of
:10:59. > :11:02.Friday's monthly jobs report, the last major piece of economic news
:11:03. > :11:10.ahead of the US central bank policy meeting. Expectation is they will
:11:11. > :11:14.raise rates. The tough retail environment is likely to have an
:11:15. > :11:21.impact on results from office supplies company Staples. The
:11:22. > :11:27.fourth-quarter results of June Thursday. Intense competition from
:11:28. > :11:36.Walmart and Amazon most likely hurt sales -- results are coming on
:11:37. > :11:40.Thursday. James, nice to see you. Loads of stories today. This we
:11:41. > :11:55.should mention as well, change at the top at BT. A minor coming in.
:11:56. > :12:04.Famously he was chairman of SAB Miller last year. A stalwart of the
:12:05. > :12:09.city. BT will be very happy to have him as chairman. And Rio Tinto, he
:12:10. > :12:15.has been on the board for a long time, he steps down later this year.
:12:16. > :12:21.Change at the top, big change in career from mining to telecoms. Let
:12:22. > :12:25.us talk about the UK budget, it came out yesterday, splashed across the
:12:26. > :12:29.papers in the UK. The headline here has been the changes to national
:12:30. > :12:34.insurance contributions, but broadly speaking, what did the Budget mean
:12:35. > :12:39.for business? There is very little in terms of new policy. The
:12:40. > :12:44.Chancellor decided to leave any major policies on business until the
:12:45. > :12:49.autumn budget which he said will be the UK's main fiscal statement from
:12:50. > :12:52.now on. Clearly the Office for Budget Responsibility which looks at
:12:53. > :12:57.forecasts on behalf of the Government said the UK economy will
:12:58. > :13:08.grow by 2% this year rather than the 1.4% it had predicted. Short-term
:13:09. > :13:12.improvement. Also on the agenda, it has been mentioned already, European
:13:13. > :13:16.Central Bank meeting. Everyone wants to keep quantitive easing going, is
:13:17. > :13:24.that correct? That is right. They will be looking for any sense that
:13:25. > :13:32.quantitive easing is tapering... It is money being pumped into the
:13:33. > :13:41.market, helping the fund managers add-in for lighter. It has been
:13:42. > :13:49.going on since the financial crisis -- ad infinitum. I remember the
:13:50. > :13:54.tapering tantrum in the US. The same issue for central banks around the
:13:55. > :13:59.world. We saw the 5% plunge in prices on Thursday, today a slight
:14:00. > :14:09.stemming of that. Following Tom Ince from the Saudi Arabian oil minister,
:14:10. > :14:13.the boss of BP was there, planning low oil prices for longer --
:14:14. > :14:19.following comments. That is the territory we are in. James is
:14:20. > :14:23.returning later. He will talk more about the Budget and what George
:14:24. > :14:30.Osborne is up to, earning a pretty penny. Still to come... The inside
:14:31. > :14:34.track on the Irish company trying to open the door for childhood trains.
:14:35. > :14:39.Quite literally. We will explain that in a moment. You are with
:14:40. > :14:44.Business Live on BBC News. First, here in the UK, lots of corporate
:14:45. > :14:49.stories. The supermarket group Morrisons reporting a rise in annual
:14:50. > :14:56.profits and sales. The Bradford -based group saw an 11.6% rise in
:14:57. > :15:01.profits to some ?337 million for 2016 but it has warned of
:15:02. > :15:06.uncertainties ahead. All of the details for us. Talk us through the
:15:07. > :15:10.numbers. On the face of it, they were pretty good. Total revenue up
:15:11. > :15:17.1.2%, reasonable performance. Like-for-like sales up one for 7%.
:15:18. > :15:23.Underlying profits up a very strong 11.6%. Investors do not seem that
:15:24. > :15:29.impressed this morning. Morrison share price is down nearly 5%. Maybe
:15:30. > :15:34.they were expecting more or possibly the warnings of uncertainties ahead
:15:35. > :15:37.coming to roost. What have Morrisons been doing to get into this
:15:38. > :15:40.situation? They have been restructuring for the past two
:15:41. > :15:45.years, closing some stores, particularly smaller ones, they have
:15:46. > :15:50.sold a stake in the US retailer, the online retailer, they have reduced
:15:51. > :15:54.debt quite a lot and they have been trying to attract more customers by
:15:55. > :16:01.keeping prices down. They have partnerships with treble-macro and
:16:02. > :16:09.Amazon. They are supplying products to Amazon -- with Ocado. This seems
:16:10. > :16:14.to be reaping rewards. But there are uncertainties ahead.
:16:15. > :16:22.They say more rocky times ahead, or not? Absolutely, the big one is the
:16:23. > :16:30.pound sterling. It fell dramatically after the Euro referendum last year,
:16:31. > :16:34.it hasn't really recovered. Importing produce from abroad then
:16:35. > :16:37.becomes more expensive the supermarkets and the choices to
:16:38. > :16:41.allow its air raid their profit margins or pass on the cost of the
:16:42. > :16:50.consumers. This is a fiercely competitive sector. Aldi and Lidl
:16:51. > :16:55.mounted a price war on the other supermarkets. It's a rocky road
:16:56. > :17:01.ahead which the chief executive was talking about this morning. Thank
:17:02. > :17:07.you. Morrisons with its rise in annual profits and sales.
:17:08. > :17:15.On the website, more detail on the Budget. You can read more detail on
:17:16. > :17:18.what the Chancellor and the Shadow Chancellor had to say.
:17:19. > :17:24.You're watching Business live - our top story.
:17:25. > :17:35.The de facto head of Samsung has formally pleaded not guilty to
:17:36. > :17:36.corruption charges as his trial begins in South Korea.
:17:37. > :17:41.A quick look at how markets are faring.
:17:42. > :17:48.Markets are slightly lower at the moment, a lot is on the agenda today
:17:49. > :17:51.including a central bank meeting at the European Central Bank announcing
:17:52. > :17:56.their latest decision is midday today. Also a story that has just
:17:57. > :18:01.been breaking coming from emirates, comments coming from them basically
:18:02. > :18:05.saying that since Donald Trump's travel ban in January it had a
:18:06. > :18:09.significant impact on the booking rates that they've seen for the
:18:10. > :18:15.airline to the United States. No surprise to hear that. This is a
:18:16. > :18:21.quote, the first US travel or the booking by some 35% overnight. Its
:18:22. > :18:28.effect was instantaneous, that's the news coming from emirates. That
:18:29. > :18:33.travel ban wasn't allowed to follow through because of legal blocking.
:18:34. > :18:36.Now, many of you may have grown up believing there were fairies
:18:37. > :18:40.Well our next guest has turned this fairy tale into a thriving business
:18:41. > :18:43.moving the mystery visitors into the home.
:18:44. > :18:47.The Irish Fairy Door Company does exactly "what is says on the tin" -
:18:48. > :18:49.produces little fairy doors aimed at children from ages
:18:50. > :18:53.According to the company, one in every two children in Ireland
:18:54. > :19:03.From making the small wooden doors at the kitchen table,
:19:04. > :19:06.the business has expanded and more than 150,000 doors have been
:19:07. > :19:14.sold in 150 different countries worldwide.
:19:15. > :19:18.Niamh Sherwin Barry, co-founder of The Irish Fairy
:19:19. > :19:33.Wonderful to see you. And we could have some fairies in the studio! The
:19:34. > :19:39.keys have all gone so they are somewhere in the studio. Welcome to
:19:40. > :19:44.the programme. It is a fascinating idea and it's a very simple idea
:19:45. > :19:49.that sounds like it has been extremely popular. Tell us how it
:19:50. > :19:53.started. My friend and myself and our husbands got together. We had
:19:54. > :19:58.seen a tiny door in America and we decided to bring it home to our
:19:59. > :20:04.children and fairies moved in. That was 2008. The company started in
:20:05. > :20:09.2013 so we three years in business now. Tell us about the idea. You get
:20:10. > :20:15.the door and your child then believes the fairy has moved in. The
:20:16. > :20:18.idea is you pick a name for your ferry and register with us on the
:20:19. > :20:22.website. You leave the key out overnight. If the key has gone in
:20:23. > :20:27.the morning the children know the fairy has arrived and it's going to
:20:28. > :20:31.stay there for ever. It's all very magical land wonderful but the
:20:32. > :20:35.cynical part of me wants to say I think you have to spend ?20 in order
:20:36. > :20:43.to get one of these little wooden doors. Is it value for money? What
:20:44. > :20:47.are we getting for that? A world of imagination. Technology is here, it
:20:48. > :20:51.has its place but it's taken over. We want to bring the imagination
:20:52. > :20:56.back. The way we used to play as kids. To actually sit down and usual
:20:57. > :20:59.imagination. I could sit here all day explaining to you what happens
:21:00. > :21:04.when a child gets one of these doors. Give one to a child and see
:21:05. > :21:10.what happens. Their image nation is there for the taking, they aren't
:21:11. > :21:15.using it enough. If a lovely concept but I'm imagining you pitching this
:21:16. > :21:21.idea to investors. How did that go, how did you raise the money to get
:21:22. > :21:26.this off the ground? Irish people are storytellers so we had a lot of
:21:27. > :21:31.interest from home. We had been hit really badly by the recession so we
:21:32. > :21:37.had no money to invest. My mum and my dad gave us the money, the
:21:38. > :21:47.original start-up, 8500 year rose. She stopped is -- she had stopped
:21:48. > :21:53.smoking and the money she saved she gave to us to stop the company. You
:21:54. > :21:57.are selling in 150 countries around the world, you aren't really
:21:58. > :22:06.established yet in the UK. We are getting there. We've been here for
:22:07. > :22:13.about a year but we would be more in the small independent stores. There
:22:14. > :22:18.are more levers up north. I think you're more cynical down this way.
:22:19. > :22:26.What happens when your child realises it wasn't real? The way I
:22:27. > :22:30.feel about it, it's very clear in my mind. Our keen unity of believers
:22:31. > :22:35.would say the same thing. Imagination should be promoted, it
:22:36. > :22:46.is part of childhood -- our keen unity. The benefits far outweighs
:22:47. > :22:53.when they are ready to realise and move on. I think the benefit
:22:54. > :23:01.outweighs the actual point. Do you have a fairy? Fairies are trained in
:23:02. > :23:04.school to collect teeth so it's part of their duties! It's been
:23:05. > :23:08.fascinating! My imagination is running wild.
:23:09. > :23:11.In the UK - the Finance Minister, or Chancellor as he's known here,
:23:12. > :23:13.Philip Hammond has defended his 2% hike on National Insurance
:23:14. > :23:16.contributions, that's a form of tax that all employees have to pay that
:23:17. > :23:18.go towards state benefits, insisting it will result
:23:19. > :23:21.in the self-employed making a "fair contribution" to public services.
:23:22. > :23:22.The Chancellor is coming under pressure from many
:23:23. > :23:24.to rethink the tax change to 2.5 million
:23:25. > :23:31.Speaking on the BBC's breakfast programme this morning
:23:32. > :23:33.the Chancellor denied his critics that his tax policy
:23:34. > :23:44.I don't accept that are all and we strongly support small businesses,
:23:45. > :23:49.growing businesses, they are the bedrock of Britain's economy. We
:23:50. > :23:54.will continue to encourage new ventures, innovation, growing
:23:55. > :23:59.businesses in this economy. What we are dealing with here is a perverse
:24:00. > :24:04.incentive in our tax and national insurance system which is driving
:24:05. > :24:07.people who are essentially employees to turn themselves into
:24:08. > :24:12.self-employed workers instead. That isn't good for them, it's not a
:24:13. > :24:15.healthy thing for the structure of the economy to be driven by tax
:24:16. > :24:27.advantages and tax differences. We've asked James to talk about his
:24:28. > :24:32.paper's take on the Budget. I think there's a feeling that the
:24:33. > :24:37.Chancellor has an wound manifesto pledges by David Cameron the former
:24:38. > :24:44.Prime Minister. We aren't surprised to hear it are we? There has been a
:24:45. > :24:48.change at the top but this is a government elected by the people in
:24:49. > :24:52.2015. Although there's been a change in leadership and a changing
:24:53. > :25:00.Chancellor, this is very much the same... This is very much the same
:25:01. > :25:07.administration. Those pledges made in 2015... The reason for the anger
:25:08. > :25:11.is the question, is this a fair closure of the gap between the
:25:12. > :25:15.different the employed and self-employed pay in tax or is it an
:25:16. > :25:24.attack on the risk-taking spirit out there? Our paper had the headline a
:25:25. > :25:28.tax on enterprise. The Tory party supposed to stand up for people who
:25:29. > :25:33.want to make money and better themselves. George Osborne earning
:25:34. > :25:40.?650,000 for four days work a month. We asked viewers to get in touch
:25:41. > :25:44.about this. We've had some input. Paul says, if you believe in
:25:45. > :25:56.capitalism then George Osborne is allowed to earn what people are
:25:57. > :26:00.willing to pay him. He is earning ?14,000 a day.