:00:08. > :00:10.This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.
:00:11. > :00:17.Major producers consider another plan to boost prices.
:00:18. > :00:34.Live from London, that's our top story on Monday 27th March.
:00:35. > :00:38.Swollen stockpiles are depressing oil prices but what can Opec
:00:39. > :00:41.and non-Opec members do now and what did they discuss
:00:42. > :00:46.We will tell you all you need to know.
:00:47. > :00:49.A record fine for BT with the firm setting aside hundreds of millions
:00:50. > :00:56.of dollars for delays in installing high-speed lines.
:00:57. > :01:02.This is how the European markets are looking. It's a big week for pound
:01:03. > :01:10.as divorce proceedings with the EU are kicked off in London.
:01:11. > :01:12.And we'll be getting the inside track on how demand
:01:13. > :01:15.for luxury goods from Britain is being turned into an upmarket
:01:16. > :01:23.In the wake of the story that two girls have been grounded
:01:24. > :01:25.by United Airlines for wearing leggings we want to know has
:01:26. > :01:29.Or is it reasonable for an employer to dictate the dress code
:01:30. > :01:42.Let us know using the hashtag BBCBizLive.
:01:43. > :01:52.Lower oil prices might be good for consumers -
:01:53. > :01:54.it keeps energy prices down as well as transport and
:01:55. > :02:01.But it's not good for oil producing nations.
:02:02. > :02:04.And this weekend, many of them met to discuss what they can
:02:05. > :02:12.When supply falls, prices tend to rise.
:02:13. > :02:15.Oil prices rose sharply when producers agreed to cut
:02:16. > :02:21.production in November - and whilst prices held up
:02:22. > :02:25.for a while there's been a drop of around 10% in the last few weeks.
:02:26. > :02:28.And that can have a huge impact of the economies of oil
:02:29. > :02:39.Many rely on the money it brings in to fund government spending.
:02:40. > :02:41.The biggest OPEC producer, Saudi Arabia, wants $60 per barrel.
:02:42. > :02:46.Well, there's been an increase in global reserves of oil.
:02:47. > :02:50.The US is the world's biggest consumer and last week it's
:02:51. > :02:58.The US is the world's biggest consumer and last week its
:02:59. > :02:59.stockpiles of crude oil hit 533 millionbarrels.
:03:00. > :03:02.There's also renewed pressure from US shale oil producers
:03:03. > :03:06.As you can see here the number of active US rigs drilling for oil
:03:07. > :03:15.Iain Armstrong is an Oil and Gas Analyst at the wealth
:03:16. > :03:26.Good to see you. Give us more detail about what we have learned from the
:03:27. > :03:32.weekend's meetings. What we have learned is that they still need more
:03:33. > :03:37.clarification on the accuracy of the numbers coming through. With regards
:03:38. > :03:41.to the Opec numbers, we know in February Opec has done a good job in
:03:42. > :03:45.terms of compliance but the non-Opec members of the 21 who signed up
:03:46. > :03:52.haven't done, they're only 64% compliant. So they've got to do
:03:53. > :03:58.something better before something can be changed with regards to the,
:03:59. > :04:02.either extending the agreement, or actually as even suggested maybe
:04:03. > :04:08.increasing the production cut. What do you think is likely to happen?
:04:09. > :04:12.They'll meet fully in May, obviously this current deal that they agreed
:04:13. > :04:14.in November is in place until June. Is it more than likely they'll
:04:15. > :04:18.extend the period of time for the production cuts they've in place at
:04:19. > :04:22.the moment? It's going to depend on a few things. One of the most
:04:23. > :04:26.important things is the rate of demand, increase in demand. We are
:04:27. > :04:32.now getting into the main demand season, particularly in the US. As
:04:33. > :04:37.Ben pointed out, there's been a large increase in the crude oil
:04:38. > :04:46.inventories. The other side of that coin, though, is there's been a
:04:47. > :04:51.sharp fall in the level of distilate for diesel and gasoline inventories,
:04:52. > :04:54.so going into the driving season it's slightly, it's more complicated
:04:55. > :05:01.than the crude numbers would suggest and if we do have a decent driving
:05:02. > :05:06.season then the level at least of the US inventories will drop. If you
:05:07. > :05:11.can take that across the globe, then hopefully also the level of global
:05:12. > :05:16.inventories will drop, probably by the third quarter and that's what
:05:17. > :05:19.the Oman Minister was saying. I agree with him. That's why I think
:05:20. > :05:24.when we come to May they'll probably say let's do it for nor six months.
:05:25. > :05:29.Also, something that has shifted that Ben pointed out is the increase
:05:30. > :05:32.in production in the US in terms of Shea production. That's something
:05:33. > :05:37.that Saudi Arabia has been watching very closely -- shale. It's
:05:38. > :05:43.something they hoped may not be such a big threat in terms of a threat to
:05:44. > :05:48.their income in terms of the price of oil. Again it's more complicated
:05:49. > :05:57.than just it looks like the numbers, the increase in the rigs is a good
:05:58. > :06:00.start, but you have what is called drilled but uncompleted, and there
:06:01. > :06:05.is a lot of those rigs, without getting into too much detail, but
:06:06. > :06:09.you buy a lease in the States. If you don't drill on that lease you
:06:10. > :06:14.will lose that lease. What you do is you drill on that leez just to make
:06:15. > :06:17.sure that you deep the lease. So a lot of the number that's been
:06:18. > :06:24.reported is not necessarily going to turn into production. There will be
:06:25. > :06:29.higher production this year and definitely in 2018. But it's not as
:06:30. > :06:33.clear-cut as the rig count would suggest. All right, thank you for
:06:34. > :06:36.your time. As ever, the devil is in the detail on this. We will try to
:06:37. > :06:40.keep you up to date with any developments that will affect the
:06:41. > :06:46.price of oil. It's worth saying US light crude is $47. 5 a barrel.
:06:47. > :06:59.Brent is 50, just shy of 50. They're both down. Worth keeping an eye Back
:07:00. > :07:00.On Top -- on worth keeping an eye on what happens as a result of that
:07:01. > :07:04.meeting. Delays in installing internet
:07:05. > :07:07.connections are expected to end up costing the UK telecoms firm BT
:07:08. > :07:09.more than $420m. The company installs wholesale
:07:10. > :07:11.services for rivals and most of the payments will be
:07:12. > :07:13.compensation to them. The regulator Ofen has also issued
:07:14. > :07:16.a $52m fine which it says Tens of thousands of people in Chile
:07:17. > :07:20.have taken part in demonstrations calling for the government to scrap
:07:21. > :07:23.the country's controversial Critics say it benefits
:07:24. > :07:27.the administrators and the wealthy but leaves poorer Chileans
:07:28. > :07:44.with a final pension There is more to read about in terms
:07:45. > :07:47.of business stories on our website. BT shares are falling today in
:07:48. > :07:53.London. A few companies are falling in London on the FTSE 100, we will
:07:54. > :07:59.talk about that. Before we head to Asia, a story here discussing MTR,
:08:00. > :08:03.it's been awarded the franchise for Crossrail, the trans-London line. It
:08:04. > :08:07.has also been awarded the south-west trains franchise F you are watching
:08:08. > :08:10.outside the UK you may not know that there's so much debate about who
:08:11. > :08:14.runs trains in this country. Lots of delays and strikes and lots of
:08:15. > :08:20.problems of late on a number of different franchises. Quite a
:08:21. > :08:22.significant moment. MTR runs the Hong Kong Metro. And we are going to
:08:23. > :08:29.head there now. The first woman elected as leader
:08:30. > :08:32.of Hong Kong has vowed to heal divisions amid demands for more
:08:33. > :08:34.democracy and protests at mainland Carrie Lam had the backing
:08:35. > :08:38.of the Chinese government But what do businesses
:08:39. > :08:50.make of the territory's Bring us up to date because it's
:08:51. > :08:55.interesting when you talk about what business there wants and what they
:08:56. > :09:00.want in the territory, have they got the right woman? Well, they
:09:01. > :09:08.certainly think so, even before yesterday's vote we had a number of
:09:09. > :09:15.tycoons here in Hong Kong coming out publicly in support of Carrie Lam,
:09:16. > :09:21.she was selected by a economy of 1200 people, less than 1200 and many
:09:22. > :09:23.she won such strong support it's she won such strong support it's
:09:24. > :09:28.clear the business community supports her. There are issues,
:09:29. > :09:33.though. The issue is that over the last few years she has become a
:09:34. > :09:37.polarising person, a politically divisive person. She was the one in
:09:38. > :09:43.charge of pushing through a political reform package that was
:09:44. > :09:47.unpopular and eventually led to the 2014 protests which paralysed the
:09:48. > :09:51.city for weeks. Now she is the chief executive-elect we are expecting
:09:52. > :09:58.more protests. At least one political party has said they intend
:09:59. > :10:02.to start another civil disobedience movement in July when she takes
:10:03. > :10:06.office. We will keep a close eye to see what difference that makes,
:10:07. > :10:11.thank you very much. Let's stay in the region there.
:10:12. > :10:15.Toshiba's loss-hit US nuclear unit could be placed under bankruptcy
:10:16. > :10:18.protection as early as this week, a report said Monday,
:10:19. > :10:23.The company has now lost more than half its market value
:10:24. > :10:24.since late December, when it warned of
:10:25. > :10:26.multi-billion-dollar losses at Westinghouse and said
:10:27. > :10:28.it was investigating claims of accounting fraud by senior
:10:29. > :10:44.In the US, the decline in US stocks last week was the biggest one week
:10:45. > :10:46.decline since the US election, some say it reflects
:10:47. > :10:48.concern that the optimism about President Trump's promises
:10:49. > :10:53.It's a big week for the pound as the UK government prepares
:10:54. > :10:55.to start the divorce proceedings against the EU.
:10:56. > :10:58.It fires the starting gun on the process by triggering
:10:59. > :11:04.This could well prompt some sterling weakness in the short-term.
:11:05. > :11:08.More on that in a moment, but first to the US and the day
:11:09. > :11:19.This is the last week of March and what will dominate is manufacturing
:11:20. > :11:23.data and consumer surveys. What will be most closely watched is consumer
:11:24. > :11:28.spending numbers which come out on Friday. Two-thirds of the US economy
:11:29. > :11:32.depends on consumer spending so this is an important number to keep in
:11:33. > :11:37.mind. In January, consumer spending was up 0. 0.2% and investors are
:11:38. > :11:41.expecting a similar gain for February. On Wednesday, the
:11:42. > :11:45.congressional budget office will release its analysis of the
:11:46. > :11:49.budgetary changes to spending programmes and the tax code proposed
:11:50. > :11:54.in the President's budget and on Friday, BlackBerry will be reporting
:11:55. > :11:56.earnings. The company is moving away from smartphone hardware to
:11:57. > :11:58.concentrate on software and analysts will be looking to see if it will
:11:59. > :12:01.pay off. Trevor Greetham is with us
:12:02. > :12:10.from Royal London Asset Management. Good to see you, how are you? Very
:12:11. > :12:14.well. How are you? Very well. Now you have been scribbling notes ever
:12:15. > :12:16.since you arrived, writing on that little piece of paper, it's going to
:12:17. > :12:21.be another very interesting week for markets. We saw a shift last week in
:12:22. > :12:26.terms of sentiment on global markets and you feel it's carrying on. Yes,
:12:27. > :12:29.this is the first period of turbulence really we have seen in
:12:30. > :12:34.about a year. If you think about the stock markets, they've risen very
:12:35. > :12:37.broadly over the last 12 months. Sailed through Brexit, they sailed
:12:38. > :12:40.through Trump's election victory. Both of these things meant more
:12:41. > :12:46.stimulus from central banks. Now they're at the point where growth is
:12:47. > :12:52.strong and prices are quite high, and the concern is if Trump can't
:12:53. > :12:56.get Obamacare repealed, how can he get tax reform or further stimulus
:12:57. > :13:02.through? The markets are starting to say maybe we get Trump without the
:13:03. > :13:08.good bits. It was late on Friday when it unravelled. The Obamacare
:13:09. > :13:11.issue, I mean. Most of the markets were closed, they're following
:13:12. > :13:15.through today. I think the real question is is there enough growth
:13:16. > :13:18.in the world to keep stock prices rising and enough stimulus to keep
:13:19. > :13:22.them rising? It's interesting to hear about the oil price staying low
:13:23. > :13:25.at the moment because you are likely to see inflation fall in the second
:13:26. > :13:30.half of the year, if the oil price stays where it is. That will mean
:13:31. > :13:34.central banks will feel it's OK to keep the juice flowing for longer.
:13:35. > :13:40.It's fairly positive, but there is some turbulence. And turbulence
:13:41. > :13:42.could come on Wednesday. We begin officially the divorce proceedings,
:13:43. > :13:46.Article 50 is triggered we are told on Wednesday. Again it's a same sort
:13:47. > :13:51.of debate, nothing changes particularly in the short-term. But
:13:52. > :13:57.we start to get an idea of the longer-term, is that the point? I
:13:58. > :14:01.don't know if even we will get the longer-term, the markets know about
:14:02. > :14:06.Article 50 by now very well. They know about the triggering of it this
:14:07. > :14:09.week. What may be new news is hard to predict is the kind of
:14:10. > :14:12.relationship and the way the negotiations start. I think there
:14:13. > :14:16.are lots of reasons to think there will be periods of turbulence again
:14:17. > :14:22.in the currency markets over the next few months, particularly with
:14:23. > :14:32.this focus on the so-called divorce bill which the Europeans want us to
:14:33. > :14:36.sort out upfront. So watch out for the stock markets wobbling in the
:14:37. > :14:39.near term and watch out for potential downside on the pound.
:14:40. > :14:41.There will be more scribbling for to you do on Wednesday. Thank you very
:14:42. > :14:44.much. We'll be getting
:14:45. > :14:47.the inside track on how British afternoon tea has become part
:14:48. > :14:49.of an up-market hotel You're with Business
:14:50. > :15:09.Live from BBC News. BT has been fined ?42
:15:10. > :15:15.million by the telecoms regulator Ofcom for delays
:15:16. > :15:21.in installing high-speed lines. It is the largest fine
:15:22. > :15:24.the regulator has ever imposed. It comes after BT's Openreach
:15:25. > :15:27.division cut how much it paid telecoms providers for delays
:15:28. > :15:28.in installing lines Joining us now is Gaucho Rasmussen,
:15:29. > :15:45.Director of Investigations Thank you for being on the
:15:46. > :15:50.programme. Good morning. This is the biggest fine to be handed out so
:15:51. > :15:53.far. Tell us what BT has been doing? Well, this is the biggest fine
:15:54. > :15:57.because it relates to a very important part of the UK economy.
:15:58. > :16:04.This is the backbone of our digital network. BT was found to have
:16:05. > :16:10.breached this contract with some of its customers and other telecoms
:16:11. > :16:14.providers and other providers such as Vodafone and TalkTalk by the way
:16:15. > :16:18.it rolled out the broadband lines. They should have given appropriate
:16:19. > :16:22.notice in a reasonable time frame so people knew when the lines would be
:16:23. > :16:28.rolled out so if there is any delay and if there is delay BT maybe
:16:29. > :16:31.obliged to pay compensation. We have found that BT did not pay the
:16:32. > :16:36.appropriate amount of compensation because of the breach it engaged in.
:16:37. > :16:42.Clearly, we know that Openreach will be split off from BT, it creates a
:16:43. > :16:45.new legal entity and one that many of the competitors have welcomed.
:16:46. > :16:51.How significant is this in light of that? I would say the investigation
:16:52. > :16:56.relates to historic conducts and so that was then and Openreach
:16:57. > :17:01.arrangements where BT basically have met all our requirements in full is
:17:02. > :17:05.a forward looking change that we think will proindividual a robust
:17:06. > :17:16.and independent Openreach to serve all its customers well. OK, it is
:17:17. > :17:22.good to talk to you. Thank you. The ?42 million fine imposed on BT.
:17:23. > :17:27.BT has changed. It says we have put our problems in order. Adding there
:17:28. > :17:32.has been real and tangible change at BT.
:17:33. > :17:49.BT shares are down 2% in London. No surprise.
:17:50. > :17:54.Our top story, major oil producers are considering
:17:55. > :18:05.A quick look at how markets are faring.
:18:06. > :18:11.Not a good start to a brand-new trading week. London bearing the
:18:12. > :18:18.brunt. Many mining stocks are down. Energy stocks are down. BT is down.
:18:19. > :18:21.Not much headed upwards. The gold price is. People are coming ot of
:18:22. > :18:24.anything risky and going into anything safe. Have you been
:18:25. > :18:30.shopping this weekend? Is that why? No. I have not boosted the price of
:18:31. > :18:33.gold on my own. I wish I had that power!
:18:34. > :18:36.Now let's get the inside track on the growing demand
:18:37. > :18:40.for quintessentially British luxury from the rest of the world.
:18:41. > :18:43.It is something our next guest is hoping will help her hotel stand
:18:44. > :18:50.The Middle Eastern state is one of the seven United Arab Emirates
:18:51. > :18:54.which have become one of the region's most important
:18:55. > :18:57.Dubai Department of Tourism says more 14 million
:18:58. > :19:04.visitors come to its shores every year.
:19:05. > :19:09.On average each visitor spends $140 a night on accommodation.
:19:10. > :19:10.Out of Dubai's 681 hotels 96 are five
:19:11. > :19:17.stars and have an average occupancy of 77%.
:19:18. > :19:19.I'm joined by Debrah Dhugga, Managing Director
:19:20. > :19:34.Welcome to the programme. So you are moving what is the Dukes Hotel,
:19:35. > :19:38.you're replicating the Duke's Hotel in London, it is a very British
:19:39. > :19:45.established iconic brand to Dubai. Why Dubai? That's correct. Duke's,
:19:46. > :19:51.London, 116 years old so a lot of history to it and the locals, the
:19:52. > :19:56.UAE market actually adore anything British. So in Dubai there is a lot
:19:57. > :20:02.of glitz and glam and a lot of great hotels. A lot of stunning hotels,
:20:03. > :20:06.but there is nothing quintessentially British. We were
:20:07. > :20:12.looking to take and expand our company with Duke's brand and we
:20:13. > :20:15.looked about where we would go, where isn't there that
:20:16. > :20:18.quintessentialle British market and Dubai is one of them. We talked
:20:19. > :20:22.about occupancy rate. It is interesting if you go to Dubai, I
:20:23. > :20:26.know Dubai well having been the correspondent there. There is so
:20:27. > :20:31.many hotels, you can't move for hotels and they have got an
:20:32. > :20:35.ambitious target to build more. Your competition is changing by the day.
:20:36. > :20:38.New hotels are open, more occupancy, how do you get people in these
:20:39. > :20:45.rooms? How are you going to fill the rooms? Dubai Tourism do a great job
:20:46. > :20:49.in really promoting Dubai as a destination and they continue to do
:20:50. > :20:54.that. There is a lot of money invested into Dubai itself. We have
:20:55. > :20:57.just had the new parks open which is great attractions. So it's
:20:58. > :21:03.constantly growing. There is constantly something new happening
:21:04. > :21:06.in Dubai. So someone who visited Dubai five years ago, they would go
:21:07. > :21:10.there and say wow, look at the changes. Great changes. There is
:21:11. > :21:13.always something happening. It is not a destination people tend to go
:21:14. > :21:16.once, and if they go back there is something new for them to
:21:17. > :21:20.experience. Who are you hoping will walk through the doors of your
:21:21. > :21:24.hotel? You're not looking for the British tourist, Rupert Murdoch's I
:21:25. > :21:27.assume, or are you? Or are you looking for the more local tourist
:21:28. > :21:30.because you're selling that kind of British experience as it were? It
:21:31. > :21:34.will be both. We will have a big following from the Brit market. I
:21:35. > :21:41.mean the UK is one of the biggest feeding markets into Dubai itself as
:21:42. > :21:46.a holiday destination. Followed by closely by the Asian sector, and
:21:47. > :21:50.Germany. So absolutely, we will have a big UK market. There will be a big
:21:51. > :21:56.British audience going into the hotel. But as well, the local
:21:57. > :21:59.market, local market come to the UK to experience a traditional
:22:00. > :22:03.afternoon tea. Anything British, you know, fish and chips, anything that
:22:04. > :22:07.sort of is just going back to our roots. Bangers and mash? Absolutely.
:22:08. > :22:11.Those are the some of things that are offered on our menu. It is all
:22:12. > :22:14.about offering that greater British experience. So those are the people
:22:15. > :22:20.who will stay in itment talk us through who is going to work in it.
:22:21. > :22:24.In Dubai most of the hospitality industry is made up of ex-pat
:22:25. > :22:30.workers or parts of Asia or indeed from the UK and Europe. What mix do
:22:31. > :22:33.you have? I know you're passionate about getting yng people into the
:22:34. > :22:36.industry? With regards to the recruitment drive. We started our
:22:37. > :22:41.recruitment drive about 18 months ago which is out of the norm when
:22:42. > :22:45.you're opening a hotel. Wanted to bring fresh energy and new blood
:22:46. > :22:47.into Dubai rather than just bringing people from other hotels. That
:22:48. > :22:52.British experience is really important. So we have taken people
:22:53. > :22:56.over from London who are actually, who know that British experience,
:22:57. > :23:00.our executive head chef is from Manchester for example. So he has
:23:01. > :23:06.worked around the world, but we've brought him back. One of our head
:23:07. > :23:11.chefs who is running one of our destination restaurants, has come
:23:12. > :23:14.over from Ireland. So we've got a great mix of nationalities within
:23:15. > :23:19.the hotel. Deborah, we appreciate your time,
:23:20. > :23:26.thank you for coming in. Thank you for having me. Thank you very much.
:23:27. > :23:33.There are predictions that many jobs carried out by humans will be taken
:23:34. > :23:37.by robots. A glimpse of the future is on show in San Francisco where a
:23:38. > :23:59.robot is turning heads and coffee cups!
:24:00. > :24:08.With Cafex we tried to create a product that would allow people to
:24:09. > :24:21.get speciality coffee consistently and do that every day.
:24:22. > :25:13.You're not a robot. Once again encrypted messages and in this case
:25:14. > :25:19.whatsapp because of what happened in Westminster and the man who was the
:25:20. > :25:24.perpetrator on whatsapp before? Boris Johnson and am burd Rudd said
:25:25. > :25:32.the Security Services couldn't get access to the messages on the
:25:33. > :25:39.attacker's phone because of whatsapp and whatsapp is encrypted end to
:25:40. > :25:43.end. You remember the fight that Apple had with the American
:25:44. > :25:47.authorities about the unlocking of an iPhone which went on for months
:25:48. > :25:52.and months. This one will run and run. These Silicon Valley companies
:25:53. > :25:54.are under attack for encryption. More online. We will see you later.
:25:55. > :26:11.Bye-bye. Good morning.
:26:12. > :26:12.What a lovely weekend it was. Most parts of the