:00:00. > :00:11.This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.
:00:12. > :00:27.Today's the day - the UK is set to formally tell
:00:28. > :00:32.the European Union it's leaving, but how prepared are businesses?
:00:33. > :00:42.Live from London, that's our top story on Wednesday, 29th March.
:00:43. > :00:47.With just hours to go we will look at the impact on the UK's role
:00:48. > :00:54.as one of the world's biggest financial centres.
:00:55. > :00:56.We'll assess what's at stake in the trade
:00:57. > :00:59.Also in the programme, Samsung launches its latest
:01:00. > :01:02.After the disaster of its Note 7 fires -
:01:03. > :01:05.will the new device win Samsung headlines for the right reasons?
:01:06. > :01:08.And it is a big day for the politics of Brexit, but not
:01:09. > :01:18.We'll assess what the markets make of today.
:01:19. > :01:27.And we'll get the inside track on the fastest
:01:28. > :01:28.growing publishing market, audiobooks.
:01:29. > :01:32.It's a global industry valued at $3.5 billion and the boss
:01:33. > :01:35.of the biggest company in the business - Audible - is here.
:01:36. > :01:39.As the Brexit process formally gets underway how do
:01:40. > :01:54.Let us know. Just use the hashtag BBCBizLive.
:01:55. > :02:07.Nine months after voting to leave the EU - today begins that process.
:02:08. > :02:09.It kicks off two years of negotiations.
:02:10. > :02:11.And for businesses in the UK and across the continent it's
:02:12. > :02:14.likely to be two years of uncertainty and preparation.
:02:15. > :02:16.In the financial heart of the country, several big banks
:02:17. > :02:24.have threatened to move staff overseas if they don't get
:02:25. > :02:42.Latest figures show it contributes $159 billion a year to the UK
:02:43. > :02:45.economy It employs almost 1.2 million people in UK.
:02:46. > :02:48.It also contributes a trade surplus of nearly $73 billion to the UK's
:02:49. > :02:51.That's to say it brings lots of money into the country.
:02:52. > :02:55.$6.6 trillion worth of financial assets are under
:02:56. > :03:01.Well, one reason it's so high is what's known as passporting .
:03:02. > :03:03.Licences that let banks and other financial firms do business
:03:04. > :03:09.94% of all the licences to do that are held by UK registered firms.
:03:10. > :03:24.Run us through the day for what will turn out to be a pretty historic
:03:25. > :03:26.day? Also a carfully choreographed day, Ben. Theresa May is meeting
:03:27. > :03:30.with the Cabinet at Downing Street. Later on, she will head to the
:03:31. > :03:32.Palace of Westminster to the House of Commons for Prime Minister's
:03:33. > :03:36.Questions and it is after that that she will stand up in the House of
:03:37. > :03:40.Commons to make that long awaited speech saying that she has triggered
:03:41. > :03:44.Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which will set off the process of
:03:45. > :03:49.Britain leaving the European Union. As you would probably know, if you
:03:50. > :03:53.have been to any dinner parties around the UK lately, this is a
:03:54. > :03:55.controversial subject so she will make conciliatory remarks. She will
:03:56. > :04:00.say she promises to represent every person in the whole of the UK during
:04:01. > :04:05.the negotiations. Now, whilst she is doing that, our man in Brussels, the
:04:06. > :04:11.UK's permanent representative to the European Union will travel to the
:04:12. > :04:14.Europa Building, the headquarters of the European Council, he will meet
:04:15. > :04:19.with Donald Tusk and he will hand over the letter itself. It has been
:04:20. > :04:22.signed. After that, there maybe a short formal acknowledgement that
:04:23. > :04:27.Article 50 has been received by the council which will appear on their
:04:28. > :04:32.website and Donald Tusk may well tweet. The chief negotiator is
:04:33. > :04:35.expected to tweet during the day and the European Parliament u the heads
:04:36. > :04:38.of the political groups in the European Parliament, they're going
:04:39. > :04:44.to be meeting during the day and they'll come out with a press
:04:45. > :04:48.conference later. So all of this is very carefully choreographed. What
:04:49. > :04:52.happens after that is within 48 hours the European Commission will
:04:53. > :04:56.draw up a negotiating mandate, a draft negotiating mandate which the
:04:57. > :05:00.27 other members of the EU will have to endorse and give permission to
:05:01. > :05:04.the Commission for. Theo, thank you very much indeed. That gives us a
:05:05. > :05:09.sense of the timeline. With us is John Longworth,
:05:10. > :05:11.former director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce
:05:12. > :05:19.but he resigned from that job to I imagine you are excited about this
:05:20. > :05:22.process and it formally beginning, something the Prime Minister was at
:05:23. > :05:27.pains to say late yesterday was, she is looking to broker a deal that
:05:28. > :05:32.will benefit all. High hopes. What are you hoping the outcome will be?
:05:33. > :05:36.Well, benefiting all, of course, means doing what's best for Britain
:05:37. > :05:41.and we're fortunate that the real benefits of Brexit which there are
:05:42. > :05:47.many, can be crystallised entirely by the UK. Entirely independently of
:05:48. > :05:50.the European Union, and actually independently of the single market
:05:51. > :05:53.and the customs union. We have to leave those two institutions in
:05:54. > :05:58.order to get the benefits of Brexit. So whatever happens in the next two
:05:59. > :06:02.years, Britain can make itself the best place in the world to do
:06:03. > :06:05.business which will boost the economy and which will solve a
:06:06. > :06:11.problem of the deficit problems and the balance of employment will
:06:12. > :06:15.improve. So Actually, the UK is in a uniquely good position to have the
:06:16. > :06:19.best deal for Britain. Even if we don't get a free trade arrangement
:06:20. > :06:25.with the EU because a free trade arrangement with the EU is actually
:06:26. > :06:28.icing on the cake, it is by no means important as important as the other
:06:29. > :06:31.things that we can do. Lots of ifs and abouts, aren't
:06:32. > :06:35.there, John and the Chancellor at the time was campaigning for Remain,
:06:36. > :06:41.of course, called it a leap into the dark. A leap into the unknown and it
:06:42. > :06:45.really is, isn't it? It has never been done before. It is
:06:46. > :06:49.unprecedented and we don't know how it's going to turn up. We don't know
:06:50. > :06:55.what will happen in the negotiations. The main part is
:06:56. > :06:58.around sorting out the administrative arrangements twoon
:06:59. > :07:03.the UK and the EU, customs union, border control and so on. That's
:07:04. > :07:09.really very, very technical and a process that we can readily go
:07:10. > :07:13.through. The rest of it actually is very much known because if it is in
:07:14. > :07:19.our gift to actually crystallise those real benefits, removal of the
:07:20. > :07:22.CAP, and repatriation of our net contribution and fisheries and
:07:23. > :07:26.deregulation, all the things that will boost our economy, those are in
:07:27. > :07:32.our gift, it is not a leap into the unknown in that sense because we can
:07:33. > :07:36.do the things we want to do. It does depend how the negotiations go. The
:07:37. > :07:40.horse trading which will go on for months to come and Brussels made it
:07:41. > :07:46.clear it will not be persuaded, it will not be giving the UK an easy
:07:47. > :07:50.exit, it will be a very costly exit and for each particular sector and
:07:51. > :07:56.industry in the UK, it will mean very different things? Well, there
:07:57. > :07:59.is lots of administrative stuff to be sorted out, there is no question
:08:00. > :08:06.about that. There will be a lot of heat and light and the EU will be
:08:07. > :08:11.upset about it because it is the lifeblood of the commission. There
:08:12. > :08:16.is so much more to discuss, John. Thank you for your time this
:08:17. > :08:20.morning, John Longworth. Later on today, there will be
:08:21. > :08:24.special programming about this, but let's tell our viewers how they can
:08:25. > :08:29.get their questions in to us. All sorts of ways of getting in touch
:08:30. > :08:31.with the BBC. If you have got any specific business questions about
:08:32. > :08:36.the implications of Article 50 then let us know. You can use the hashtag
:08:37. > :08:40.there on the screen. We're going to answer your questions on this
:08:41. > :08:44.Friday's edition of Business Live. We will let the dust settle and work
:08:45. > :08:48.out what it means and send us your questions and we'll answer them on
:08:49. > :08:52.Friday. We have been asking whether you think it is good news and bad
:08:53. > :09:00.news, and Ian says, "We will be find in the UK. The world is larger than
:09:01. > :09:07.us, we must set our horizons." One viewer says, "It maybe wise for the
:09:08. > :09:10.individual state, but the long-term consequences could be disastrous."
:09:11. > :09:14.Delta Airlines and Korean Airlines have agreed to form a joint venture
:09:15. > :09:17.to share costs and revenue on flights across the Pacific
:09:18. > :09:21.in a bid to lure customers with more options amid intense competition.
:09:22. > :09:23.Delta will be launching new non-stop service between Atlanta
:09:24. > :09:28.At the same time Korean Air will introduce new services
:09:29. > :09:34.The world's trade association for airlines, IATA, says the US
:09:35. > :09:37.and UK ban on laptops in cabin baggage on some flights is not
:09:38. > :09:42.It says the ban creates commercial distortions and is not
:09:43. > :09:47.The group has also questions why the bans are targeted
:09:48. > :09:57.US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order rolling
:09:58. > :09:59.back Obama's plans aimed at curbing climate change.
:10:00. > :10:02.President Trump said it would put an end to the "war on coal" and end
:10:03. > :10:18.Samsung is due to unveil its latest smartphone later today.
:10:19. > :10:21.It is first since it was forced to recall the Note 7 last year
:10:22. > :10:25.The South Korean firm hasn't released too many details
:10:26. > :10:33.about what we should expect from the S8.
:10:34. > :10:48.This is important for Samsung? Don't mess up. You've got a company which
:10:49. > :10:53.had the last big launch and the phone caught fire and the top man in
:10:54. > :10:57.the company is currently in jail. So away from the razzmatazz in New York
:10:58. > :11:02.and London things are not brilliant for Samsung, but all that will count
:11:03. > :11:07.for nothing without razzmatazz that Steve Jobs with Apple made his own.
:11:08. > :11:12.There will be that kind of fuss, the big questions for the techie people
:11:13. > :11:18.big screen without making the phone big screen without making the phone
:11:19. > :11:21.any bigger? They will take various bits off the current models and make
:11:22. > :11:29.it only screen and find other ways of doing it. There will be a lot of
:11:30. > :11:32.talk amongst the gizmo nerds about besles and all that kind of thing
:11:33. > :11:38.and whether you can talk to it or not, but at the end of it all,
:11:39. > :11:44.Samsung will remember, don't mess up, that's the motto.
:11:45. > :11:50.Steve, thank you very much. Steve Evans in Seoul. We will keep an eye
:11:51. > :11:59.on how things fair for the firm. Some breaking news out of Asia. News
:12:00. > :12:04.that Toshiba's nuclear unit filing for bankruptcy protection. We talked
:12:05. > :12:10.a lot about the woes for the firm. It is the nuclear unit of toe Sheba.
:12:11. > :12:14.It has been facing multi-billion losses as a result of accounting
:12:15. > :12:18.fraud. They should be able to get their financial affairs in order.
:12:19. > :12:22.And then you would hope emerge out of the other side, but it will
:12:23. > :12:28.protect them while they can do that. So news just in toe Sheba's loss-hit
:12:29. > :12:40.nuclear business has filed for bankruptcy protection. More from our
:12:41. > :12:45.teams in Asia on BBC Business Live. The focus will be on sterling. Let
:12:46. > :12:50.me show you what's happening in Europe. A big day, triggering
:12:51. > :12:53.Article 50 later today. Playing out on the markets across the day.
:12:54. > :12:57.Opening up higher, but we will get the real impact when we find out
:12:58. > :13:01.what is happening over the next two years of negotiations. We're in it
:13:02. > :13:04.for the long haul. This is very much the start of the process. Let's head
:13:05. > :13:06.to Wall Street. Samira Hussain has the details about
:13:07. > :13:14.what's ahead on Wall Street Today. Lulu Lemon will be reporting
:13:15. > :13:18.earnings on Wednesday and strong holiday sales will carry the company
:13:19. > :13:24.through their fourth quarter, but investors will be keen to see how
:13:25. > :13:28.the company is planning to deal with the fading popularity of leisure
:13:29. > :13:33.wear and some stiff competition from other players. Finally, the US
:13:34. > :13:38.National Association of Realitiors is expected to report that contracts
:13:39. > :13:41.to buy previously owned homes increased 2.4% in February after
:13:42. > :13:48.falling 2.8% in January. Joining us is Mike Amey,
:13:49. > :14:01.Managing Director and Today is the day, Article 50,
:14:02. > :14:06.historic? Yes, it is. We haven't been here before. So as a fund
:14:07. > :14:11.manager, that's great. It is interesting to see new developments
:14:12. > :14:16.and keeps us on our toes. I guess what is interesting is which markets
:14:17. > :14:22.will react. You can argue it both ways. What we will be looking at as
:14:23. > :14:25.Ben mentioned is the currency. The currency is the one that seems to be
:14:26. > :14:29.most sensitive to the Brexit and whether there will be any kind of
:14:30. > :14:33.deal and in which case sterling will probably go up. If both sides stick
:14:34. > :14:36.to their current negotiating stance it will probably go down actually.
:14:37. > :14:42.What I find really interesting when we talk about Arle 50, markets
:14:43. > :14:46.normally love any sort of rumour, any speculation and they'll go hay
:14:47. > :14:52.wire as a result. Here, we have got lots of speculation and lots of
:14:53. > :14:58.uncertainty and markets are like, we will see how it plays out? You had
:14:59. > :15:04.the initial move down post the 23rd June vote. And then sterling has
:15:05. > :15:08.stuck around those levels, 1.25ish roughly against the dollar. The
:15:09. > :15:13.equity market has done well because sterling has been wack and we wait
:15:14. > :15:18.and see what happens. We're hopefully going to get an indication
:15:19. > :15:23.of what is going to happen. A rarebit of patience on the markets.
:15:24. > :15:25.That never happens. Mike is returning later. We will be tacking
:15:26. > :15:33.travel with Mike. We meet the man behind
:15:34. > :15:37.the audio book giant Audible on its small beginnings,
:15:38. > :15:39.how it pre-empted the iPod and its You're with Business
:15:40. > :15:46.Live from BBC News. Leaving the European Union
:15:47. > :15:48.will potentially have a huge impact on companies here in the UK
:15:49. > :15:51.which produce and export goods. We've been talking to firms
:15:52. > :16:16.in the north of England about how I am Simon. Man, managing director
:16:17. > :16:19.of the Acme whistle company. We saw export about 40% Europe. We are
:16:20. > :16:23.looking east, we must assume things will get harder in Europe, the free
:16:24. > :16:29.market will no longer be for us. There is a tremendous sporting goods
:16:30. > :16:33.market, police market, it is almost another world opening up as they get
:16:34. > :16:39.richer and there is potential for us, difficult though it will be. My
:16:40. > :16:44.name is Paul, I am the managing director. We are an old established
:16:45. > :16:47.ceramics factory, we predominantly supply bottles to the spirits
:16:48. > :16:50.industry all over the world. Product has go to Europe and that may not be
:16:51. > :16:55.a route forward to grow the business. We have put a lot of
:16:56. > :17:00.effort over the last six to nine months at looking at the USA is a
:17:01. > :17:03.real business growth opportunity. The pound dollar relationship and
:17:04. > :17:06.hopefully a free trade agreement going forward will benefit us and
:17:07. > :17:13.our ability to sell into that market place and it is a growing market. My
:17:14. > :17:16.name is Jonathan, we are a specialist flooring manufacturer and
:17:17. > :17:23.we export around the world. To the States, the mainland Europe and also
:17:24. > :17:26.obviously a large market in the UK. Having looked at everything, Brexit
:17:27. > :17:31.actually leaves our strategy unchanged. We will carry on
:17:32. > :17:35.exporting to Europe, exporting to the States and dealing with the UK.
:17:36. > :17:40.With the effect of sterling devaluation, we have become so much
:17:41. > :17:44.more competitive that our sails into Europe have become even better for
:17:45. > :17:50.us. So for us, steady as she goes, exports into Europe stay unchanged.
:17:51. > :17:56.This afternoon, Daily Politics presenter Andrew Neil will be
:17:57. > :17:59.interviewing exclusively Prime Minister Theresa May, this afternoon
:18:00. > :18:29.at Downing Street. You're watching Business Live -
:18:30. > :18:34.our top story - Britain is finally set to formally to tell
:18:35. > :18:37.the European Union it's leaving. The pound has been falling
:18:38. > :18:39.and Chancellor Philip Hammond has told the BBC a trade deal will be
:18:40. > :18:55.done. Looking at markets in Europe, these
:18:56. > :18:57.are the share markets, all up slightly today following a good
:18:58. > :19:00.session on Wall Street the night before, and in Asia.
:19:01. > :19:02.Now we're going to get the inside track on a business
:19:03. > :19:07.Audible was founded in 1995, and is now the world's biggest
:19:08. > :19:13.It was bought by Amazon in 2008 for around $300 million.
:19:14. > :19:16.The company now has over 300,000 titles in its library and serves
:19:17. > :19:23.millions of customers from 16 global hubs.
:19:24. > :19:27.From 2007 to 2017, a large chunk of Audible's revenue came
:19:28. > :19:30.from its exclusive tie up with the Apple app store.
:19:31. > :19:32.But in January that deal came to an end after pressure
:19:33. > :19:34.from regulators in Germany and the European Commission.
:19:35. > :19:37.Don Katz is the founder and Chief Executive of Audible
:19:38. > :19:48.Welcome to Business Live. You and I have met before, we cover what have
:19:49. > :19:52.talked about but it was a few years ago. Somewhere on this show. I
:19:53. > :20:01.remember the story of how you started out the career, because you
:20:02. > :20:09.were a journalist... Rolling Stone magazine's corresponded in London.
:20:10. > :20:14.-- correspondence. My wife talks about a nontoxic midlife crisis that
:20:15. > :20:21.changed into a business experience. So how do you move from that running
:20:22. > :20:27.a company that is the business -- biggest in the industry? In my case,
:20:28. > :20:30.I wrote books, as did all of my Rolling Stone and new Republic
:20:31. > :20:36.colleagues of those years and we could not give our readers time to
:20:37. > :20:40.read. We were writing into the same general market, what we did at
:20:41. > :20:45.Audible is unleashed all this time he can't use your eyes to look at a
:20:46. > :20:52.screen or read to effectively read. We have millions of people listening
:20:53. > :20:58.right now, we will project $2.6 billion of hours. It is an
:20:59. > :21:05.incredibly habituated way of using your time to read. The distinction
:21:06. > :21:07.between textual reading and listening to welcome prose
:21:08. > :21:11.literature, and believe me this is performed by very high level actors
:21:12. > :21:16.at this point, it is nonexistent at this point. The time people have is
:21:17. > :21:21.in the time they are exercising or driving, and they are filling it
:21:22. > :21:26.with... Our average listener gets two hours per day of listening in
:21:27. > :21:29.the Audible, which makes it the stickiest media service there is. It
:21:30. > :21:35.is fair to say your business has been changed by technology, it first
:21:36. > :21:41.began with CDs, physical media, and then downloads, and you pre-empted
:21:42. > :21:45.the iPod. We commercialise the first digital player in 1997, developing
:21:46. > :21:49.it from late 95 when it was founded. It was four and a half years before
:21:50. > :21:53.the iPod came out. We were way ahead, perhaps most businesses don't
:21:54. > :21:57.survive that are that off in terms of being too early, but it gave us
:21:58. > :22:02.an amazing amount of learning and an edge and understanding how powerful
:22:03. > :22:05.the spoken word could be, if you unleashed it with really strong
:22:06. > :22:11.technology and then added these incredible powerful performances. At
:22:12. > :22:15.this point, it is why not do Audible? If you can have Andy Newton
:22:16. > :22:19.Lee or Colin Firth or Stephen Fry to read you a book, it harks back to
:22:20. > :22:24.all the pleasures of childhood. You can watch all of those on a screen
:22:25. > :22:31.now and very easily with the wide use of tablet everywhere by all
:22:32. > :22:35.ages. Has that hit you? All of our technology is compliant with
:22:36. > :22:41.tablets, we even have a technology that allows you to read, but Daniel
:22:42. > :22:47.Talbot, and the Audible picks up where you have left. So the amount
:22:48. > :22:51.of money you are making will not be hit by that move? This is really
:22:52. > :22:55.about taking the hundreds of millions of hours per week that
:22:56. > :22:59.people's eyes are occupied and imbuing it with value they've never
:23:00. > :23:05.thought they would have. We have run out of time, thank you so much for
:23:06. > :23:06.coming in. Good to see you. We are going to stay with the technology
:23:07. > :23:14.theme. Two British schoolgirls have
:23:15. > :23:16.qualified for the robotics World Championship in
:23:17. > :23:18.the United States with a robot They will be taking Roy the robot
:23:19. > :23:38.to Kentucky after winning I am Beth and I am eight years old.
:23:39. > :23:42.I am Emily and I am nine years old. We built Roy the robot. He drives an
:23:43. > :23:48.eight foot grid and he has a four bar left that lifts up walls, sets
:23:49. > :23:53.in the scoring zone, and in the middle of the eight foot grid, there
:23:54. > :24:01.is a bridge, and Roy has the balance there with other robots. We are
:24:02. > :24:05.hoping to take Roy to America. We are representing the UK. It is the
:24:06. > :24:12.World Championships and there are 500,000 other teams to compete with,
:24:13. > :24:15.and they are the best of the whole world.
:24:16. > :24:22.Go for it, girls. We asked you what you thought would be the outcome of
:24:23. > :24:27.Brexit. The deal, bad deal, or no Deal. Nothing like Brexit to get
:24:28. > :24:31.people talking and nailing their views to the mast. Lots we can't
:24:32. > :24:34.read out. This one says we are screwed, Theresa May is purely
:24:35. > :24:39.honouring her mandate but there could be problems later down the
:24:40. > :24:44.line. Ian says we are getting our country back, wonderful day, believe
:24:45. > :24:47.we will be getting. Mike is back, let's talk travel. Many think about
:24:48. > :24:51.where they are going to their holidays and for some it would seem
:24:52. > :24:55.that Turkey and places like Egypt are back on the radar. Indeed.
:24:56. > :25:00.Interesting to see how these things develop because the weakness in the
:25:01. > :25:03.pound creates new challenges for going on holiday to Europe so the
:25:04. > :25:09.classic destinations of Spain under pressure. The Turkish lira is very
:25:10. > :25:11.weak. And the Egyptian pound has been under some pressure as well so
:25:12. > :25:16.it looks as though the first indications that people are moving
:25:17. > :25:21.back into those countries, yes. You might go on holiday on a plane built
:25:22. > :25:26.from something different? Sir Richard Branson is predicting that
:25:27. > :25:30.planes could be made by graphene within the next ten years. We have
:25:31. > :25:38.talked a lot about that, it is this one the material. A super thin
:25:39. > :25:45.material that is 200,000 times stronger than steel and a thousand
:25:46. > :25:49.times lighter than paper apparently. The cost of getting people wherever
:25:50. > :25:53.you go is the fuel, so the less you can do that is better and better for
:25:54. > :25:59.the environment as well. Mike, thank you for being with us, Article 50
:26:00. > :26:00.day. A busy day, the big day for everyone, full coverage across the
:26:01. > :26:05.BBC. See you soon, goodbye.