03/04/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Sally Bundock and Alice Baxter.

A critical week for South Africa - as its parliament considers

a vote of no confidence in President Zuma,

we talk you through what is at stake.

Live from London, that's our focus on Monday the 3rd of April.

Protests are expected in South Africa this week,

and its currency, the rand, is out of favour,

after Jacob Zuma fired his respected Finance Minister in a dramatic

cabinet reshuffle, so where next for one

We are live in Johannesburg for the latest.

it could be a third strike and out for Toshiba.

The Japanese tech giant's shares plunged again on speculation

it will miss its reporting deadline for a third time.

And financial markets have just opened in Europe, we talk you

through what is moving and why and weigh up the latest prediction

that the pound sterling is due for a bounce back.

We'll be getting the Inside Track on a business which hopes

to provide young companies with cheap renewable energy.

how green is your energy, and does it matter?

Or when it comes to choosing a supplier,

Let us know, just use the hashtag #BBCBizLive.

It is a packed agenda as per usual, so let's get started.

We begin in South Africa, where President Jacob Zuma is under

pressure because a no-confidence vote in his leadership

is being considered by the parliament's speaker.

It's because of the contorversial cabinet reshuffle last week

which saw the respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan

and many other cabinet members sacked.

Within hours of Mr Gordhan's removal,

the South African currency, the rand, fell sharply

and was down over 5% against the dollar for the week.

There have been further falls this morning.

The share markets were also impacted, seeing

with government bonds and banking stocks falling hardest.

Mr Gordhan's successor, Malusi Gigaba,

has called for a radical transformation of the economy,

but as yet there are few details of what his plans are.

However, it is likely the cost of borrowing will increase further.

And that is because of a likely downgrade

by the credit ratings agency Moody's.

It is due to deliver its verdict on Friday.

Many analysts now predict South Africa

All eyes on Friday for that announcement.

Lerato Mbele joins us from our Johannesburg bureau.

After there's sacking on Thursday, we have just talked through the

immediate economic aftershock, talk me through how the rand, the local

currency, and the local markets are faring today. Hi, Alice, thanks for

that. The South African currency, obviously, is the most traded

currency from the African continent, one of the leaders in the emerging

markets space, so obviously a lot of speculation on the currency at the

moment. It has dropped, as Sally said, by more than 5%, and a further

0.5% this morning, and no analyst is expecting the rand to recover,

certainly until we have clarity on what the economic programme is going

to be going forward. As was said earlier on, the new minister, Malusi

Gigaba, has said he is going to pursue a radical economic

transformation agenda in the Treasury, make sure that the

government spends much more on supporting small and medium

enterprises, creating black industrialists, and giving more

money to the poor. You get a sense that the policy will be leaning left

a lot more than it already is, and if so, you can expect less fiscal

consolidation and more of the government spending than saving. If

you add to that everything that is happening into international

markets, with Iran declining in value, spread elation on the rand,

and jitters around the prospects for the South African economy, the

picture is not looking good. -- speculation. Government is not able

to sell its debt as favourable prices, bond deals have gone down,

gone up more than 50 basis points, so anybody buying South African debt

will be making a lot more money, and the Government will be paying a lot

more on those issue inserts. In terms fiscal consolidation, South

Africa is staying the course of managing its finances, and more

importantly drawing in investment for growth. Those prospects aren't

looking good, and the mood in South Africa right now is damp. As you

say, bullish talk from the new finance minister, Malusi Gigaba, but

a bit more on the mood in the country, there has been talk of

protests due to happening, murmurings about a vote of no

confidence. Yeah. Well, the speaker of parliament would have to

reconvene parliament, which is in recess until May, so she cut short a

working visit to Bangladesh and landed in South Africa yesterday,

considering whether to reconvene the parliament, where a vote of no

confidence would be heard. She says it is possible but she's still

considering. Civic society is frustrated, there have been protests

at the Treasury, there has been calls for a mass public strike on

Friday, and other people are saying that they just want to go to work to

earn a living, that pays the taxes to a government that they believe

hasn't really earned its place. So that is really how people are

feeling. OK, thank you for joining us live from Johannesburg. We will

keep an eye on that story and update you with any news.

In a record quarter, Tesla delivered just over 25,000

cars in the first three months of the year.

The electric car maker said this was a 70% rise

It is a rebound for the US company after production problems

late last year resulted in a 9% fall in deliveries in the fourth quarter.

The UK based chip designer Imagination Technologies

says Apple will stop paying the company royalties when it moves

away from using its intellectual property in two year's time.

Apple is responsible for around half of Imagination's revenues.

The Silicon Valley giant uses the chip-maker's technology

BP is selling one of its major North Sea oil assets for $250 million.

Ineos will buy the Forties Pipeline System in a deal which also includes

the terminal which delivers more than a third of the UK's

Ineos has welcomed it as a new opportunity, whilst BP says

it is looking to concentrate on other parts of the North Sea.

That's because of reports that the troubled Japanese conglomerate

may delay its quarterly earnings report for a third time.

Sarah Toms is in our Asia Business hub in Singapore.

through the numbers. As you said, Toshiba shares did plunge, 5.4% on

Monday, and as you said, it is after the electronics conglomerate

signalled it might miss another deadline to release its results for

the last quarter of 2016. Now, Toshiba can apply to the Tokyo stock

exchange for another extension, but still, the delay is bad news for

shareholders, delivering another blow to investor confidence, and of

course increasing those concerns over a possible delisting. They have

delayed reporting earnings over problems at Westinghouse Electric,

its US nuclear unit. Westinghouse has been hit by cost overruns and

filed for bankruptcy last week, and as a result Toshiba forecast an

annual loss of a record 9.1 billion US dollars. To make up for this

loss, the company is putting its prize memory chip unit up for sale,

and bidders are queueing up - Apple, Amazon and Google was said to be

interested. That is the very latest on Toshiba once again, moving in the

wrong direction, as Sarah said, down over 9% at one pit -- at one point

this morning. Business sentiment went up in March by quite a big

amount, which is really interesting to know that the big corporate in

Japan are more optimistic than they have been for some time. That is

Howard went in Asia today, that is how the Dow Jones closed on Friday.

Let's have a look at Europe right now to give you a sense of how

things are developing, belly flat, down in France, no big movers.

Imagination Technology is a massive mover, a UK tech company that has

had royalties with Apple, but Apple saying that the relationship may

come to an end, and the shares are down 60%, I believe, a massive

mover. We will talk more about the stories in a moment.

Michelle Fleury has the details about what's ahead

It's a busy week ahead, with President Trump meeting Chinese

leader Xi Jinping in Florida, as well as lots of economic data.

On Tuesday, new numbers will show that the trade deficit likely

On Wednesday, we get a look at private sector hiring,

with a report from payrolls processor ADP.

But of course the big number comes on Friday,

that is the Labor Department's closely watched employment report,

which is expected to show an increase

major car-makers will release new vehicle sales figures for March.

Now, auto companies have been enjoying

a great run of rising sales, so investors and analysts are keenly

watching to see whether the wheels are coming off the present

Joining us is Nick Hungerford, founder of Nutmeg.com.

Good morning, Nick! Sterling has been having trouble s, but some are

saying it is undervalued. Well, it takes two to make a trade, but we

are seeing a record number of bets on the fact that sterling remains

overvalued. But after the Brexit vote, sterling fell to its lowest

level against the dollar since 1985. This quarter that has just finished,

that has been the first quarter of rebound for still in since then, so

you have got people coming out of the woodwork saying, yeah, now is

the time to trade, we're going back to where we were, and is forecast

says that in 18 months we could get back to about 1.38 against the

dollar. But it could all change very quickly if the Brexit negotiations

look like they are not going well, or if something is leaked from

somewhere, sterling is going to be extremely sensitive. Three key

factors driving world currencies, and we think about sterling, the

euro-dollar mix-up, political risks from Europe and what happens with

sort of any potential defaults, and payments, overpayments et cetera.

You have got what will Trump do, with his policies be protectionist?

Will they reduce global free trade? And then of course the Brexit

negotiations. All of this has affected and impact the currency

markets. Sensitive is exactly the word, isn't it? We are coming up to

the end the quarter, so corporate earnings. They have been pretty

positive, but they have set some lofty valuations are the markets.

Global markets, as the widest measure we can get, the MSCI world

measure, up 6.4% last quarter, which is a fantastic quarter. If you take

emerging markets in particular, looking at this, astonishing, 12.3%.

When will the bubble burst, or is it not a bubble? Well, back to Alice's

point, if corporate inning start to disappoint, if the talks between

America and China this week do not go well, we will see some pretty

sharp falls in the market. Remember, of course, this is a long-term game,

and what is driving these markets is the momentum we are seeing across

the politics and economics, rebounds in manufacturing, particularly in

China, driving this demand. So it seems positive at the moment, but we

are on a bit of a knife edge waiting for is to come out. How long have we

been and knife edge? It feels like a long-time! Are we getting

comfortable? Great to talk to you, we will talk about the papers later.

Still to come, we'll get the inside track on how

to power business with cheap renewable energy.

Yes, you're with Business Live from BBC News.

We have got an energy theme in today's programme.

New research reveals that decommissioning oil and gas wells

in the North Sea is set to cost ?80 billion across the UK, Norway,

The Boston Consulting Group warns that figure could

It's director of Energy Practice, Philip Whittaker joins us now.

This is a huge sum of money. Is it being spent wisely? Who is going to

foot the bill? It is the biggest industrial project that most of the

general public has never seen. We hear a lot about HS2 and Hinkley

Point, but this is something which over the next decade will be

absolutely on the same size of those projects yet the public will foot

half the bill and very few are aware. So what are you saying in

your report that's out today that needs to be done? I understand that

you're saying it will cost double or triple that that we think at the

moment? The current cost estimates could easily double or triple.

Firstly, we need to get more transparency into the market. We

need to get a better view of when we will be doing things and how much we

will be spending? Secondly, we'd love to see for consistency about

the way we are promoting the xhishging activity. The more you do

something, the better you get. Finally, we'd love to see a stronger

performance agenda. We'd like to see operators competing and the

Government making demands around efficient spend around the

decommissioning space. You're critical in your report about the

way in which the decommissioning is being conducted. You think there

isn't enough transparency, it isn't clear enough in which the process is

being done? We think it is a fantastic opportunity for UK

operators and for the UK taxpayer and also very importantly for UK

suppliers. If we can establish the UK as a base for decommissioning

expertise that opens up a big global market for the 9,000 platforms that

will be decommissioned globally in the next half a century, we're

optimists, but critical optimists. Thank you for your time. Just

mentioning that story about imagine deck knolling, shares down over 65%.

Apple dealing a blow to the UK tech firm notifying it will stop using

its products. More details on our website.

You're watching Business Live. Our top story:

South Africa's rand has fallen again amiden amid the fall-out of last

week's Cabinet reshuffle. They are on an Easter recess, but will

Parliament be reconvened? A look at the markets. That's how they are

faring at the moment. Starting a business

is a risky decision for any In the absence of a proven track

record, start-ups face higher costs for things like loans

and technology, but the cost of energy can also provide a barrier

to entry for new businesses. A recent report found that small

and medium-sized enterprises are losing $625 million a year

on overpriced contracts. And a separate report has found that

more than 60% of small business owners in the UK interviewed last

year don't regard energy efficiency Squeaky Clean Energy

is a marketplace which connects companies with renewable energy

providers. We're joined by Chris Bowden,

founder of Squeaky Clean Energy. Good to see you. Good morning. That

was the keyword, isn't it, market place? Yes. This is a clean energy

market place that you're setting up, targeting small and medium sized

businesses? We connect renewable or clean generators, solar, wind, high

dread and sustainable biomass. We connect them to corporate businesses

so they can supply those businesses at a similar price or lower price

than fossil fuel or what we call dirty electricity. But this isn't

about saving money. This is about being able to choose clean energy?

Well, it is about saving money because a lot of clean energy

contracts or renewable energy contracts are sold at a premium to

dirty energy contracts people and so, so what we are trying to do is

being the catalyst to shift businesses to renewable energy by

providing a price which is at or below the big six who dominate the

industry after 27 years of competition. If I am he a small

business and I think I've never heard of this company, but I'm going

to consider them, but one of my thoughts would be what if they can't

supply? What if there is a massive surge and there is just, you know,

the supply isn't there and also how do I know that it's clean? Well, to

answer those two questions, the first one is how do we always

guarantee that we always supply you? Well, we have a deal with Europe's

largest renewable generator so they top-up the supply from the largest

portfolio of renewables in the UK. If the wind farm or the solar park

that you've chosen to supply you isn't supplying at the time because

it is not windy or it's not sunny then we will guarantee to top that

up. In terms of the cost, we're basically buying that electricity at

market prices and that's the same for coal or gas. The issue is not

the cost, it is about how do we know it's really green? When we meter the

electricity into the network we stamp each kilowatt with our unique

identifier and when we meter it out, we do the same so we've connected

the consumption to the generation basically. And that's how you as a

business can demonstrate that you have bought electricity from that

specific wind farm. This company is very, very new, it launched it

January, you have been in the industry for 20 years? I have been

in the industry in the UK and been in the industry for that long and I

have been actually this concept isn't a new concept. It is something

we dreamed up over ten years ago and this is the way that companies like

Google and Apple and Facebook buy their electricity. How are you going

to persuade people to switch? This is a problem with domestic

households with normal energy companies? There is so much choice

out there and people don't switch from the big six? Well, there is a

number of things. We have tried to create a different ated product by

saying we can give you clean energy for the same price as dirty. If

you're faced with the choice of switching from dirty energy to clean

energy, you will do so. A lot of businesses want to move away from

the big six because of the services that they get from the big six and

the fact that they're trying to or lots of businesses want to different

ate themselves and attract customers. Chris, thank you for

coming on. Rising property prices are making it

hard for young people to get on the property ladder.

Stephen McDonnell sent this report from Beijing.

It's the start of the evening rush hour here in Beijing and this city's

young workers are pouring out of the towers above and into

In their millions they will join the commute to the outer suburbs.

There is no way that most young people here could afford

In fact, it's hard to imagine how most of them could ever afford

to buy a property anywhere in this city.

It's true there are plenty of cities in the world

where property is expensive - Sydney, Paris,

Here, the flats might cost just as much, but people's salaries

The government is trying to reign in this price explosion by limiting

access to credit In the hope that China's young workers may one day be

Nick is back. This story from the Financial Times, it is what Sally

was talking about earlier. Are they making any money? Well, they are not

making money and it is not that many cars. Really, compared with some of

the big manufacturers, 25,000 isn't much. It did beat expectations?

predicting and lots of anticipation predicting and lots of anticipation

because the Model 3, so we have got the Model S and the Model X and this

is the reasonably priced car, it is around ?28,000. ?30,000. That's a

mark down from what's around on the market. It is the mass market,

Tesla, but will they deliver on time this summer? There is so much

anticipation? It is remarkable what Elon Musk has been able to convey

with this mission of his. He's talking about 500,000 this year. The

share has gone up 30%. He is a brand in himself, Elon Musk. Thank you.

Good morning. Most of the weather action will be

at the beginning of the week. It looks like it will be a quiet week

ahead. Over