12/04/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Bland and Aaron Heslehurst.

International investors go cold on South Africa,

as one of the continent's biggest economies moves from political

Live from London, that's our top story on 12th April.

As South Africa's battered economy tries to recover

from a double downgrade, protesters are heading

We're live in Johannesburg for this developing story.

Also in the programme, the BBC understands that the head

of security at Barclays is now facing an internal disciplinary

probe over his part in a whistle-blowing inquiry.

We will get all the news from the markets.

And we'll be getting the inside track on one start-up

that is taking used batteries and giving them a second life.

As the boss of United Airlines, we want to know when have you wished

you'd apologised sooner? As South Africa's president

Jacob Zuma celebrates his 75th birthday, the festivities may be

rather more low key than usual. In less than a week,

the country's members of parliament are scheduled to hold a vote of no

confidence against the president. It comes after he ousted some

of his key political opponents Today, members of the public

are expected to take to the streets in protest at the move,

but Mr Zuma's decision also has South Africa has been downgraded

to "junk status" by two of the leading debt ratings

agencies, Fitch and S They argue that the reshuffle

will hamper the country's efforts The government's debt pile continues

to grow and the loss of its "investment grade" status

could have a significant impact on South Africa's ability to borrow

money on international markets. It means that major institutions

such as pension funds and hedge funds may be prevented from buying

the country's debt. Viv Govender is in our

Johannesburg studio. She's a senior Analyst

for Rand Swiss. What is president Zuma up to with

all of this? Why the moves? Is he to blame with what's going on at the

moment? Yes. Look, if you had to go and

basically do a prediction of why he's doing this, I think the general

conspiracy theory is he is going to be out of power by December. He

wants to put his ex-wife into his position, both at the ANC and in

Government afterwards and those basically would be in order to

protect him from any kind of criminal prosecution thereafter. In

order to achieve that goal of actually bringing his wife into

power, you may need to indulge in patronage for his supporters and

that could not be done with a Finance Minister in place because he

would prevent some of the irregular expenditure that would be required

to basically convince the supporters for both him and his wife in the

coming election. So he's prepared to do all of that at the threat of

hammering the South Africa's economy. Unemployment is 25%. I mean

that's a whooper at the moment. Could that go higher of the back of

what we're seeing at the moment? And 25% by the way is just the official

number. If had the people who were already employed, it is probably in

excess of 40%. The problem that we have in South Africa is that some

people have been unemployed for a long period of time that the number

of discouraged workers is probably 15% and maybe 20% of the total

workforce, people that are sitting at home for two or three years and

have given up the search for a job. If you included them, it would be in

excess of 40%. This would be a major impact on those workers. Over the

last couple of years the only real source of long-term or formal sector

employment in the country has been the public sector. If you look at

the public sector pay rolls they have been increasing over time.

Things such as social work and other things come out as one of the top

categories when we look at the employment numbers coming out. The

private sector hasn't been as strong especially the mining sector has

been under a great deal of pressure losing hundreds of thousands of

workers over the last couple of decades. If you had the Government

unable to borrow money, firstly they couldn't spend as much as they would

have to reduce the amount of workers in the public sector which would be

quite difficult and the private sector as well is not out there

really looking at employment opportunities. They are looking at

cutting down on the number they have because of the regulations around

labour, etcetera. Viv, we appreciate labour, etcetera. Viv, we appreciate

your time. Thank you for joining us. And no doubt we will talk to you

soon. The BBC understands that Barclays's

head of security is to face an internal investigation

over his part in a Troels Oerting allegedly assisted

the bank's boss, Jes Staley, in his attempts to unmask the author

of an anonymous letter, which questioned the past conduct

of a senior recruit. UK financial regulators

are investigating the scandal and we will be getting more on this

from our markets guest, Toshiba shares are down by nearly 2%

in Tokyo trade this morning. The Japanese conglomerate could face

delisting after it finally But it was done without

the endorsement of its auditor. Toshiba is trying to sell

its its crown jewel, the chip business, to offset huge

losses from its US nuclear The head of United Airlines has

apologised for what he now describes as "the truly horrific removal"

of a passenger from CEO Oscar Munoz at first told

staff he stood by them, but with United's stock market

valuation plummeting, he issued another statement saying

he was disturbed by the incident. We are looking at the Business Live

page. Check it out. We will talk about Tesco later on. There is more

on the Barclays story. There is a full write up by Simon Jack

explaining this line that the bank's head of security now faces

investigation over this trying to unmask a whistle-blower. I want to

do paint. I bought five meters of paint, ?96 of that's about $140 for

five litres! It says tensions are rising between

the owner of Delux and Elliott Advisors.

Changes to a stamp duty loophole in Hong Kong have sent

Well, as you said Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Government slapped a 15%

tax on first time homeowners who are purchasing more than one flat at a

time. So, what was happening was investors were coming in, snapping

up multiple units in one go to qualify for lower tax rates. These

buyers were using one legal contract and they only had to pay 4% tax duty

so now they are being charged the same 15% as someone buying a second

property. There has been a lot of Chinese capital snapping up some of

the Hong Kong's best plots of land and at record-breaking prices and it

has pushed home ownership out of the reach of many people who live there

and the Government hopes that closing this loophole will help the

average buyer, but of course, Hong Kong is one of the most expensive

real estate markets in the world. Sarah, thank you very much indeed.

Investors ducked for cover on Wednesday as a drumbeat

of alarming geo-political news sent the safe-haven yen and gold

to five-month highs and yields on top-rated sovereign bonds

Gold climbed as far as $1,280.30 at one stage, its highest

The unease has tarnished an otherwise brightening outlook

for global economic growth and has kept equities restrained.

Japan's Nikkei feeling the pressure as a rising yen weighed

Shares are down in Tesco and WH Smith.

That's despite Tesco reporting profits better than analyst expected

and WH Smith reporting a rise in profits as well. Barclays shares

recovering after their slight fall on Tuesday. That's all to do with

the news that the investigation involving the Chief Executive and

how he handled a whistle-blowing situation. The BBC now understanding

that the head of security at Barclays faces an internal

disciplinary probe over his part in that inquiry.

Here's what's ahead on Wall Street Today.

United Airlines has been getting a lot of attention recently,

but it will be another carrier that will be in the spotlight

Delta Airlines will be reporting earnings, but don't expect them

The number two US airline by passenger

traffic for the second time in less than a month has

lowered its forecast for passenger revenue.

Now Venezuela is due to make a $3 billion payment on its debt

by Wednesday and this would be yet another test for the country to stay

solvent in the face of political unrest and low oil prices.

And finally, the New York Auto Show kicks off with a media

This comes as car sales in the US have gone flat

after two consecutive years of record-breaking vehicle sales.

Maike Currie is investment director at Fidelity International.

Great timing. You're South African. We want to ask you about this - junk

status by Fich and Standard and Poors. That's what they have issued

to South Africa. Junk status, just to explain, junk will make it

awfully expensive for South Africa to service its debt and to borrow

more money? Absolutely. What investors demand they want a higher

return to actually lend to a country. Now, what has been

interesting from an investment point of view is that despite the junk

status investors have been piling into South African bonds so that's

pushed up the price, the yields and the income return has fallen. Now

the question is whether this is about the political reactions in

South Africa or whether this wb short-lived which I doubt. I think

it is more symbolic of a broader optimism around emerging markets. So

what would be interesting if you look at the performance of emerging

markets since the beginning of the year, they're up over 10%. They've

performed twice as well as the US and Wall Street which has performed

twice as well as London and the general consensus was a Trump

presidency would be bad news for emerging markets and the tightening

by the Fed would be bad. So it is interesting times. Yes, indeed. I

want to turn our attention to Barclays. The BBC understanding that

the head of security is facing an internal probe. The shares have been

on a roller-coaster. They seem to be recovering today? The interesting

thing about the banks more generally is with inflation rising and the

prospect of interest rates going up after years of record low interest

rates, that's good news for a bank's business model. That will bode well.

Of course, the whole whistle-blowing scandal is another cloud hanging

over Barclays. Are you going to come back and take

us through the papers? The United boss gets around to saying the S

word. Charging into the future,

we speak to the CEO of a company that's pioneering a way to make

money by squeezing new life out You're with Business

Live from BBC News. Food sales has helped push

supermarket giant Tesco to record Like for like sales are up 0.9% -

it's the first full year of growth since 2010 but profits

are down after settling an accounting scandal

with the Serious Fraud Office Maureen Hinton is from

retail analysts, Verdict. Hey, Maureen, do you think, it is a

good number, but Ben and I were looking at the share price of Tesco,

did you say 1.8% down? Down nearly 2% of the what's investors thinking

here? I don't know to be quite honest. I

think it is perhaps because the operating profit wasn't as high.

They were hoping perhaps that it would go up to 1.3%, but the

business is doing really well. It is improving. The customer experience

has improved. It is winning customers back. Better availability.

Availability. The operating margin is improving. It doesn't make sense.

It might be because of the Booker acquisition, but I think there is a

lot of growth opportunity with that because they're wholesalers and they

can supply where all the growth is going at the moment which is through

food service, through take-aways, we're changing our eating habits so

they have got a good growth story there as well. It is the same

actually. It tends to go down and go back up again the share price.

It's facing some challenges, its reputation, it was dealing with that

fine over the accounting scandal. It has potentially got a battle with

suppliers over the increased costs being passed on because of the

weaker pound. Yes, it had a couple of battles with Unilever and

Heineken more recently. Because it has such big buying power, and

perhaps because CEO Dave Lewis comes from a supplier background, it has

good negotiating skills. Thank you very much indeed, Maureen from

retail analyst Verdict. HSBC plans to become dementia

friendly. I think this is a cracking story. They are outlining their

plans today to becoming more dementia friendly bank. HSBC says it

gets 3000 calls per month regarding power of attorney, which is a big

issue for people suffering from dementia and their families.

Our top story - South Africa's president Jacob Zuma is facing

increasing political and financial turmoil as the country's economy

It may be his 75th birthday today but that won t stop huge protests

against his leadership that are expected to take place today.

A quick look at how markets are faring.

A firmer start to the trading day across Europe. The main indices all

in positive territory. That follows on from a more cautious day of

trading in Asia where investors responded to geopolitical moves with

stuff going on around North Korea and tensions between America and

Russia. The Korean peninsular. That's sent goals to higher levels

and safe haven bonds as well. Currencies, the Japanese yen, going

into the Swiss franc as well. Japanese exporters don't like that.

And now let's get the inside track on the business of batteries.

Nearly every one of us uses lithium ion batteries every day -

they power our smartphones, gadgets, and now even some electric cars!

In fact, one report says the market for lithium ion batteries

is expected to exceed $33 billion by 2019.

But what happens when you get rid of your old phone or gadget?

One start-up firm, called Aceleron, takes these

end-of-life batteries, and turns them into

second-life battery packs for other applications.

Aceleron says its technology helps to reduce waste

by re-using these batteries, and produces low cost energy

Let's find out more, Carlton Cummings is co-founder of Aceleron.

I love this idea, great to have you here. For us dummies, like me! How

does this work? Do you take a laptop and electric batteries? That's

right. We take batteries from consumer electronics, laptops and

stuff like that. We can also manage batteries all the way up to the

electric vehicle. Most of the time the batteries, even though the size

or scale might be large, that chemistry is the same, so that's why

we can work on small scale with laptop batteries and batteries all

the way up to the electric vehicle. We identify the good ones, repackage

them into batteries for other things, devices you would put your

phone or tablet into, all the way up to a battery that plugs into your

home. Using examples, I found this fascinating when we spoke before

coming on air, these batteries still have charge in them. Explain that. A

great example is the battery in your remote control. When it doesn't work

for the remote control, you can put it in a clock and it works just

fine. Batteries don't die, they degrade. We need to know where they

are in their cycle and what they can be used for. The tragedy where we

are right now, we take batteries when they are not good for their

first application and we throw them away. The worst part is we don't

have the recycling capacity to do that, so we have to export it, and

it's very expensive. Why would you export something that still has

value, and that's where Aceleron comes in the. If you have batteries

that still have charge in them, why haven't manufacturers done something

about this to make sure you can use the battery right up until when it

is completely empty? Typically that's when you get into the science

of battery. You don't want to use the lithium battery all the way down

to empty for its application. You could liberated from a laptop when

it's done there and put it into a power bank and its fine. But we are

stepping down the ladder. That's why a battery from a car would be at

home power in your house. Mobility is one of the hardest things to do

with a battery, so you could free up the battery. We have developed the

technology to test it quickly and find what it can be used for. That's

one of the reasons the industry hasn't done it, identifying the way

to do it quickly. We developed the technology to do that. So that's

what you've done? I like the phrase, "Powered down to knackered" that

must be a Barbadian quote! I have been inspired by a lot of things

going on. I come from a background in engineering. I worked as an

engineer for a motorcycle racing team. I also worked in renewable

energy, coordinating solar installations. I had the insight

from both worlds so I saw the opportunity with the electric car.

When some of the cars are no longer useful, or when some of the

batteries are no longer useful for the car, there is still energy in

there to power a home. Why wouldn't we use that? You have been listed on

the Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 list. It's a very high-profile

thing. You also the Shell entrepreneur of the year. Have you

had interest from investors? We had quite good interest. We always are

happy to engage a couple of other persons and are happy to bring

others into the team. The major thing is that a lot of these events

and stuff have been able to get us the owners we need to do the job we

want to do. -- the onus we need. This interview has now powered down

to knackered! You are only a very early start-up, it's a pleasure to

meet you. You registered in August last year, so great stuff and best

of luck, Carlton Cummings. In a moment we'll take a look

through the usiness pages, but first, here's a quick reminder

of how to get in touch with us. The business live page is where you

can stay ahead with all the day's breaking business news. We will keep

you up-to-date with all the latest details with insight and analysis

from the BBC pars team of editors right around the world. We want to

hear from you. Get in touch on the BBC live web page. We also on

Twitter and Facebook. On TV and online, wherever you need to know.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word. The United airlines boss has finally

said it. We can start with that one. It was a PR disaster. It was. It's a

lesson in poor public relations and the power of social media. We had

every man and his dog watching this video of the horrific incident. Then

we saw the letter the chief executive sent to employees backing

up the behaviour of the crew being circulated. In China there was a

report distributed by millions of Chinese readers saying the man was

targeted for being Chinese. All of this, the chief executive has only

just come out now with a statement. It's a sorry piece of paper, when he

should have been out there immediately with a genuine apology.

This type of thing can destroy a big company's brand within seconds.

Because of the power of social media. The chief executive needs to

be out there with a bold and genuine apology across channels. I was

hearing, apparently last year this Chief Executive was named

communicator of the year. The irony couldn't get worse. It is quite

ironic. We have a couple of tweets. We asked if he would regretted not

apologising later. Barry says he will immediately apologise and he's

afraid it doesn't come across as sincere as it is.

I want to talk about another executive change at Uber. Yet

another one. What's going on? It ties nicely into the issue of how

damaging negative publicity can be to a company. Uber has struggled

with a string of bad publicity disasters. Its top PR person, who

they recruited from Google, has now left. What has happened at Uber is

that it has struggled to attract employees because of its reputation.

Only joined in 2015 as well. Thank you for coming in as always. Time to

wrap it up. We are out of time. More business news throughout the day and

on the website.