24/04/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Bland and Sally Bundock.

And then there were two - the final candidates

for the French presidency, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen,

have been chosen, but what economic challenges will the winner face?

Live from London, that's our top story on Monday, 24th April.

The candidates of both mainstream political parties in France have

urged their supporters to back Emmanuel Macron for the presidency,

after they were eliminated in the first round,

but is he the man to to supercharge the French economy?

China shuts down 29 plants and puts another 40 on warning.

Here is how the markets look. Very strong, especially in Paris.

And we'll be getting the inside track on a business that's

been able to draw on the artistic talents of its founder.

We're going to be speaking to co-founder and creative director

Today we want to know, as UK politicians consider offering

a price cap on energy bills, we want to know - what purchases

would you like to see a price cap on?

Centrist Emmanuel Macron has gone through to the second

round of the French election, where he will face far-right

Mr Macron, a former banker, is seen as a political

outsider, having never run an election campaign before.

The euro rose by 2% on the news - its highest level in five months -

before giving up some ground this morning.

Investors had worried that far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon

would beat Mr Macron, giving voters a choice between two

Macron is now considered to be the favorite to win the second

round ballot and markets have warmed to his pledge to lower corporate

taxes while lightening the administrative burden on firms.

However, economic problems and challenges remain for whoever

Top of the list, France's unemployment rate

is running at around 10%, which is more than twice the rate

So, how have global markets reacted to the results?

Theo Leggett is at Berenberg Bank

So the euro is soaring and now share markets in Europe are soaring too?

Absolutely. The currency is up, and so are the share markets, and it's

easy to see why. This isn't about what has happened in the first round

of the presidential election as opposed to what has not happened. We

now know we will not see a second-round run-off between the far

right candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Front and Jean-Luc

Melenchon, the hard left candidate who models his economic policies on

those of people like the later Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. For

business people, that was seen as the nightmare scenario, two

Eurosceptic candidates, one of whom wanted to take France out of the

euro, and a candidate who favoured extremely high taxation for the rich

and a lot of state intervention in industry. That hasn't happened. The

run-off will be between Emmanuel Macron, the centrist reformist

candidate, and Marine Le Pen. In that scenario, nearly every poll

puts Emmanuel Macron, and you can see what that has done on the

markets. This is the Paris stock exchange. As you can see, at the

open was up more than 5%. It is telling off a bit, but nevertheless,

that is a relief rally. Banking stocks are doing well. That it

because the risk premium on bonds is going down, so bond yields are going

to go up. Things are more settled. But let's not forget that there are

two weeks to go before the second round of the presidential election

and although Emmanuel Macron does look like the clear winner according

to polls taken today, you can never guarantee anything. And that is the

point. Once this relief rally tails off and people think ahead to May

the 7th, people may wonder what a new government may look like. Even

if Emmanuel Macron gets the job, it may be an unusual coalition in

France. Absolutely. You have to remember where Emmanuel Macron has

come from. His movement was only created about a year ago, and it is

a coalition of different interests. It doesn't have a formal party

structure and in a few weeks' time, France will go to the polls again

for parliamentary elections. Emmanuel Macron, if he is president,

will have to work with the winner of that election. He will have to work

with a Prime Minister to get his policies enacted. He does have a

certain level of endorsement from the Republicans and from the more

mainstream Socialists at the moment, but once he is in power and once

they are forming a parliament, if he doesn't manage to get enough of his

own support, he may find it difficult to enact the platform of

hope he has been setting out over the last year. He may find that the

reality of life as president is different from the rhetoric of the

campaign. Theo, thank you very much. Let's show you Paris right now, a

beautiful morning as a new day begins. Everyone is of course now

looking ahead to make the seventh and the two candidates that remain.

We will have more on that later on Business Live. Some of the news now.

Luxury shoemaker Jimmy Choo has put itself up for sale, announcing on

Monday that it is seeking offers. The company, which floated in London

in October 2014, has seen sales growth slow, reporting a 2% rise

last year compared to 7% in 2015 and 12% in 2014. HSBC recently

downgraded Jimmy Choo to hold from Help To Buy as it felt both sales

and profits had fallen short. But medical devices and health care

giant Philips has posted a big jump in first-quarter profits after

spinning off its lighting business last year. Profits soared to $280

million for the three months to the end of March compared with around 40

million the same time last year. Corp profits were up by 18% higher

than expected, $480 million. Sales were up 2%.

US medical equipment supplier Becton Dickinson is to acquire a health

care equipment manufacturer. The acquisition costs will be paid

roughly half in cash and debt and the other half by issuing new

shares. It comes two years after Becton Dickinson acquired another

company for $12 billion. Some interesting news came out of China

today. Nearly 30 steel firms that have had their production licences

revoked for not meeting industry requirements. Robin Brant is in

evidence of fresh consolidation evidence of fresh consolidation

within China's mammoth steel industry, and also evidence of a

further clamp-down by the further clamp-down by the

authorities on those firms that refuse to comply with emergency

measures when the pollution gets bad in the north of the country, where

the steel industry is centred. Let me give you a few statistics that

show you how big the steel industry is in China. China is trying to move

60%, the majority of its production base, into the hands of ten much

bigger companies. That was supposed to happen two years ago, but has

been pushed back to 2025. Historically, the industry here has

been about small-scale production companies. Around 300 of some 630

firms have been closed in recent years, so that shows you how serious

China is about consolidating the industry. It is trying to move 100

million tonnes of production every year from what is currently churned

out. This all comes amidst further evidence from the US that Donald

Trump is concerned about steel dumping and anti-competitive

measures. The president announced a new probe on Thursday. But the US

and EU have concerns about China's mammoth steel industry.

Thank you, Robin. Let's look at the markets. Investors are cheering the

news that Emmanuel Macron came out ahead in the first round of France's

presidential election. The euro is strengthening against the yen. That

makes exports cheaper to foreign buyers. Let's show you the European

markets. Really interesting, particularly in Paris. Investors are

clearly pleased with the outcome of the French poll. The euro reached

its highest level against the dollar for five months.

sentiment can also be seen in the sentiment can also be seen in the

bond market. The price of French bonds increased, suggesting that

investors have an appetite for French government debt. That lowers

the yield and has narrowed the gap between French bonds and German

bonds. Here is Michelle Fleury. Earning season continues this week.

Three companies will all be reporting. T mobile is the number

three American wireless carrier. It managed to attract new customers and

also managed to secure a book of broadcast airwaves in a government

auction, making T mobile some stiff competition. Meanwhile, Halliburton

is the world's number two oilfield services provider and while oil

prices are picking up, the cost of reactivating Will Riggs and

equipment is putting pressure on earnings. Finally, Star Wars and

Disney Princess dolls gave Hasbro a big boost this time last year.

Comparatively, though, it will be hard for the toymaker to meet and

beat the numbers from a year ago. That was Michelle, giving us a heads

up on what is ahead in the US. We have the head of multi-asset is at

Royal London asset management with us. Trevor, are you with the share

markets and the euro and cheering the outcome of Sunday's election in

France? It is a positive outcome. One way to look at is that 40% of

voters voted for somebody who was anti-euro, so that was a bullet

missed the markets, because if France were seriously considering

leaving the euro, there would be all sorts of financial stress. You might

say Marine Le Pen is through to the second round and she is one of these

people who also thinks the euro is not a good idea, but the polls have

Mac run on 65% versus her 35%, and the polls were pretty accurate in

the first round, so the markets are taking the good news early. People

feel there is a more centrist candidate. So it is not just the

equities market, it is the bonds and the euro reflecting that as well. It

is. You saw those three areas of stress, which are resolved at the

moment. There will be some nervousness in the next few weeks

ahead of the next round, but most of the good news has been factored in

early. This is probably the first of several summer stories. We are

heading into the summer period, when the economic activity around the

world tends to be quieter and the markets are more fragile. I think we

will see a focus on China and the potential US shutdown is the next

stories. Those stories are in the papers and cover will return for

that later. More still to come. We were here from the co-founder of a

company who had the inspiration for award-winning greeting cards while

Dudley Laugher home with a newborn. You with Business Live from BBC

News. The price of property

in the UK continues to rise. Online housing portal Rightmove says

that the prices of homes coming to the market is up

1.1% on last month. of 2.2% is the lowest it's

been for four years - Tell us more about what has been

going on. What can we read from between the lines? It seems to be

good news for property markets. Obviously, house prices have

increased and are up 2% annually, the highest rises we have ever seen.

But as you say, house prices are rising but at lower levels than we

would expect at this time of year. So that is one way of looking at the

health of the housing market. But what really matters is transaction

levels. At Rightmove, we can see the point where houses are agreed as

opposed to when transactions are being done, and we can see that

sales are agreed at the highest level we have seen for over a

decade, so it is good news for a healthy housing market. But still

quite tough for those trying to get on the property ladder. Yes, and

every month we look at the numbers and it has been difficult for

first-time buyers for a long time. But prices have increased 6.5% in

the first time buyer sector, which shows the first time buyers have

been buying. We have also seen the impact of the 3% stamp duty for

investors, which has pulled investors out of the property

market. They typically by one-bedroom properties, the same as

first-time buyers, so they are getting out of the way and the

market has freed up space for first-time buyers, who are buying in

such numbers that prices are starting to rise again.

More detail about that on the Business Live page. A lot of other

stories that we can't fit in this programme. We are always running out

of time here. Goals in merger talks. It is in

take-over talks with rival, Power League.

You can read more about that on the live page.

The final round of the French

presidential election will be between the centrist politician,

Emmanuel Macron, and the far-right National Front leader,

That vote will take place in a fortnight.

A quick look at how markets are faring.

In France, it is up, up and away, up nearly 3.5%. Yes, that positive

sentiment, investors going back into risk mode and also being seen in the

strength of the euro against the dollar and the yen and also yields

on French Government debt, French bonds coming down and narrowing the

debt. Now let's get the inside track

from a woman with quite Hanna Dale is a zoology graduate

who became an investment banker. But her true calling lay elsewhere,

on a crowded kitchen table she began drawing and painting,

initially to have something to do Someone suggested she try her hand

at greeting cards as her depictions The business now sells cards,

stationery and gifts Hannah Dale is co-founder

and creative director She has littered across the table

her goods. We have got greeting cards, diaries and cushions, it is

kind of more offing into all sorts of things, but I'm fascinated by

studying zoology and becoming an investment banker and now running

your own company. Talk us through that journey? Yes, I never really

imagined that this is where it would end up, but in some strange way

having painting animals and having the business background from work at

the bank actually both have contributed to having a successful

business. I think the card business really started out as something, a

necessity really. I was in Lincolnshire. I had a young family.

I was qualified as a stockbroker. This wasn't a lot of call for a

stockbroker in Lincolnshire. I tried a few things. I was really

struggling. You were what some people might call a mumprener. But

it is something that many have done, career women who have had children,

who can't see their way back into their previous job, starting a

company? Absolutely, yes. For me it felt like the only option to have

something that I could fit around the family that was also going to be

challenging and exciting. I wonder if there are any other mumpreners

out there, what's the one bit of advice you wish you had been given?

Just really go for it is the best advice. It is a great time to start

a business because although your hands are full, you have got a young

baby and coping with that, it is a natural break from work so it is a

good time to try a few different things and the nice thing about

greeting cards, it didn't really require a lot of investment. So it

was a fairly low risk thing for me to try and as it started to snowball

and take off and the cards did well, we started to expand into different

products and it really grew organically from there. It is it has

grown organically, you have got 25 people working at your company. It

is a sizeable business for greetings cards, but it is not on the scale of

some companies out there. No. Talk us through your process and how you

want to try and grow more organically and more successfully

and then what are you going to do because you've got three children

now, you arks tremly busy? The children are getting easier as

they're going to school and giving me a bit more free time, but it has

expanded because of the nature of designs lent themselves to our

products, that's been a key part of our growth. So we moved into the

stationary and moved in the diaries and through licensing, the designs

appear on Royal Western mugs. They are sold in some pretty significant

retail nears the UK which is key, isn't it? We supply 1500 independent

stockists across the UK. That's our core market. Through the licence

with Royal Worcester, their mugs are stocked at John Lewis and we export

over the world. We launched in the US a couple of years ago and that's

going really well. So, there are lots of avenues of growth really,

but product development is really key and we've just moved into home

furnishings doing a range of fabrics. This is a new scar of which

is hot off the press. It is the first sample and that's launching

later in the year. There are lots of plans for new product development.

It started with your artistic designs. Are you still the person

behind the designs we see on the mugs and the cards? Yes, I do all

the artwork. Having the staff that we have got supporting on the

administrative side and helping on all aspects of the business enables

me to focus on the artwork and developing that and keeping it fresh

and hopefully giving people, giving shops a newness and fresh designs

and keeping the displays. I get the impression you are still loving it?

I don't feel like I go to work. It is really brilliant. Hanna, thank

you for coming in. We appreciate it. Thanks.

Now, in this modern 24/7 work culture, work-life balance

can be hard to manage, but for Harvey Bowden,

Chief Executive of a leading UK water softener firm,

putting family first has been central to his business ethos.

Building a business takes an awful amount of energy and time, but don't

I made a decision early on that the most important thing

for me was the family, not just building a big business,

but having a business that was big enough,

but to spend time with the children as we were raising them,

if you want to be a family man, you've got to spend the time to do

it so I used to get my diary and write down all the school

holidays and take the family down to Cornwall for 13 weeks a year

which seems incredible, but I used to work like hell

during the other 39 weeks to make up for it.

Actually, get your diary and write in the school holidays

Working is exciting. It's fun.

It's interesting and it keeps you going, but so are children.

If you spend as much energy with the children

as you do with the business, you'll have a great time.

Some more top tips for you on Business Live.

We asked you what you'd like to see a price cap on? Percy says a price

cap on tobacco and alcohol and Louise saying a price cap on rent

and council tax. Ryan wants a price cap on cable channels and

broadcasters what they charge. Oh, controversial, thanks, Ryan. Trevor,

let's talk about the stories we were discussing earlier. Donald Trump and

the prospect of a fiscal cliff going over the edge again the we remember

it well from the Obama administration? We do. Every now and

then you need to have official permission to increase Government

debt beyond a certain point and there is a stand-off coming here, I

hesitate to say a Mexican stand-off about the Mexican border wall.

Donald Trump says the budget should include money for the wall. The

Democrats don't want that and you can end up with a situation where

the Government shuts down and they stop paying federal employees and

this kind of thing does concern the markets because some of that

spending is on infrastructure and wages which help the economy. A risk

there for Friday, but again, one of these classic Donald Trump

stand-offs. The way to avoid these cliffs is doing a compromise. It is

which side is prepared to budge? Donald Trump hasn't shown a lot of

compromise. Uber's boss is in the press again. This is in the New York

Times. The viewers would have to read this one to appreciate it. But

it talks about the fact that he's playing with fire? He is a big risk

taker. He always pushes regulatory and legal boundaries to try and get

Uber into new areas. The strength of the CEO is heing willing to run

through walls to get things done and his negative is, he is willing to

run through walls to get things done. Uber is doing well, but they

might push things too far and then things come back again. To find

where the line is, sometimes you have to cross it and row back a bit.

Without that spirit perhaps these companies wouldn't thrive as they

would. The best advice is always be nice to everyone. Awh, bless you.

Trevor, you can come back! That's the thought of the day. Have

a good day. See you soon. Hello. All parts of the British

Isles are set