20/07/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Susannah

A new report warns against the dangers of "no deal".

Live from London, that's our top story on Thursday 20th July.

The UK and the EU's top Brexit negotiators are due to reveal

the latest developments in the Brexit talks, we'll be live

Also in the programme, turbulent times ahead for easyJet -

the budget airline forecasts a lift in profits, but is it

prepared for the departure of its influential CEO Carolyn

The markets continue that global swing upwards.

And with the long summer break just around the corner,

we'll be looking at holiday camps with a difference -

we'll speak to a woman who's replacing football and baking

All throughout the day we're looking at the issue

of childcare costs - we'd love to hear from

you about your family's plans for the summer.

Are you taking time off or are you reliant on childcare?

Or do you give them a smart tablet and lope for the best like Susanna!

We start in Brussels - where the UK's Brexit Secretary -

David Davis - and the EU's chief negotiator - Michel Barnier -

will wrap up their second round of talks on Britain's

They are expected to give a progress report at a press conference later.

They've been focusing on three areas - citizen's rights on both sides,

the so-called 'divorce' bill Britain will have to pay, and the border

between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

The EU says negotiations on the future trading relationship

There's huge pressure to reach an agreement.

According to an independent report released this morning -

the impact on the UK of no deal would be 'widespread,

It warns of potential chaos over customs checks,

British airlines being unable to fly, and UK nuclear

power plants - which are regulated by Euratom -

It also warns there would be a further fall

in the value of sterling - pushing up inflation - and hitting

But is UK business prepared for that scenario?

Britain's corporate lobby group - the Institute of Directors -

says while many firms in the UK are looking at contingency plans -

very few - only 11% - have started to put those

Bruegel is an economic think tank which works closely

We're joined by its deputy director- Maria Demertzis.

Maria, good to see you, welcome to Business Live we get the progress

update today, where do you think we will see the most success, having

been achieved? I think we will expect to hear something on

citizens' rights and possibly on Northern Ireland, but I think we

will see the least progress on the divorce bill. And it seems that the

key to this, is compromise, on both sides, because it's mutually

important that deals are done, looking at the characters involved,

how likely do you think that is? It would have to be right. At some

point a deal would have to be made so we can move on to the next part

of the negotiation, so some xro Mize needs to be made by October in my

view. And on this issue of citizens'

rights, one of the big stumbling blocks seems the role the European

Court of Justice has over settling questions over that. That seems to

be potentially one of the hurdles that will be trickiest to overcome

Indeed. It has been one of the red line of the UK position. Other parts

have been red lined but I think that is an important one for the UK, and

it defend on them how much they are prepared to actually let this go. Is

there a feeling there is a lack of direction from the UK Government at

this stage? We are split, we are hearing within the Cabinet, as to

the direction of policy regarding Brexit. That is the impression that

we get, they get here, the UK hasn't been revealing in terms of what it

wants to aKiev and how quickly I would agree a bit more forth coming

from the British position would be very welcome here. When you say more

forthcoming, what do you think those negotiators want to see, do they

want a concrete road map going forward? Well, if you ask me what I

would like to see, I would like to see the divorce bill being settled

as quickly as possible. This is not the most important part of the

Brexit negotiations therefore we should not be spending time or

capital on it. We need to move as quickly as possible in ensuring the

future relationship is a good one, for both parts of the negotiation

and we need to negotiate a good trade deal for the future. The

divorce bill is neither a big issue, nor is it economically significant.

Maria, if you were in the room there, advising both sides on the

best way to reach agreement, what would you be saying to them? Find

something sensible to settle the bill, and that is an important one,

the gap that the UK is going to leave by not paying into the budget,

this framework we have, will need to be covered by other countries, they

are not waiting to fill the bill. The EU is is not trying to be

difficult, it is trying to cover a bill and pay commitments it has

made. So it is important that we find a good position from the UK on

this part, but we have to do it quickly and move on, this isn't

something we should be spending lots of time on. Thank you Maria.

Let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news.

Low-cost airline EasyJet has reported that its third-quarter

total revenue increased by 16% to around $1.8 billion.

Passenger numbers rose 10.8% to 22.3 million over the period.

Looking ahead, the airline now expects profit in the range

of of $495 million to $547 million for the current financial year.

Easyjet is set to replace its chief executive Carolyn McCall,

who is leaving next year to join broadcaster ITV.

Volvo Cars has seen a 21% rise in operating profit to $820 million

in the first half of the year, thanks to rising sales

The Swedish firm is heading for its fourth year of record sales.

It sold over 277,000 cars in the first half,

More than a third of all card payments in the UK

are now contactless, according to new figures.

The trade association, UK Finance, said 33% of all spending on plastic

was settled with a tap instead of a swipe in May.

This is a rise from just 18% in the same month last year.

It doesn't feel like you are spending money when you tap.

In the last few hours China has said it has made "significant progress"

on a 100-day action plan for trade with the US -

and discussed a one-year plan on economic cooperation.

How well did these talks go, given the fact that a number of news

conferences were actually cancelled yesterday? Well, I feel that

analysts have a different sentiment to what China put out, because as

you mentioned we didn't any joint statement or news announcements, or

a press conference from this annual meeting in Washington DC, leading

some to speculate something broke down at these talks, and that we can

expect strained ties between the US and China in the coming days or

Mondays, as we have been reporting, the US wants to reduce its trade

deficit with China, it stands at more than $300 billion each year at

moment, and so when US President Trump met with his counterpart Xi

Jinping in Florida, they agreed to this 100 day economic plan. That led

to a couple of deals with US beef, natural gas sales and some financial

service, so this economic dialogue in Washington, is seen as the follow

up to that 100 days deal, but as we have been reporting, nothing has

come out of them, nothing specific and no new initiatives and so we

still have many issues between the US and China that needs to be

resolved, including the issue of excess Chinese capacity and taxes on

cars being imported into China, and so, trade tensions are expected to

follow in the coming months according to analysts. Thank you.

Asian shares are at near-decade highs, boosted by a rise in indices

around the world particularly off the back of some strong

The yen eased slightly after the Bank of Japan reinforced

expectations it will lag other central banks in reducing the

In Europe stocks opened slightly higher - Dax in frankfurt

In Europe stocks opened slightly higher - Dax in Frankfurt

Investors looking to take direction from the outcome

of a European Central Bank meeting which could indicate whether the ECB

will start tapering its own stimulus programme sooner rather than later.

After another soaring close on Wall Street yesterday -

Investors' focus on earnings is set to continue this Thursday

with attention turning to one of the biggest names in technology.

Microsoft reports its fourth-quarter results after the US market close,

and its cloud business is expected to remain a key driver of growth.

Wall Street will also hear more about the reorganisation

The tech giant confirmed earlier this month there would be

lay-offs, but it didn't disclose an exact number.

There are also plenty more firms reporting earnings

and among them is Visa, which reports third-quarter profits.

The company makes money by facilitating credit

India's efforts to go cashless should provide

And with more coal being transported around the country, the largest US

railroad Union Pacific is expected to report a rise in

Sue Noffke, UK Equities Fund Manager at Schroders joins us in the studio.

Good to see you. So, easyJet, God results? Good results after what was

a difficult year last year, with Air Traffic Control strikes, there is

fears over Brexit, this year you have had Easter move into the third

quarter period. Better punctuality, and a few other things coming to

fruition, so people are still wanting to spend on holidays and

travel and prioritising that, and you have seen despite capacity being

added across the industry, easyJet has been able to sell more seats to

more people. Do you think easyJet will be able to swerve any

turbulence, given its chief executive is leaving for ITV? Its

share price has dipped slight loin that news? It has been strong so far

in 2017, the shares have been one of the best performers in the FTSE 100.

It faces a number of head winds, so whether that is the appetite for

consumers to still take holiday, access to European market,

post-Brexit, controlling costs, you know, making sure that you are

getting enough revenues to cover your non-fuel costs. All eyes later

will be on the European Central Bank. We don't expect dramatic moves

from them. It is all in what Mario Draghi wants to try to communicate.

No-one expects interest rates to move but the European economic data

has been firmer, in recent months and so that raises questions about

the tapering of quantitative easing that was put in place when economics

were really softer, so it is a question of when, and how much that

tapering is going to involve. I will watch. Will he put a drag on it?

Still to come. We will be looking at holiday camps with a difference, we

will speak to a woman who is replaces football and baking with

coding and robotics. You are with Business Live from the BBCful

Underlying profits at Sports Direct fell nearly 60% this

year as the firm publish full year results.

Boss Mike Ashley says he wants to turn the firm

into the Selfridges of Sports - but how good a shape

Theo Leggett has been looking through the figures for us.

Theo is in the business news room. Why is sports direct struggling

Because of the falling pound, that is the key reason, Sports Direct

gets a lot of stock from Asia. The pound has fallen and has cost them

money. Sports Direct tried to mitigate that by taking out currency

hedges, but that went wrong when a fall triggered off a payment under

one of its contract which cost it 15 million. Revenues have been pretty

strong, and that might help to explain why its share price is up

sharply this morning, that is down to changes that have been announced

at board level, including the replacement, the belated replacement

of the finance director who resigned in the wake of that currency problem

last year. But, context is everything, isn't it. So if I step

over here and change the view you are looking at for a moment. You can

see that even with that spike today, Sports Direct share prize is less

than half the level it was about 18 months to two years ago.

The past 18 months have been pretty extraordinary for sports direct

haven't they? Yes, it has had a terrible PR record, problems at its

warehouse in Shire Brooke, employees allegedly frightened to take breaks

because of possibly getting penalties. And Mike Ashley's

management style has come under scrutiny. There has been a court

case in London where there were accounts of important meetings being

held in pubs and amending with drinking competitions. So investors

are keeping an eye on this company and in particular, its corporate

governance. Just before you go, how do you cope with childcare in the

holidays? My other half is long-suffering and she takes care of

most of that but I do do childcare a couple of days a week. It is a real

struggle for everybody. Now let's get the Inside Track

on a summer camp with a difference: Fire Tech Camp has replaced

traditional summer camp activities The camps were launched in 2013

and offer classes and activities More than 100 instructors have

been hired this summer and they will offer courses

in coding, app design, robotics, digital music production

and much, much more. Jill Hodges, founder

and CEO of FireTech Camp. Thanks for coming in. I am sure it

is getting busy as you approach the summer? It is very busy. Summer

camps have existed, where did you get the idea of doing something

around robotics and tech. I am American and this has been around in

The States for 20 years. So tech camps and summer camps where you go

and learn something, get those skills that have enrichment value

have been around for a long time. When I was looking for camps for my

own kids here, I couldn't find any so I started it myself. Lotsa people

find it a struggle to drag a ten-year-old from a digital device.

It is a hard sell them to put them into a week-long camp where they are

looking at it all week long? We are harnessing the excitement and

interest they have on technology and turning it into creative. They are

creating their own games. There are some parents who haven't sorted

childcare out yet, quite like the sound of this, how much does it

cost? We have causes that run for a full week, 9am to 5pm and they start

between 200 and ?500. There is a high cost of childcare, so it is a

big uplift? It is not just childcare and baby-sitting, we cover more in a

week than they would get a year in school. We accept childcare vouchers

and we have a scholarship programme. So you do provide some sort of

access to low-income families? Absolutely, we have sponsorship from

corporate and we sell fund a lot of scholarships. What gave you that

start, you felt there was a niche in the market, but why did you think, I

can do this? I love technology, my sister has a Ph.D. In computer

science and my dad is an engineer. I was always comfortable around

technology. As technology is more consumer friendly, people understand

less about what is going on inside and the kids will need that skill.

What sort of things do they do and the camps? This week we have a camp

that is for prototyping where kids are making their own fidgets

spinners. We have video game design, robotics where they are programming

robots so it is the beginnings of artificial intelligence they are

learning about. We have programming camps, 20 different causes. It is

difficult for low income families to access such skills, tell me more

about the scholarship programme? We have an application on our website

and there is a scholarship area, complete video that tells us why you

want to do it and what you think you can do with the skills you are going

to get. How important is it you feel these skills are harnessed for

future generations. You are aiming this at children so you hope they

will become the next coders and Robotics builders of the future? The

skills around it is critical. It is all about product design as well and

getting them to be creative. You said earlier, a lovely example with

one kid came on the camp with her own idea? One girl had an interest

in geology and she had a fossil she had found at the beach and she was

able to recreate the whole fossil and 3-D print it. So that was really

cool. Thank you very much for coming in.

Let's stick with the theme of childcare, a new report has found

that it now costs UK families an average of ?125 or $163

per week to look after their kids during the summer.

This means the cost of holiday childcare has

increased 4% since 2016 - and with rising inflation eating

into living standards, we've been asking parents how

they plan to manage over the summer break -

I can't work because I can't afford childcare costs for three children.

One of my children has got special needs so I need someone who is able

This is my salary so I have to give all my salary to the club.

There is no point to work then, if I can look after her

It would be good to keep the child centres open,

children's centres open for them to provide things and maybe

have the youth club running through the summer which has already

We had the last one last week, but it would be good to be

I think it would be good to have more provision at school,

after-school clubs and certainly school holiday ones as well.

I know when our child starts school there won't be that much clubs

I know when our child starts school there won't be that many clubs

running after-school, I don't think, so that

And also subsidise things I think also.

You know, they want us to work, but don't really give us the help

Sue Noffke, UK Equities Fund Manager at Schroders is joining

It is piecing it together, clubs and have some time off and I am

fortunate to have a nanny. Heather has treated to say she was fortunate

to be able to afford her full-time nanny but offered to help a friend

by taking her child part so those nanny shares are popular.

Someone else has said, when you are both self-employed, if we don't

work, we don't earn any money. Liz has said help from family and

friends. Sophia says with great difficulty.

She said having a child with special needs makes it more difficult.

They start at ten and end at three p:m., many clubs have shortened

hours. Richard says, do something radical,

if you have decided to bring up kids, stay at home and bring them

up. I couldn't have done this job!

They could have sat quietly in the corner. Thanks for all the business

stories that I've hit the papers today. And Facebook, it is trying to

think of a plan to redirect traffic through two new sites, because there

is this concerned that many news sites, many publications are losing

out because people don't pay for their content? Especially the young.

Older people still read newspapers, whether it is digitally or in paper

form. Facebook has been suffering from criticism that much of its news

is fake news and this is providing content from the publishers through

to users through the Facebook portal. Publishers are quite

interested because this is a way they could get subscription revenues

from people reading their content. One of the other big stories that is

being covered in the papers is the revelations about pay levels for the

BBC's top TV and radio stars. It throws up a lot of issues that could

apply to any business, the gender gap in pay and you know, quite

pronounced when you have people doing the same job, side-by-side,

paid very different amounts? There will be individual circumstances

where people do extra activities for the corporation, so it might not be

entirely like-for-like, but this level of transparency does come to

bear and asks a lot of questions. Not just the pay gap, but gender

diversity in total, where are the people who show that diversity.

There will be career breaks, women bring up children but they are doing

the same job, exactly the same on-screen time and it would seem

very unfair? That's right. Your company looks at differences in pay?

Yes, we look at people doing the same sort of jobs and the pay gap is

much lower, but we have some people who work part-time and some roles

are eligible for benefits and some are not, so there are differences.

You will be pleased to know that we're not on the higher rate of pay!

No awkwardness here. There will be more business news

throughout the day on the BBC Live web page and on World Business

Report.