11/01/2018 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News

with Susannah Streeter

and Sally Bundock.

Britain's Prime Minister,

Theresa May, is set to meet business

leaders from the UK's financial

services industry as the Government

attempts to secure a Brexit deal

that will include the sector.

Live from London, that's our top

story on Thursday 11th January.

Banking on a deal.

The finance industry

is Britain's biggest exporter,

but can it expect to stay

that way after Brexit?

Philip Hammond and David Davis

are in Germany today to push

for the best outcome.

Also in the programme,

the UK is to announce a plan

to eradicate all avoidable

plastic waste by 2042,

but will it have any legal effect?

This is the situation on the

financial markets in Europe, the

FTSE very slightly up. Sally?

If men, or women, grappling

in a ring is your thing -

we'll talk to the entrepreneur whose

business helps wrestling fans follow

their heroes around the world.

And what you think of Theresa May's

plastic plans? Fantastic, or do they

not go far enough? Do get in touch.

Hello and welcome to Business Live.

We start with Brexit,

and the future of Britain's

huge financial industry once

it leaves the EU next year.

Today the UK Chancellor,

Philip Hammond,

and Brexit Secretary

David Davis are in Germany

trying to win support for

a favourable post-Brexit trade deal,

especially when it comes

to financial services.

The financial sector

is the UK's biggest exporter,

accounting for 10% of the entire

economy and 2.2 million jobs.

But the UK argues the City of London

is also important for Europe.

Mr Hammond and Mr Davis

will remind Germany

its firms need access

to London's financial markets.

The bosses of Barclays,

insurance giant Aviva

and Goldman Sachs International

are thought to be among

up to 15 top finance chiefs meeting

Prime Minister Theresa May later.

She will be trying to reassure them

the UK will remain a vibrant

financial sector after Brexit.

There will be tough talks ahead.

The EU's chief negotiator,

Michel Barnier, has been clear

Britain cannot cherry-pick

which benefits of EU membership

to keep and there will be no special

deal for its financial sector.

So a pretty busy day when it comes

to Brexit.

I'm joined by the lawyer

Miriam Gonzalez,

who specialises in international

trade and government regulation

at the law firm Dechert LLP.

Nice to see you, good morning. What

are you expecting to be achieved to

date? If we start with Bill Hader

and David Davis in Germany, in

Germany right now they are pretty

busy trying to form a government if

nothing else. -- if we start with

Philip Hammond.

They have detected

there is a lack of emphasis from the

other side of the business, the

European business groups, and I

think that is absolutely right, it

is a good idea to go not only to

Germany but other European countries

to try to get Brexit much more to

the top of the agenda, because it is

falling down the ranks. But the

important thing is that they have

something new to say, because they

say they want a really good

agreement, but that is not going to

make a big difference. They will be

looking at the detail.

And we don't

know what the detail is. To the

press, the media, they will say one

thing, but certainly the impression

from the German media is there is no

way we will be getting any special

deal for financial services in

Europe. To what extent do you think

those who matter in Europe, the

likes of Michel Barnier and others,

are interested in a special deal for

financial services?

I do not think

that is even the discussion now. The

European Union have heard what the

UK Government does not want, because

Theresa May decided, on her own,

really, not with Parliament with the

we discovered afterwards, this idea

not to go for the customs union or

the single market, so what the

European Union is waiting for - in

Brussels, Germany, Madrid, Paris,

everywhere - is to hear what you

want. As soon as she defines that,

they will stop the discussions, but

there are around 53 or 63 weeks, I

think, to Brexit, not a lot of time!

EU officials have been writing to

company bosses in key industries,

warning them that Britain will

effectively be a third country if

this deal is not done, it is a stark

warning for them.

Britain will be a

third country no matter what.

But

without automatic access to the

single market.

There can be no

single market access taking into

account what the Prime Minister

said, we had seen what alternative

arrangement may be negotiated. It is

very difficult to negotiate anything

until the UK Government decides what

kind of model, new model, whatever

it is they want, and they put it on

the table. All these words about the

best possible agreement, I don't

know, it doesn't say very much. It

is likely Prime Minister, in the

election was talking about strong

and stable - people lose interest,

and in the business community it is

the same. They hear these hollow

words, and what they want is the

substance.

Thank you, I can sense

your frustration, thank you for

coming in. Just to say, if we do get

detail, if we get information about

how the discussion is going on in

Germany today, and also Theresa

May's meeting with the bosses of

Barclays et cetera, we will let you

know.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news.

China's economic growth probably

accelerated to 6.9% in 2017.

Premier Li Keqiang has told

a regional summit in Cambodia.

That would be an improvement

on the 6.7% seen in 2016,

which was the weakest in 26 years.

Mr Li said China has done well

because it refrained from flooding

the economy with stimulus

while pushing ahead with reforms.

The value of Bitcoin has fallen more

than 10% on the Bitstamp exchange,

after South Korea's Justice Minister

said the country is preparing a bill

to ban trading in cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin sank as low as $13,120,

its weakest

since the beginning of January.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May

will pledge later

to eliminate avoidable plastic waste

within 25 years.

Supermarkets will be urged

to introduce plastic-free aisles

and compulsory charging

for plastic carrier bags

will be extended to all retailers.

But green groups have criticised

the plans as having no legal force.

That is the story we are asking you

to get in touch about, we will be

discussing them all later.

Now to a story being

closely watched in India.

Vijay Mallya is one of the country's

best-known entrepreneurs,

with business interests

ranging from Kingfisher beer

to an airline of the same name,

to the Force India Formula One team

and an Indian Premier

League cricket club.

Now he's battling extradition

from the UK over fraud allegations -

which he denies.

He faces a hearing not

far from here

at Westminster Magistrates

Court later today.

Suranjana Tewari is our India

business correspondent in Mumbai.

Tell us more about these latest

developments.

Well, this is a

long-running trial. It is a trial, a

case lodged by the Indian government

to try and get Vijay Mallya

extradited back to India to face a

raft of allegations. They include

money-laundering, fraud, financial

irregularities and tax evasion. Most

of them are related to the

now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Banksy or say that the airline took

loans of $1.4 billion and defaulted

on them, and Vijay Mallya is

personally accused of using some of

that money for personal use. Banks

here are struggling with bad debt,

so Vijay Mallya has really become a

poster child for the Indian

government going had and dealing

with this issue. But they also have

a lot of allegations against him and

many of his businesses, so that is

why the Indian government is really

trying to get extradited back, and

that is what this trial is all

about.

Suranjana, thank you very

much for that update. Let's check in

with the financial markets.

The New Year rally has finally

petered out over concerns

about rising US protectionism.

Japan's Nikkei down by a third

of 1%, tech shares leading

the decline with Samsung down 1.4%.

Australia's All

Ordinaries index fell,

following on from

losses on Wall Street.

The Hang Seng hanging

onto positive territory.

Some investors seemed spooked

by an unconfirmed report that

Canadian officials increasingly

expect US President Donald Trump to

call time on the Nafta

free-trade pact.

This is the situation

so far on in Europe.

The FTSE is in positive territory,

the dykes macro in Frankfurt down

very slightly, the CAC 40, not much

change in Europe so far. -- DAX.

On Thursday, there will be a release

of data on the labour market,

expecting to show that it increased

3.2% on the PPI figure. In the 12

months through to December, it is

expected to have advance 3%. In any

news, delta airlines will report of

quarterly and full-year results. The

number two US airline by passenger

traffic will absorb an estimated 25

million dollar hit from a power

outage in Atlanta. The filings will

also include the busy holiday travel

period, which is historically one of

the airline's most profitable

periods.

We have another very familiar face.

Joining us is David Buik

from Panmure Gordon.

Lovely to see you, David, how you?

Happy New Year, top form for an old

bird.

You are always on top form, I

have never known you any other way!

I just want to mention this, it is

just come across the wires on

Reuters, they are saying they are

quoting Angela Merkel as saying she

says there is still big hurdles that

needs to be cleared before a

coalition can be formed. This of

course in Germany, she has been

grappling with this...

Three months

now.

You must be exhausted. But it

seems they are not making any

headway, tell us what that means for

markets.

What it means for the

markets, as you rightly pointed out,

it doesn't done much to the DAX, but

people have realised there are

serious problems with the right wing

in German politics, getting quite a

strong game because of the

immigration factor, allowing a

million people in, even though

Germany is desperately short of

quality people to work in the car

industry, where they really needed.

Finding the key to the kingdom is

going to be very difficult. The one

thing we can be certain of is that

Germany is very stable politically,

so I do not think it will be at a

turmoil, but I fear another

election, because I think the only

way to clear this up, you can't

carry on keeping people at bay, and

she should be at the forefront with

Macron in organising the Brexit

negotiations, you know, obviously

manipulating Michel Barnier.

He is

having to cover many things at the

moment. I'm talking about elections,

we have President Trump, over a year

in office, and protectionism rearing

its head, fears that he will wrap up

Nafta is affecting the markets. What

do think the prospects are?

He has

told us all right from the word go

that he is a protectionist, the

policy of the Republican Party, and

I think we have sort of soaked this

up, we have these terrible

imbalances of who has got deficits,

and while he remains President of

the United States, it will be

America one, two, three and four.

But the markets seem to be able to

cope with it, basically because the

asset classes are very unattractive,

bonds and things like that, as we

said before, yields are starting to

creep up, and whether it actually

signals a new wave of interest rate

hikes, I personally don't see it.

Global growth is supposed to be

3.7%, but until we see the tapering

of quantitative easing, plus

consistent noises or markers that we

are going to see rates going up, I

can see more than a modest

correction.

All right, we will keep

a watch on that. Putting David on

the pause button for now, but back

soon to talk plastic and other

stories, interesting bits coming

later.

Still to come...

If men - or women -

grappling in a ring is your thing,

we'll talk to the entrepreneur whose

business helps wrestling fans follow

their heroes around the world.

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

Christmas results have

been pouring in today,

and they're a bit of a mixed bag.

Marks & Spencer has reported

a fall in sales, Tesco has

reported solid growth,

and John Lewis has

warned of a tough 2018.

Let's get more on this

with Natalie Berg, global research

director at Planet Retail.

Can we start with Tesco? How did it

do?

Tesco is emerging as one of the

winners. They will never return to

their former glory because there has

just been too much structural change

in the market with the rise of

online and discounters. But overall,

very strong numbers. The ship has

been studied. Their turnaround

strategy is bearing fruit. They have

done a lot to focus on the cost

reducing prices and making the

shopping experience more pleasant.

Tesco is one of the winners. What

about the losers? House of Fraser on

that list. Its online sales have

suffered, haven't they?

Yes, it has

to be bad if your online sales are

falling in the run-up to Christmas.

Very few retailers have experienced

this. Mothercare being the other

exception. Most places need the

online to pop-up falling store

sales. That is indicative of current

high Street trading. The future not

looking bright for a house of

Fraser. Department stores have had a

dreadful time. Debenhams is closing

stores, Amadeus is closing stores.

We are seeing a shift towards online

shopping. -- M&S is closing stores.

Most consumers are not buying as

many material goods. We are

expending money and experiences

instead.

-- we are spending money.

Thank you.

Lots of stories on this on the BBC

Business Live website.

Yes, more detail on that. Marks &

Spencer food, the bright light dims

is the headline. The food sales have

always kept its earnings higher. But

these figures are disappointing in

food and online business as well.

That is according to Hargreaves

Lansdown. A lot of detail on there.

Take a look when you have time.

Discounters doing very well in the

run-up to Christmas. More detail on

the BBC app.

You're watching Business

Live - our top story.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May

is set to meet business leaders

from the UK's financial services

industry later today,

as the government attempts

to secure a Brexit deal that

will include the sector.

A quick look at how

markets are faring...

They have been trading for nearly 15

minutes. A mixed picture. The Dax

bucking the trend in Frankfurt, down

by five point want to -- 0.02%.

Do you know your Hulk Hogan

from your Big Show?

Well if not, maybe you should -

because the sport

of wrestling is huge,

attracting fans around the globe.

In 2016, the WWE -

that's wrestling's main body-

received over 15 billion views

on the digital video on its website.

And last year, Wrestlemania -

that's wrestling's

equivalent of the Super Bowl -

generated over $180 million

for the city of Orlando.

Lots of wrestling in our house. And

I haven't actually been to see a

wrestling show.

Our next guest has founded

a business which provides, travel,

accommodation and tickets to events

for those looking to

follow their wrestling

heroes around the world.

Lee McAteer, founder

of Wrestling Travel, joins us.

Thank you for coming in. Tell us how

this began? How did you come from

thinking, like wrestling, to setting

up this Wrestling Travel firm?

Wrestling has been a passion of mine

since I was a kid. When I grew up I

was watching Hulk Hogan and others.

Giant haystacks is more my age

group.

That is probably too old for

me! There were huge part of the UK

wrestling scene. But now wrestling

has transcended into Popow --

popular culture. It is big business.

It is something we are doing really

well with. What finding is that as

more people get into wrestling, more

people want to go to the events.

That is where we come in.

Why do we

need you to make that happen? Don't

most people do it all themselves,

book a flight, get a ticket and a

hotel room?

It is a great question

but there are so many different

parts to put that wrestling package

together. That is where we come in.

It is the customer experience. We do

things better. We go the extra mile

for people.

If you do it yourself

you will save money. I would imagine

most people think if I just get

online and find the flights etc, I

will get a better deal?

As a huge

fan myself, when I was given tickets

to WrestleMania, I thought,

fantastic. I didn't realise how

difficult it would be to get the

Hotel sorted, the flight sorted,

because of how popular these events

were. Because we had this massive

travel company we created, we were

able to bolt on the wrestling

events. As a consequence, you

literally pay one price and

everything is covered. Convenience

is what we do.

An ex-girlfriend's

present to you spawned a business,

didn't it?

Absolutely. I am very

lucky in the fact they are -- that I

have some fantastic people around

me. People want the niches. If

people want something and they are

so passionate about it, that is

where the business lies. We have got

a huge waiting list ready for

WrestleMania 30 five.

That is partly

because possibly there is not

another company like yours around

the world that does this?

Absolutely. That makes us too! It is

cool we are the only ones doing it.

Hopefully that will continue.

I want

to ask you about your style of

management. You describe yourself as

a big kid at heart.

Absolutely.

You

made us laugh in the Green room. He

built an office full of balls for

his staff.

We always like to

surprise people. We filled the

entire office with 250,000 balls.

Didn't tell anybody. As everybody

arrived, they were like, what is

going on here? Imagine you are

working out of a bolted? That is

what happened.

Ben Thompson is in

Salford today. Maybe we can put him

in touch with you.

Please do. It

will be there on Sunday.

Lovely to

meet you.

Thank you for having me.

More than 200 drones are dazzling

audiences in Las Vegas, with a night

show over one of the city's

most famous hotels.

The dancing quadcopters are intended

to show how swarms of the flying

machines can be deployed

without crashing into each other.

Tonight you just saw 250 drones

performing the first-ever show.

Everything is simulated,

preprogrammed. We know how the drums

are going to fly. We have positioned

themselves about 1.5 metres around

each other. We know they won't

collide. I think that the technology

Intel has come the applicable in a

lot of different ways. Imagine if

you had a drone for a search and

rescue and if you were stranded,

would you rather have one Cherono

search for you or a fleet of drones?

That looked pretty cool.

Who would have thought? A new

industry being spawned.

Joining us is David Buik

from Panmure Gordon .

We did promise David would tell us

more about plastic waste. The Ukip

Prime Minister expected to announce

a 25 year plan today to eradicate

plastic? -- the UK Prime Minister.

Anybody who saw David Attenborough's

programme could not have been but

dismayed to see what plastics are

doing the natural life. You will

always get people who will criticise

and say it is hopeless, the Green

people saying 2042 is too long.

It

is not compulsory.

That is true.

There aren't any legal ramifications

if you don't follow through.

I know

what you mean. But I hope it is a

discussion. If you come in with

legislation, you will not do this,

you will not do that, you have to

pay 25p etc, that has to go through

the statute books. What I think we

haven't had is proper discussion

from the Prime Minister on how she

intends to evolve this whole

procedure, which we all agree is

essential. Plastic bottles is the

one that gets me. We try to fill up

the old bottle at home, which is the

right thing to do. This was

shocking.

The campaign saying there

needs to be more stick rather than

character. Many of you have been in

touch. Steve Foster says if those

water cooler bottles go back to the

company for reuse, they don't count.

He is referring to a picture we put

on Twitter. Plastic cups do count.

They are often chucked away. Sarah

says Southport beach is awful. She

filled to rubbish bags full of

plastic in one day. Another says we

should do our bit in reducing and

recycling, including manufacturers

by using biodegradable packaging.

Absolutely. If you think about it,

our old bags, we have got