:00:01. > :00:11.headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest financial news and
:00:11. > :00:22.
:00:22. > :00:25.A 20-year run of rising profits could be over for Tesco. It's
:00:25. > :00:35.expected to report lower annual profits and back-out of the US
:00:35. > :00:50.
:00:50. > :01:00.Welcome to World Business Report. Also in the programme: and I knew
:01:00. > :01:03.
:01:03. > :01:08.hundred for France. -- and new Budget for France. But first we go
:01:08. > :01:13.to Tesco. It is a very important day. It has enjoyed rising profits
:01:13. > :01:17.but at Rhine is likely to come when end today when the company report
:01:17. > :01:23.results. It had to spend heavily last year to keep up with the
:01:23. > :01:28.competition and it has her at prop that. Some blame overseas ventures.
:01:28. > :01:33.It is likely to retreat from one of those international for race today.
:01:33. > :01:40.It is expected to come over it is expected to abandon trained it
:01:40. > :01:46.started in the US six years ago. Thailand has delivered a strong
:01:46. > :01:52.performance. The mighty Tesco. A retailer with 6,000 stores in more
:01:52. > :01:59.than a dozen countries. The biggest retailer by fire in the UK. It is
:01:59. > :02:05.now fighting all sorts of problems at once. In far-flung corners of
:02:05. > :02:11.its empire. Restart in the US. It build fresh and is the six years
:02:11. > :02:21.ago. It was an ambitious move by the then boss into one of the
:02:21. > :02:24.
:02:24. > :02:29.world's toughest markets but it has not made any money. Going to
:02:29. > :02:35.California made Tesco into a global business. If you want to be really
:02:35. > :02:41.global, and you have to be in the USA. It was a very big move to get
:02:41. > :02:48.their and it is an even bigger move to pull out. It is Gopal the part,
:02:48. > :02:56.it could cost more than $1 billion to walk away. -- if Tesco pull the
:02:56. > :03:02.plug today. Stores in central Europe at been hit by the downturn
:03:02. > :03:08.from the crisis. The main reason for its expected for in underline
:03:08. > :03:14.prop that is the cost of reviving its UK business. As it expanded
:03:14. > :03:18.rapidly abroad, it took its eye off the ball here in its core market
:03:18. > :03:27.and sales start at two SMART. Now, it is paying a high price to fix
:03:27. > :03:34.its UK business, pouring $1 billion in investments. Including new fresh
:03:34. > :03:39.food counters to turn things around. It is a retail juggernaut and a
:03:39. > :03:46.British success story yet it needs to do more to pull UK shoppers in.
:03:46. > :03:50.The fightback is underway but it will take time. We will have the
:03:50. > :04:00.annual numbers in 1.5 hours. Most analysts agree there will announce
:04:00. > :04:09.
:04:09. > :04:12.a 10% fall in pre-tax profits to �3.5 billion. $5.2 billion. France
:04:12. > :04:17.could slide into recession this year, that's according to a
:04:17. > :04:19.forecast from the International government cutbacks, weak exports
:04:19. > :04:26.and low consumer confidence will combine to damage the French
:04:26. > :04:30.economy. So instead of weak growth this year the IMF expects France to
:04:30. > :04:34.shrink 0.1%. That's grim news for President Francois Hollande and his
:04:34. > :04:37.government. And it could hamper plans to bring the budget deficit
:04:38. > :04:42.back under control. A new budget will be presented to parliament
:04:43. > :04:49.today. The plan is to reduce the gap between spending and income to
:04:49. > :04:54.3% of GDP by 2014. That's the European Union target. But the IMF
:04:54. > :05:04.says that's unlikely to happen. Director
:05:04. > :05:06.
:05:06. > :05:10.Director at Forex.com. What is your take on this Budget? How will
:05:10. > :05:16.President Francois Hollande's government and things around?
:05:16. > :05:21.focussed the next year is on public sector cuts. In France, there has
:05:21. > :05:25.been higher taxes - has backfired a little bit. He's going to focus on
:05:25. > :05:32.public spending for next year which is not going to help his popularity
:05:32. > :05:38.in the polls and possibly could way for the France. In terms of the
:05:38. > :05:42.issues, he has owned a tough time because it and into government, he
:05:42. > :05:46.beat Nicklas Sarkozy with a different mandate. He talked about
:05:46. > :05:50.power, power, his approval rating has hit
:05:50. > :05:55.the floor and all the measures he put into place are not what he
:05:55. > :06:01.promised before getting into power as may it seems like the Perfect
:06:01. > :06:04.than than expected. France is considered
:06:04. > :06:09.one of the danger signs in the eurozone which is a worry, not just
:06:09. > :06:14.in front but wider than that. Certainly for the and globally.
:06:14. > :06:20.Because it is the second largest economy in the currency bloc, there
:06:20. > :06:24.economy in the currency bloc, there we can get the Budget statement
:06:24. > :06:29.brought out parliament let alone pass and implemented. What you
:06:29. > :06:34.think the outlook is for France? Many economists expects ice-pick to
:06:34. > :06:39.actually say they are worried about France. Italy and Sply and Sp an
:06:39. > :06:45.an eye but France is the real concern. I agree with that. In fact,
:06:45. > :06:49.some of the data from France is worse than that from the European
:06:49. > :06:56.periphery - worse than Spain and Italy. From a growth perspective,
:06:56. > :07:00.it is looking very, very weak. This Budget - the growth assumptions,
:07:00. > :07:07.yesterday the Iowa came up and said they growth assumptions are weaker
:07:07. > :07:16.for next year and a low beyond. -- in the eye him again. It continued
:07:16. > :07:19.so much to do bower farm. It is of great concern. -- the bail-out fund.
:07:19. > :07:22.One of the biggest takeover deals in the mining business has received
:07:22. > :07:28.clearance for China. Trading firm Glencore has been haggling with
:07:28. > :07:38.Beijing for months over its deal to it had to make some pretty big
:07:38. > :07:42.
:07:42. > :07:46.talking about these two getting together for a long time. They
:07:46. > :07:52.finally walked down the aisle finally? They could indeed. They
:07:52. > :07:59.have finally cleared the big hurdle. It all came up that lane court
:07:59. > :08:02.agreed to sell its stake in extra copper mining project in Peru to a
:08:02. > :08:07.mine approved by Chinese mine approved by Chinese
:08:07. > :08:12.supply a minimum 1 euros of copper eight
:08:12. > :08:18.eight years. It will form one of the biggest metal and commodities
:08:18. > :08:23.firms. The 30 billion-dollar takeover was first announced in
:08:23. > :08:27.February last year. It has been February last year. It has been
:08:27. > :08:30.date has been put back several times. There were concerns over the
:08:30. > :08:37.influence the combined entity would have on the global commodity
:08:37. > :08:43.markets. Account for roughly 7% of the global copper supply and it is
:08:43. > :08:50.estimated that bling core controls between 10% to 14% of Chinese
:08:50. > :08:56.copper concentrate imports. China is one of the biggest commodity
:08:56. > :09:03.consumer markets. They were looking at what it could mean. Analysts are
:09:03. > :09:13.mistake of the per reproach, bling Court not and we have satisfied a
:09:13. > :09:15.
:09:15. > :09:22.key concern of China but also those earnings stories. Intel south and
:09:22. > :09:27.prop its -- sales and profits. They're $2 billion down by a
:09:27. > :09:31.quarter in the same year. It reported net income of $2 billion,
:09:31. > :09:34.down by a quarter on the same period in the previous year. Intel
:09:34. > :09:37.also said that sales in the current quarter would probably be weaker
:09:37. > :09:39.than last year as the company continues to struggle with falling
:09:39. > :09:42.sales of personal computers. Yahoo's latest quarterly results
:09:42. > :09:46.have disappointed some in the financial markets. Revenue fell
:09:46. > :09:49.almost 7% to $1.1 billion. But profits were up by a third to $391
:09:49. > :09:52.million. Yahoo has been an investor favourite since Chief Executive
:09:52. > :09:57.Marissa Mayer moved into the top job last July. Shares have risen
:09:57. > :10:03.around 50% since then. American malfunction in its computer systems
:10:03. > :10:06.the US on Tuesday. The airline said a problem had occurred in its
:10:06. > :10:16.booking and reservation system. Flights were grounded for several
:10:16. > :10:22.
:10:22. > :10:29.hours, causing delays and cancellations. Markets do that are
:10:29. > :10:34.higher. In Asia, this is the first day of gains we have seen in weeks.
:10:34. > :10:41.I % gain for Japan. South Korea is there a touch and Hong Kong is