:00:00. > :00:00.latest headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest financial
:00:00. > :00:23.news with World Business Report. Tough times for Qantas. The
:00:24. > :00:27.Australian airline slashes jobs and cuts its fleet amid mounting losses.
:00:28. > :00:28.Plus ` from bricks to blockbusters ` why Lego is now the toy world's
:00:29. > :00:38.hottest property. Welcome to World Business Report.
:00:39. > :00:41.I'm Sally Bundock. Also in the programme ` motoring expert Quentin
:00:42. > :00:47.Willson will join us to talk about Tesla's electric dreams.
:00:48. > :00:53.We start with the struggles of Australian airline Qantas. In the
:00:54. > :00:56.last few hours it has announced major job cuts and mounting losses
:00:57. > :01:09.as it battles fierce competition from rivals. Qantas says it will cut
:01:10. > :01:12.5,000 jobs ` that's more than one in seven of its full time staff ` over
:01:13. > :01:16.the next three years ` and it revealed its lost almost 226 million
:01:17. > :01:19.dollars in last the six months of 2013. In a bid to stem the heavy
:01:20. > :01:28.losses Qantas announced it will cut its fleet by 50 planes. Today it
:01:29. > :01:31.says delivery of three new Boeing Dreamliners and eight Airbus A380
:01:32. > :01:39.superjumbos will go on hold. Here's the BBC's Sydney correspondent Phil
:01:40. > :01:43.Mercer. The news flying kangaroo is facing the most tempestuous times in
:01:44. > :01:49.its recent history. Condemned by trade unions, battling record fuel
:01:50. > :01:52.costs, and unrelenting competition from subsidised rivals, Qantas has
:01:53. > :01:59.embarked on a ruthless make or break plan to revive its fortunes. This
:02:00. > :02:04.performance is unacceptable. The current position is unsustainable.
:02:05. > :02:13.It reflects a substantial change in our circumstances. Taking the $2
:02:14. > :02:16.billion of costs by the end of the financial year 2017 requires
:02:17. > :02:23.difficult decisions across the whole business. Today, I regret to
:02:24. > :02:27.announce that we will be reducing our employee numbers by 5000
:02:28. > :02:33.full`time staff of the next three years. Australia's national carrier
:02:34. > :02:41.has been lobbying the government in Canberra. They want to ease limits
:02:42. > :02:44.on foreign investment or provide state intervention. Ministers are
:02:45. > :02:48.drafting new laws to allow foreigners to buy a majority stake
:02:49. > :02:54.in the airline and to strip away restrictions. Qantas are facing a
:02:55. > :03:00.tough and competitive market. We accept that Qantas do have to
:03:01. > :03:05.compete with a ball and chain provided by the Qantas Sale Act. But
:03:06. > :03:13.they do have to get their house in order. Management claims that it is
:03:14. > :03:21.advantaged because its main domestic rival, Virgin, is largely owned by
:03:22. > :03:25.three government backed airlines. Qantas has repeatedly stressed that
:03:26. > :03:28.it is not want handouts but rather a debt guarantee from the government
:03:29. > :03:34.that would allow it to borrow at more favourable interest rates.
:03:35. > :03:35.Dealers under pressure to tame its finances as ministers consider next
:03:36. > :03:45.move. Also on today's business agenda `
:03:46. > :03:48.tiny bricks and big profits. Danish toymaker Lego reports its full year
:03:49. > :03:51.results this morning. It's expected to confirm it's been another record
:03:52. > :04:01.year for sales. Here's a figure to get your head around. Last year Lego
:04:02. > :04:04.manufactured 45.7 billion bricks. The company itself is hard to value
:04:05. > :04:07.as it's family`owned, but it's now estimated at somewhere over 17
:04:08. > :04:13.billion dollars ` more than Mattel, the maker of Barbie. That makes this
:04:14. > :04:22.man ` Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen ` the grandson of the company's founder `
:04:23. > :04:25.a billionaire almost six times over. These days of course it's not just
:04:26. > :04:29.about the bricks. The Lego Movie has topped box offices in the US for the
:04:30. > :04:31.last three weeks. It's the latest move from a company that has
:04:32. > :04:43.constantly re`invented its brand ` as Jeremy Howell reports.
:04:44. > :04:48.In the Lego movie, an unassuming young man has to organise a group of
:04:49. > :04:55.highly creative and argumentative friends to save the world from the
:04:56. > :04:56.machinations of business. Surprisingly anticapitalist coming
:04:57. > :05:09.from a company worth $20 billion. The movie idea was not the part of a
:05:10. > :05:13.corporate business plan. Instead, the company was inspired by small
:05:14. > :05:19.filmmakers who have been using Lego figures to make jerky animated
:05:20. > :05:22.movies. They are streaming on platforms like you Tube. Instead of
:05:23. > :05:28.trying to stop them, it embraced the idea itself. They have been creative
:05:29. > :05:32.about how they have extended their brand that their have always come
:05:33. > :05:38.back to their core attributes. The notion of creativity, play,
:05:39. > :05:42.constructing something together in a shared endeavour. They have stayed
:05:43. > :05:49.true to that and use that to extend into other product formats. The
:05:50. > :05:54.movie is the latest step on its route to recovery. A decade ago the
:05:55. > :05:57.company had debts of $800 million and feared for its future. It has
:05:58. > :06:07.climbed back into profits chiefly through bringing out new game lines
:06:08. > :06:10.linked to popular films and comics. Here we have an example of Lego
:06:11. > :06:17.embracing the Star Wars licence that is very popular. Many, many adult
:06:18. > :06:24.collectors have moved into this market. They have widened the appeal
:06:25. > :06:28.of Lego beyond just children. Lego wants to boost its popularity with
:06:29. > :06:33.girls. It has tried to do so in the movie with the feisty heroine. On
:06:34. > :06:43.the shelves it has brought out its Friends range. And they are the
:06:44. > :06:55.inevitable movie tie ins. But is Lego over extending its brand?
:06:56. > :07:00.Shares in Tesla Motors have been surging after the electric car maker
:07:01. > :07:03.announced plans to build a vast new battery factory in the US. The so
:07:04. > :07:07.called "gigafactory" would be able to make more lithium ion batteries
:07:08. > :07:10.in a year than were made in the whole world in 2013. Battery costs
:07:11. > :07:12.are seen as a major obstacle to widespread electric car adoption in
:07:13. > :07:16.America at the moment. Sales of Tesla's luxury Model S are set to
:07:17. > :07:20.jump more than 50% this year ` but at $89,000 it's only for the well
:07:21. > :07:27.off. Tesla hopes to have a cheaper mass market car on sale within three
:07:28. > :07:39.years. Let's talk to motoring journalist Quentin Willson.
:07:40. > :07:44.Explain why this move by Tesla is a significant shift for electric cars.
:07:45. > :07:49.For the whole industries is massive because it will potentially lower
:07:50. > :07:54.the price of batteries by as much as 30 or 40%. That is the major barrier
:07:55. > :07:58.to entry because of the cost. Electric cars are more expensive
:07:59. > :08:04.than petrol cars. If Tesla can do this, and build these components
:08:05. > :08:12.quicker and cheaper, it will make a huge impact. In the US you can drive
:08:13. > :08:19.and stopped to charge and you can charge for free, can't you? There
:08:20. > :08:24.are a lot of myths about the electric car. Will I run out of
:08:25. > :08:28.electricity? Will get stuck unable to recharge? They have created the
:08:29. > :08:33.supercharging stations all over America. They have 71. Somebody has
:08:34. > :08:38.just driven from one end of the US to the other totally free, driving
:08:39. > :08:43.into these charging stations which take only 30 minutes to fully charge
:08:44. > :08:47.the batteries. That is a incredible development. We have a big
:08:48. > :08:51.resistance in the UK to electric cars because we do not like the
:08:52. > :08:57.people who drive them. We think that they are a liberal left`wing piece
:08:58. > :09:01.of tokenism. But they do work. I have a driving on for three years
:09:02. > :09:08.and it costs me ?2 to do 100 miles of electricity. I have never run
:09:09. > :09:16.out. And all you need is a outlet plug. BMW are joining the market as
:09:17. > :09:23.well. Tesla has done its best quarter ever. The Tesla model S has
:09:24. > :09:28.been voted the best emerging model. The issue of price will be key won't
:09:29. > :09:32.it? If Tesla can fulfil that ambition to have a cheaper vehicle
:09:33. > :09:37.within three years, that will have a big impact. It will send a message
:09:38. > :09:43.out that you can do it and bring competition. China will be very
:09:44. > :09:51.interested in Tesla. Elon musk has said that we will not be able to
:09:52. > :10:00.cope with the demand from China. `` Musk. Tesla will be a game changer
:10:01. > :10:14.which might spill down into domestic electricity production and consumer
:10:15. > :10:17.goods. Keeping you up to date. Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to
:10:18. > :10:20.announce heavy losses for 2013 ` possibly as much as ?8 billion. RBS
:10:21. > :10:23.is reportedly planning to scale back investment banking and international
:10:24. > :10:26.operations and cut thousands of jobs to focus on UK lending. It's under
:10:27. > :10:29.pressure to turn around its fortunes from the UK government which holds a
:10:30. > :10:33.stake of over 80 per cent following its massive state bailout at the
:10:34. > :10:35.height of the financial crisis. Advertising giant WPP reports
:10:36. > :10:41.preliminary full year results shortly. Analysts are expecting a
:10:42. > :10:45.return to strong profits. They are watching for any move by WPP to buy
:10:46. > :10:48.a smaller rival after the merger deal between Publicis and Omnicom
:10:49. > :10:50.which is set to knock it off the number one spot as world's biggest
:10:51. > :11:04.advertising company. A quick look at the financial
:11:05. > :11:10.markets. Qantas shares have been the big loser today in Australia. Qantas
:11:11. > :11:12.shares have been down pretty much over 7% since the announcement of
:11:13. > :11:28.its losses. Oh no, it has gone. The Dow was up
:11:29. > :12:01.by 0.12% at the end of the trading session. I will be back shortly.
:12:02. > :12:02.Stay with us. I'm Naga Munchetty.New measures to tackle