:00:00. > :00:00.Now for the latest financial news with
:00:00. > :00:21.Brexit jitters worsen as the pound slumps to a seven year low.
:00:22. > :00:24.Plus, big cat showdown, Puma springs into court to see
:00:25. > :00:39.Also in the programme, it looks like the struggling Japanese firm
:00:40. > :00:42.Sharp will be rescued once and for all by a Taiwanese rival.
:00:43. > :00:51.We start with growing market nerves over a possible UK exit
:00:52. > :00:55.The referendum on EU membership is a full 4 months
:00:56. > :00:58.away, with little to go on at this stage but opinion polls
:00:59. > :01:01.But investors are clearly taking the possibility
:01:02. > :01:05.The pound has had its worst three days since the depth
:01:06. > :01:21.On Wednesday Sterling sank below $1.39 for the first time
:01:22. > :01:24.since March 2009, marking a seven year low against the US dollar.
:01:25. > :01:27.That means the pound has lost 12% since the end of the summer.
:01:28. > :01:29.The head of the International Monetary Fund Christine
:01:30. > :01:38.She told CNN that the UK leaving the EU "is bound to be a negative
:01:39. > :01:43.Our business team has also been speaking to the Chief Executive
:01:44. > :01:53.He said the company would remain strongly committed to the UK whether
:01:54. > :01:58.But he did say he couldn't see how Brexit would improve the UK's
:01:59. > :02:07.competitiveness, and wouldn't rule out job losses.
:02:08. > :02:16.If that were to happen we would not pull out of the UK, because it is
:02:17. > :02:20.very prominent and important, we are doing all the wings for our aircraft
:02:21. > :02:26.here in Britain. But then it could vote would be a leap into the
:02:27. > :02:29.unknown. It is certainly not something that business people
:02:30. > :02:33.appreciate. I think there would be a lot of unknowns around the
:02:34. > :02:38.industrial and political environment we would be facing, and they cannot
:02:39. > :02:43.see how an exit would improve the competitiveness of British industry
:02:44. > :02:50.and our position here in Britain. So there could be jobs lost in the long
:02:51. > :02:51.run? You cannot exclude that, certainly.
:02:52. > :02:55.As the UK contemplates what life might be like outside the EU,
:02:56. > :02:58.some supporters of Brexit have pointed to another island nation
:02:59. > :03:00.that has been highly successful economically, while keeping
:03:01. > :03:04.Our Asia business correspondent, Karishma Vaswani,
:03:05. > :03:19.From third World to first. In just 50 years since independence,
:03:20. > :03:26.Singapore has turned into one of the world's richest cities. Not too long
:03:27. > :03:30.ago, this was a sleepy fishing village. On the banks where once
:03:31. > :03:36.Indian and Chinese merchants haggled over goods, now the icons of global
:03:37. > :03:41.finance power over the horizon. Trade has or has been at the centre
:03:42. > :03:45.of this place. This transformation has not been repeated anywhere else
:03:46. > :03:48.in the world, but Singapore's leaders knew this tiny island could
:03:49. > :03:54.not survive by itself, so it has used its neighbours to chart its own
:03:55. > :03:59.course of success. Just look at where Singapore is in the region. A
:04:00. > :04:04.tiny dot in a sea of vigor, more powerful countries. That is why in
:04:05. > :04:10.1967 it was one of the founders of the association of south-east Asian
:04:11. > :04:15.Nations, also known as ASEAN, which is an economic bloc of ten member
:04:16. > :04:19.states. Singapore has also signed 21 free-trade agreements with everyone
:04:20. > :04:24.from America to China. Looking beyond its shores is what has helped
:04:25. > :04:29.Singapore thrive, according to the boss of the country's largest bank.
:04:30. > :04:36.Singapore benefits enormously from the trade capital and labour
:04:37. > :04:41.movement within ASEAN. It would not be able to survive, let alone
:04:42. > :04:45.thrive, without access to this kind of resource. With a small
:04:46. > :04:48.population, this country has looked elsewhere to fill its workforce.
:04:49. > :04:52.Today, four out of ten people here are foreigners. This has brought
:04:53. > :04:56.with it its own problems, and the government is trying to address
:04:57. > :05:01.them, but Singapore can pick and choose who it wants to let in. If
:05:02. > :05:05.you look at the situation of Singapore and countries in hessian.
:05:06. > :05:09.They have a single market, not nearly as deep as Europe's, but they
:05:10. > :05:15.have a free-trade agreement that covers almost all the trade within
:05:16. > :05:20.ASEAN's borders. But there is no free movement of labour. There are
:05:21. > :05:25.moves to introduce it in some skilled areas, and there is no talk
:05:26. > :05:30.at all to find free movement. Singapore has what Britain wants.
:05:31. > :05:35.Singapore has benefited from being part of the ASEAN grouping. It has
:05:36. > :05:39.been able to sell products to its neighbours and make use of the
:05:40. > :05:43.workforce in the region. Although it certainly has its limitations, at
:05:44. > :05:47.the core of ASEAN there is a belief that member states should not get
:05:48. > :05:49.involved in each other's business, and currently that is an option the
:05:50. > :05:52.UK doesn't have. The Tokyo Stock Exchange has
:05:53. > :05:55.confirmed a takeover of struggling electronics giant Sharp
:05:56. > :06:12.by a Taiwanese rival, Foxconn. This is quite a significant step,
:06:13. > :06:16.the first foreign takeover of a major Japanese electronics firm.
:06:17. > :06:23.Fill us in. That is right. The deal had been rumoured for quite
:06:24. > :06:27.sometime. Sharp, which has been struggling with massive losses, had
:06:28. > :06:34.two options. It could go with the state backed fund in Japan, all this
:06:35. > :06:39.offer. Many thought that Sharp would go with the Japanese fund, because
:06:40. > :06:43.the industry has long been known to be rather reluctant to accept
:06:44. > :06:48.foreign takeovers, but I suppose the deal was too good to reject. Early
:06:49. > :06:53.this morning we had local reports that had been sending Sharp shares
:06:54. > :06:58.higher by four or 5%. Just after the official announcement by Sharp to
:06:59. > :07:04.the stock exchange, shares are now down by almost 20%. The company will
:07:05. > :07:11.raise $4.2 billion by selling two thirds of its shares. Now onto
:07:12. > :07:15.another European bust up. From Brexit now to another European
:07:16. > :07:17.bust-up, After the "swoosh" of Nike
:07:18. > :07:21.and the three stripes of Adidas, this is the world's number three
:07:22. > :07:23.sportswear logo. You'll see it emblazoned on sports
:07:24. > :07:26.goods worth around 3 billion euros in sales a year, as well as on the
:07:27. > :07:29.world's fastest man, Usain Bolt. Would you mistake it though,
:07:30. > :07:32.excuse the quality, for this? It's the logo of a small sports
:07:33. > :07:35.shoe company called Sinda Poland. Puma have been trying unsuccessfully
:07:36. > :07:37.to have it banned since 2012, even though it looks very
:07:38. > :07:40.different, arguing the idea of Today the European Court of Justice
:07:41. > :07:59.will give its judgement. With me is Sally Britton, IP Lawyer,
:08:00. > :08:07.Mishcon de Reya. Thank you for coming in. I think
:08:08. > :08:13.they look very different personally, but talk us through the argument. It
:08:14. > :08:16.is based around the fact that if you look at the outlines of the shapes
:08:17. > :08:20.it is quite similar. The Polish company has added a few elements to
:08:21. > :08:25.try to distinguish the two, but he would argue that if you traced an
:08:26. > :08:27.outline they would look quite similar. But they are going in
:08:28. > :08:33.different directions, aren't they? That has found to be relevant, but
:08:34. > :08:40.if you look at the EU registry, and this is all about whether they can
:08:41. > :08:48.register it as a trademark. But what the registry is saying is that it is
:08:49. > :08:53.not a leaping cat, which Kumar's logo is, they are saying it is a
:08:54. > :09:02.whale, a dolphin, even a rabbit can be seen in the image -- Puma. We are
:09:03. > :09:10.chuckling here, and yet Puma is probably spending a lot of time and
:09:11. > :09:13.energy on it. Why is Puma so unhappy about this? I think they are
:09:14. > :09:17.concerned about this because if you look at the evidence they filed, you
:09:18. > :09:25.can see that the Polish company has done this deliberately. Puma has
:09:26. > :09:29.already been successful in stopping it being used on their shoes, and
:09:30. > :09:34.you can imagine if it is replicated on a shoe, it looks very similar.
:09:35. > :09:38.But this is about registration, not use. If they are unsuccessful they
:09:39. > :09:39.can take this further through national courts to potentially stop
:09:40. > :09:44.the use. French authorities have
:09:45. > :09:50.demanded that Google pays 1.6 The figure is substantially more
:09:51. > :09:54.than the ?130 million the search engine agreed to pay
:09:55. > :09:57.in back taxes to UK authorities. However, France's AFP news agency
:09:58. > :09:59.reported that Google might be able to negotiate
:10:00. > :10:02.and may not pay the full sum. The company's chief executive,
:10:03. > :10:04.Sundar Pichai, is visiting Paris and was due to meet France's economy
:10:05. > :10:38.minister on Wednesday night. You can see the Asian markets, and a
:10:39. > :10:45.pound still hovering seven new lows. In the US, we can have a look at how
:10:46. > :10:49.things ended. Here we go, the Dow up by a third of a percent. That is
:10:50. > :10:58.all, see you soon. Rescue teams working
:10:59. > :11:00.at Didcot power station in Oxfordshire say it's highly
:11:01. > :11:04.unlikely that three workers buried One person was killed and five
:11:05. > :11:08.injured when part of a disused