:00:00. > :00:26.Is the only way up? That is what some optimists say about future
:00:27. > :00:32.profits from the world's biggest oil companies. The latest earnings from
:00:33. > :00:38.BP in a few hours. And signed and sealed. 25 years ago today, the
:00:39. > :00:42.controversial Maastricht Treaty which established the European Union
:00:43. > :00:53.but could this be the year that more of its key members vote to leave?
:00:54. > :00:57.Welcome. This is World Business Report, I am Sally Bundock. And baby
:00:58. > :01:04.boom to baby bust. The true cost of having children. Let's start with
:01:05. > :01:09.BP. It is its turn to reveal how much money it has recently made, the
:01:10. > :01:13.news being of interest particularly as oil prices have been recovering
:01:14. > :01:17.thanks to the agreement reached at the end of last year between OPEC
:01:18. > :01:21.and non- members to cut production beginning in January this year. If
:01:22. > :01:26.you look at this graphic, it shows you what's been going on in the last
:01:27. > :01:32.12 months. You can see the shift in the price of oil. Bottomed out at
:01:33. > :01:40.around $27.88 a barrel in January 2016 and yesterday trading at $56 a
:01:41. > :01:45.barrel. EP's competitors are also struggling after two years of low
:01:46. > :01:53.oil prices. Exxon Mobil reported a 51% fall in annual profits and Royal
:01:54. > :01:58.Dutch Shell, a 44% dip in annual returns. Wider challenges for BP and
:01:59. > :02:01.others in the industry including funding investment in new oil
:02:02. > :02:05.projects, the rise of renewable energy sources and for some, a
:02:06. > :02:11.concern about their ability to pay shareholder dividends. To answer
:02:12. > :02:18.some of those questions, I am joined by Alex Ho Byrne, thank you for
:02:19. > :02:25.coming in. What are we expecting BP to say today? We are expecting full
:02:26. > :02:31.year 16 results of around $2.9 billion and that will be a fall of
:02:32. > :02:36.just over 50% year on year. It was previously $5.9 billion. Another
:02:37. > :02:41.massive fall like Exxon and shell but when you look at the quarterly
:02:42. > :02:47.numbers, that will sure rise in profits. When the price of oil
:02:48. > :02:51.started to creep up? An improvement on a quarter on quarter basis and
:02:52. > :02:55.also an improvement in the quarter on a year-on-year basis owing to the
:02:56. > :03:02.fact that oil prices bottomed for Brent last year and January. You're
:03:03. > :03:06.starting to see that come out of the system. The projection for this year
:03:07. > :03:12.is that prices will stabilise and they will stay around this level
:03:13. > :03:17.that we are at the moment. Mid- 50s, maybe $60 a barrel. If that is the
:03:18. > :03:23.case, what is the outlook for BP? Positive. The full-year expectations
:03:24. > :03:29.are for adjusted net income of about $7.7 billion so clearly a
:03:30. > :03:35.substantial improvement year-on-year and even eclipsing the results in 15
:03:36. > :03:39.as well. Does that mean the likes of BP and its competitors out of the
:03:40. > :03:43.woods? They have had a difficult couple of years with the price of
:03:44. > :03:48.oil so low. A lot of concerns these companies. It's fair to say the up
:03:49. > :03:52.through the worst of it and out through the top and the cycle. The
:03:53. > :03:57.outlook is certainly brighter. Volatility is reduced. The outlook
:03:58. > :04:03.is for the oil price to remain reasonably stable, rising to around
:04:04. > :04:09.60, 60 $5 a barrel and it remains unpredictable. They have been
:04:10. > :04:13.through the worst part of pay. We will leave it there. Thank you for
:04:14. > :04:19.coming in. The numbers from BP are coming in in one hour and 25
:04:20. > :04:24.minutes. We will fill you in when we get the numbers and analysis on how
:04:25. > :04:28.they are doing. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty
:04:29. > :04:34.known as the Treaty of the European Union. Back then, a real feeling of
:04:35. > :04:37.optimism and hope that what the EU could achieve. He would have
:04:38. > :04:53.predicted the financial and political turmoil the union would
:04:54. > :04:57.come up against. It was here that the euro was conceived. This was a
:04:58. > :05:02.moment of hope and optimism, at least for European political
:05:03. > :05:08.leaders. A quarter of a century on, the EU's blue and yellow flag looks
:05:09. > :05:12.a little tattered. We have had, arguably still had, the eurozone
:05:13. > :05:17.financial crisis, Britain deciding to leave and the rise of anti-EU
:05:18. > :05:23.political groups in several countries and perhaps the chance
:05:24. > :05:27.they will take power at in countries that were founders of the project,
:05:28. > :05:31.France and the Netherlands. And the election of Donald Trump creates new
:05:32. > :05:36.and unpredictable challenges to Europe. He doesn't seem to think
:05:37. > :05:43.much of the EU. He said the British decision was so smart. He has
:05:44. > :05:46.certainly rattled Brussels. The president of the European Council,
:05:47. > :05:52.Donald task, wrote to the Council, telling them: Maastricht was
:05:53. > :05:56.intended to create a new, more congenial environment for business
:05:57. > :06:06.with less uncertainty but it feels like a long time ago. Other stories
:06:07. > :06:09.here in the UK. The government will declare England's housing market is
:06:10. > :06:14.broken as it sets out its proposals for fixing it. Housing white paper
:06:15. > :06:19.is expected to include a promise to build more homes and make renters
:06:20. > :06:23.more secure. 250,000 new homes are needed every year and the government
:06:24. > :06:32.has admitted they are lagging behind schedule. US TV maker Vizio has
:06:33. > :06:35.agreed to play over $2 billion over allegations it collected viewing
:06:36. > :06:41.data over its customers. Federal Trade Commission says companies
:06:42. > :06:46.captured images on what was being viewed on screen and the date was
:06:47. > :06:50.sold on to third parties according to the FTC. Vizio says the data
:06:51. > :07:04.centre could not be traced back to individuals. Ballet, Karachi,
:07:05. > :07:08.swimming, soccer, Mandarin classes. This is Elon Musk behind me. I'm not
:07:09. > :07:13.talking about him. I'm talking about a handful of activities children in
:07:14. > :07:25.Asia are signed up from a young age and all of them cost a lot of money
:07:26. > :07:30.but how much is too much? Mariko Oi, our correspondent in Asia, decided
:07:31. > :07:35.to use her household Budget as a test series. Welcome to the life of
:07:36. > :07:39.the two-year-old. In addition to that child care, her weekend is
:07:40. > :07:45.jampacked with extracurricular activities. Metre tiger mum. Yes,
:07:46. > :07:50.it's me. We think these activities are great for her but they are not
:07:51. > :07:59.cheap. We decided to teach swimming at home because we already spent 300
:08:00. > :08:03.-- $300 on the $400 on extracurricular activities and that
:08:04. > :08:12.is on top of the $1000 in childcare and we have another one coming. As
:08:13. > :08:19.the child gets older, the list only gets longer and longer. Those days,
:08:20. > :08:25.I am doing soccer. Wednesdays, I do swimming. In fact, EV's mother
:08:26. > :08:30.started a website which lists extracurricular activities for
:08:31. > :08:36.children. We saw such a high demand from our advertisers and clients to
:08:37. > :08:42.reach out to the parent market. That website has coding the kids, soccer,
:08:43. > :08:47.tennis. It's such a wide range. Ballet and swimming. There is a mini
:08:48. > :08:53.MBA for children. You heard it right. And many MBA for children.
:08:54. > :08:59.But are we at risk of over scheduling our children's weekends?
:09:00. > :09:03.And is there a clear benefit that a child psychologist sees in children
:09:04. > :09:08.who do extracurricular activities? I guess the word you are looking for
:09:09. > :09:13.is purposefully engage. It does not mean a child was enrolled in a lot
:09:14. > :09:18.of classes will do better than a child who is not but it is a child
:09:19. > :09:22.is at home, engaged in any classes but they are doing a lot of
:09:23. > :09:27.activities at home with their parents, they are doing well. Boros,
:09:28. > :09:33.raising our daughter to be fluent in my mother tongue, Japanese, is very
:09:34. > :09:38.important. Many children in Asia are also taking up Mandarin. But the
:09:39. > :09:42.issue of all -- over scheduling, we may need to reconsider our household
:09:43. > :09:51.budgets once our second child arrives. That is that the financial
:09:52. > :09:56.markets. The fall in Japan as the yen gets even stronger. That gives
:09:57. > :09:58.you a sense of how things are going. I will see you soon.