07/03/2017 World Business Report

with a number of offences including rape and assault.

Now for the latest financial news with Sally

Va va voom - the press are at the Geneva Motor Show

but despite record sales profitability remains low in Europe

And economic gloom for Brazil as its set to reveal

Politicians promise it will end but it's already led to misery

Also in the programme shop shut - we tell you why one of South Korea's

leading retailers is forced to close several stores.

European carmakers are gathered in Geneva for the annual motor show

and they are celebrating record-breaking sales figures.

More than 15 million cars were sold in Europe last year -

that's the best result since the financial crisis.

But a sneaky peak under the bonnet of the continent's automakers

Yesterday, General Motors sold its European businesses

that's the company which owns Peugeot and Citroen.

The deal highlights the gulf in profitability either side

of the Atlantic and it's a problem that persists across much

In 2016, Ford announced a profit margin of 9.7% in North America.

This compares to just 4.2% in Europe.

It's a similar story for Fiat-Chrysler which has profit

margins of 7.4% and 2.5% respectively.

Cars are an important export for many of Europe's biggest economies.

Given that national elections are due to take place in France

and Germany later this year, European governments will be keen

to keep their domestic car industries ticking over.

Christian Stadler is a Professor of Strategic Management

at Warwick Business School, and specialises in the car industry.

Good morning. Given what I have just said, why is there such a gulf

between the profit margin in North America and that seen in Europe? Two

factors. Labour cost is higher in Europe and there is still quite

capacity in the European market which keeps down margins. The issue

of currency has played a big part, certainly since the referendum in

the UK? Certainly for General Motors, this was one of the reasons

that they state why they did not turn up profit in the European

operations and it drove them to finally sell the European

operations. What are all those companies selling cars in Europe

doing to counter this and improve profit margins? We are seeing

probably more cost cuts coming our way for top there was an

announcement is part of the PSA deal that they are going to try to have

an exercise in cost cutting certain expect some job losses. Is it also

about the type of cars coming onto the market? More economic and

cheaper cars? Come again? Is it also about the type of models on the

European car market that would increase the profit margins?

Hopefully so. It also see comparison that in Europe they sell larger cars

where you tend to have high you profit margins. I do not expect this

in Europe to happen but this immobility with driverless cars we

will have higher margins come the way of the European car

manufacturers. Interesting to get your analysis. We appreciate your

time. And we'll stay with cars

for a little bit longer. At the Geneva Motor show

our Business Editor, Simon Jack, met up with

Ford's President for Europe and asked him what effect Brexit

will have on the company. Already we can see what the currency

has had on a company like Ford but we are optimistic that the EU and

the UK government can find common ground and an industry that has so

many jobs to say there will not be a terror for any kind of restriction

on trade. -- tariff. We are a huge employer and a lot out jobs for

global products like transit so it is a critical for the future of

those job is that we are in a safe environment. Do follow Simon Jack on

Twitter and go to our website. To Asia now a huge spat

between Chinese authorities Rico Hizon is is in our

Asia Business Hub in Singapore Rico, what's going on here,

there's been talk of missiles. This is a big company effected in

South Korea? That right and in the middle of this dispute could be

missile technology. Neither Beijing nor Lotte of South Korea would

address it directly but the business of the Korean conglomerate is being

affected. China has forced the closure of more than 20 of its

supermarkets and there could be links to Lotte's decision to support

a US system called THAAD. But they are capable, the Rockets to reach

Chinese territory. Other businesses have been affected. The duty free,

the world, 70% of its sales are to Chinese customers. It was hacked. It

has been temporarily closed and products have been pulled out from

all Lotte stores. This is affecting one of South Korea's biggest

shopping balls. -- malls. Brazil is releasing its GDP

numbers for 2016 today and it's set to be

a disaster, quite frankly. Officials are likely to confirm that

Brazil's economy has been shrinking But the government believes

the recession may be near the end and that the economy

could be already growing To ordinary Brazilians,

the long recession has been devastating and is

still taking its toll. The BBC's Daniel Gallas reports

from a city just outside Sao Paulo Colours, costumes and carnivals. It

seemed Brazil's party would last for ever as it had one of the fastest

growing economies in the world just a few years ago. But for ordinary

Brazilians that party has been over for some time. A man forced to move

with the times for example. 20 years he was logistics co-ordinator for

various industries in Brazil, helping clients get what they

ordered but two years ago after he lost his job, he switched from goods

to passengers. He drives around in a service in ridesharing apps as the

millions of unemployed in the country but finding passages is

becoming increasingly hard. -- passengers. The economy has been

shrinking for the past 24 months. 10 million people have lost their jobs

and many are using the elegy to get at least a little bit of money but

that option is becoming too saturated. TRANSLATION: Cannot make

the same amount of money today as they did to years ago. For the same

money and need to drive my car up for 18 hours instead of two. Outside

airports there are informal camps were some drivers wait for ten hours

to get one single ride for not ride very from $10 to $100. Brazil has

failed to revive its once brilliant economy. 2010 five and 7%, five

years later, the good times are gone and the economy contract e-bike 3.80

cents. Official numbers on Tuesdays will show a similar drop. --

contract did bite three point %. The station make the economic downfall

was intense and even for the most pessimistic optimist. It is now

stabilising and in 2017 we may see Brazil growing again, modestly. For

workers, it will still be a long wait. Analysts say it will be years

before the Labour market can get back to normal. It could now be a

long time before the home of the carnival finds itself celebrating an

economic revival. I will be back in a moment when we

review some of the stories in the newspapers.

New figures gathered by BBC Yorkshire show there's been

a 15% increase in the number of people

Forces in England and Wales say they receive a phone call

about a missing person every 90 seconds on average.