Share Sounds from Share Radio Afternoon

Retailer Debenhams has launched a new turnaround strategy, including shutting just over 5% of its stores and cutting jobs at its warehouses. Ed Bowsher spoke to Richard J Hunter, Head of Research at Wilson King Investment Management, to analyse the new plans for the brand, and more of the latest company news.

With the General Election on June 8th is still dominating political news headlines, Ed Bowsher spoke to Matt Singh, founder of Number Cruncher Politics, to get his take on initial election predictions and more as politicians hit the campaign trail.

Shares in Unilever have had a good run since the failed takeover bid from Kraft-Heinz in February. Today, the company's Q1 statement revealed turnover was up 6% - but are the numbers good enough to justify the share price? For this and more of the day's big macro news stories, Ed Bowsher was joined by Rachel Winter, Senior Investment Manager at Killik and Co.

FIFA is finding that potential sponsors and partners are shunning the World Cup in Russia next year, citing concerns of reputational risk for their brands and the financial cost of advertising. The football organisation currently has only half the number of corporate partners on board as it did during the last tournament in Brazil. To find out more about what this means for the upcoming World Cup, Ed Bowsher was joined by Joe Hall, sports business journalist with City A.M.

The first round of the French Presidential election is rapidly approaching, taking place on Sunday. The two candidates with the most votes will then fight out a final round two weeks later. Still in the race are Emmanuel Macron, Francois Fillon, Marine Le Pen, and Jean-Luc Melenchon. Who will make the final ballot? To discuss the runners and riders, Ed Bowsher spoke to James Shields, Professor of French Politics at Aston University.

Following the announcement by Theresa May calling for a snap General Election on June 8th, the Prime Minister has urged Britons to trust her and that a vote now will help the UK make a success of Brexit. Others suggest that she could be using the election to consolidate Tory power through a landslide victory. To get more on the unfolding political events, Ed Bowsher was joined by John Ashmore, chief reporter of Politics Home.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has for the first time admitted the UK Government’s stake in RBS may be sold at a loss for the taxpayer. He told MPs that “We have to live in the real world.” The Treasury bailed out the bank by buying a 72% stake in 2008 during the Financial Crisis. For more on this and the other latest company news, Ed Bowsher spoke to Chris Bailey, founder of Financial Orbit.com

The strong pound has pushed the FTSE 100 down negative for the year, Sterling having been buoyed up by the calls for a General Election by Theresa May. For this and more of the day’s big macro news, Ben Kumar, Investment Manager at Seven Investment Management joined Share Radio’s Ed Bowsher.

Coming up on Company Casebook this week we’re meeting the team behind University Cribs, the student housing search engine matching students with letting agents, developers and halls of residence with over 120,000 rooms now listed on their site. They’re already operating in 26 university towns in England and Wales and have just added London. Find out how they’ve built their business on Company Casebook this week

Ed Bowsher is joined by Daniel Thomas, deputy companies editor at the Financial Times to discuss the latest company news, including Weetabix being sold to a US firm, and the effect the early General Election announcement has had on the markets.