Podcasts

Georgie Frost was joined by Nigel Cassidy this morning for the latest market headlines starting with company announcements from Primark owner, Associated British Foods and luxury brand Burberry revealing a rise in UK sales. And Tesco is selling its optician business to Vision Express.

The CIPD warns that the UK is sleepwalking into a low-value, low-skills economy which leaves the nation ill-prepared for its post-Brexit future, particularly if the UK is to face restrictions on accessing talent from outside of the UK.

Now to Theresa May and her announcement just yesterday calling for a snap general election on the 8th June. She said Britain needed certainty, stability and strong leadership following the EU referendum. Explaining her decision was made because, "The country is coming together but Westminster is not." Today there will be a Commons vote on the proposed election, which is likely to go through.

An Indian businessman has appeared at a court in London yesterday and could face deportation back to Delhi under fraud charges. Vijay Mallya was once dubbed India's Richard Branson, but times have changed after his company Kingfisher airlines got into problems.

It wasn't just London shares sinking: Across the pond, the S&P 500 had fallen for the fourth time in five sessions by last nights close - weighed down by a big share fall for Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson following their quarterly results. The big question remains, will much of the supposed smart investment placed on Donald Trump's America prove less than smart?

It's time to talk politics Today: to the surprise of the whole country, the Prime Minister has called for a general election on June the 8th.

On today's Wrap: the value of the pound rose sharply after Theresa May announced she wants to hold an early general election while the FTSE has suffered its worst day of trade in three months; Weetabix is being sold to US company Post Holdings for £1.4 billion; the number of shoppers visiting the high street grew at its fastest rate for three years in March

Twenty days after Britain’s dramatic vote to leave the European Union, with the government still reeling from the political aftershock, a new Prime Minister captured Downing Street. Few were more surprised by this unexpected turn of events than Theresa May herself. Simon speaks to Rosa Prince, author of a new biography of the enigmatic Prime Minister.

Robo-investment has been one of the big themes of the last year. The idea is you fill out a questionnaire on a robo-investment website, and then the site's algorithms decide how to invest your money. Ed Bowsher recently spoke to Adam French, the co-founder of one of the leading robo-investment sites, Scalable Capital, to find out more about the sector.

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