Podcasts

As we await the Chancellor's Spring Budget at 12.30pm today, there have been many predictions on what to expect, especially with regards to tax policy. So what is likely to be announced and what are businesses expecting? To break this down with Nigel Cassidy is George Bull, senior tax partner at business advisers RSM giving his predictions.

LoopUp, the Shoreditch-based company which offers conference call and meetings solutions to various companies such as Travelex, Kia Motors America, Planet Hollywood and National Geographic has released it's latest full year results today. So to find out how the company is doing, Nigel Cassidy was joined by Steve Flavell, Co-CEO of LoopUp Group plc to talk through the numbers and what the company is up to.

Budget day is upon us. Chancellor Phillip Hammond will be taking the stage from 12.30pm where he will deliver the last one to take place in the spring - unless he changes his mind of course. So how will the markets react to this Budget? Joining Nigel Cassidy was Mike van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets to give his analysis.

Most people have either reserved a taxi using Uber or booked a room in someone's house via Airbnb. Both companies are an everyday fixture in our lives yet despite the fact that neither of them have any physical assets, they're worth billions of Dollars. The Airbnb and Uber founders belong to a new generation of tech entrepreneurs whose ambition, limitless drive and "anything's possible" attitude have earned them the nickname of "The Upstarts". That's also the name of a new book analysing the rise of such companies, and how these and other Silicon Valley organisations are changing the world. Juliette Foster speaks to best-selling author, Brad Stone.

It's time to talk politics. On today's programme: the Lords have voted against a second Brexit referendum; the Government is setting aside money in the Budget for another wave of grammars; Trump unveils a revised version of the travel ban; and Republicans prepare to repeal Obamacare. To tackle all this, Juliette Foster is joined by Adam Bienkov, UK Politics Editor at Business Insider, Rishi Patel of FTI Consulting, and Michael Kruse, Senior Staff Writer at Politico.

This is Emerging Opportunities, the only show on radio dedicated to global emerging markets. Hosting today's show are Share Radio's Simon Rose and Managing Editor of the Frontier Funds Consultancy, Gavin Serkin. Joining them in the studio today was Mark Krombas, head of Middle East and North African equities for the Qatar Insurance Company, and Talib Qayyum, independent consultant focused on frontier markets. They discussed President Trump's impact on Middle East investment, market outlook and Saudi Aramco's IPO.

Share Radio's Juliette Foster brings you Market Wrap, a roundup of what's been happening in the businesses of Britain and the world. To help rattle through the day's events, Juliette was joined by Chris Bailey, founder of Financial Orbit - the investment research consultancy. They discussed: Takeaway website Just Eat beating profit expectations, Sports Direct faces a 40% increase in the cost of supplying goods to European stores, Paddy Power Betfair insists it's seeing the benefits of its merger despite taking a multi-million-pound hit to its profits & much more.

As Theresa May has gotten on with Brexit, she's found her path haunted by ghosts of governments past. Not one but two of her predecessors have re-emerged to give the Prime Minister their take on her strategy. But what's been remarkable is that the interventions have come from opposite sides of the bench - old foes Tony Blair and John Major have joined forces to warn the public of unrealistic Brexit promises. Lord Neil Kinnock was Labour leader for most of the 1980s until he faced off against John Major in the '92 election. Share Radio's Alex Clark spoke to Lord Kinnock to get his take on Blair's and Major's interventions.

Now here's a thing.... Giant adverts the size of skyscrapers? Which you see for just a few seconds .. before they disappear.. a bit like the Cheshire Cat. Sounds like something out of a sci fi movie, but in fact it's already a reality and on this week's Company Casebook Linda Lewis goes behind the scenes at Lightvert, a digital 'out of home' media technology firm which has developed a way of projecting giant advertisements onto the side of buildings for just a few moments, before they disappear from your vision. You don't need special glasses. You SEE them with the naked eye. Lightvert developed the technology with the aid of a grant from Innovate UK and now they're crowdfunding.

From ISAs for social care to support for small business, how can the government get more creative with its funds? For a preview of tomorrow's budget, Share Radio's Ed Bowsher was joined by chief economist at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Julian Jessop, for his take.