Podcasts

Concerns have been raised after the National Grid decided to sell a majority stake in its gas division. A consortium led by Australian bank Macquarie will buy a 61% stake in the UK's gas infrastructure network, that values the business at about £13.8bn. But public services union, Unison, says that their tax structure is an area for concern, and that profits will take precedence over maintaining the pipelines. James Brydges spoke to Matthew Lay from Unison, but first heard from Dr Jonathan Marshall from the Energy Intelligence unit.

Helen Thomas, Managing Director of BlondeMoney, joined Share Radio Breakfast for the first instalment of her new slot each Friday. She's a blogger, worked in the city for George Osborne, and loves policy, politics and finance. This week, Helen discusses Mario Draghi and the ECB meeting on Thursday. The ECB president warned of a year of 'big uncertainty' for the Eurozone as voters go to the polls in Germany, France and the Netherlands.

Ryan Heath, Senior EU Correspondent and Associate Editor at Politico Europe, joined Share Radio Breakfast to give his weekly take on the latest in European politics. Politico leads with a story on the 28 people shaping Europe. And in first place... Sadiq Khan. Ryan also discusses the reports that the Tories are courting the EPP for a better Brexit deal, and he takes a look at how French and German politics is shaping up ahead of elections next year.

Analysts say that Glencore could add an extra £63m a year to profits after buying a 19.5% stake in Russian energy giant Rosneft for £8.6bn. One of the key conditions was Glencore agreeing to sell 220,000 barrels of Rosneft’s oil a day over the next five years. It comes as Russian president Vladimir Putin tries to plug a budget deficit by privatising state assets. James Brydges spoke to Michael Moynihan, Research Director for Russia at Wood Mackenzie, to find out more.

McDonald's is to move its non-US tax base from Luxembourg to the UK, the company has said. The new holding company will pay UK tax on the royalties the firm receives outside the US. McDonald's said it had chosen the UK due to the "significant number of staff" it has in London. The Luxembourg tax affairs of the burger giant are currently under formal investigation by the European Commission. Clive Gawthorpe, Tax partner at UHY Hacker Young, joined Share Radio to discuss the move.

Gabriel Pirona, Group Finance Director at Photo-me International, the instant service equipment group, joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss the company’s latest interim results. Once again the results were positive and Gabriel reflected on the performance.

The European Union has started legal action against seven nations, including the UK and Germany, for failing to take action against Volkswagen for cheating emission tests. The German car giant has had huge fines in the US over its use of "defeat devices" used to hide true levels of emissions. More than one million cars in the UK are involved, and Paul Simpson, CEO OF CDP, who run global disclosure systems for investors and companies to manage their environmental impacts, joined Share Radio to bring the latest.

The historic Brexit legal challenge has drawn to a close. And it did so with a reminder from the Supreme Court that it will not "overturn the result of the EU referendum". A decision is expected by early January. To look into the key findings from the case, George Peretz QC from Monckton Chambers joined Share Radio.

Almost a year late, investors in Hong Kong can now buy stocks on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. HK has long been a traditional gateway to the rest of mainland China. This Hong Kong-Shenzhen Connect, is an important milestone in further opening up the Chinese market. Shenzhen is Asia's busiest exchange with a monthly turnover of more than a trillion dollars. To look into this further, Paul Lynch, of Itarle, which is active on exchanges in the region, joined Share Radio Breakfast.

Simon was joined live in the studio with Tim Evans, Professor of Business and Political Economy Middlesex University London, to discuss 1. Railways and the privatisation of so called 'public goods': 2. Why do some nations hold more gold? 3. Why an EU strategic re-fresh is long overdue