Podcasts

Pre-tax profits of companies that reported annual results between July and September are down by almost 77% to £3.2 billion. The dominant mining sector in particular dragged down FTSE 100 stock profits. BHP Billiton reported a near £5 billion loss, but the smaller mid-cap companies shone. All this is revealed in Profit Watch, the latest quarterly report of earnings from The Share Centre. Nigel Cassidy spoke to Helal Miah, Investment Research Analyst at the Share Centre, to get an insight into the latest profit performance of UK plc: starting with the pressures on the earnings of large multinationals and focusing on BHP Billiton.

Jimini’s is a French firm selling snacks made from dried crickets and worms which they've launched in the U.K. ... hoping to tickle British taste buds with alternative sources of protein. Linda goes to meet them.

Linda meets SoundOut, a fascinating firm which uses artificial intelligence and data from their two million plus reviewers to predict which songs will make it as hits. They claim to be able to predict the music charts with 80 per cent accuracy. And now they're branching out into predicting fashion trends and what will sell best in home wear shops as well. They've just launched a crowdfunding campaign to help finance their expansion.

This week Nick talks to Ben Blackledge of WorldskillsUK about the Skills Show, the UK's biggest skills and careers fair taking place in Birmingham; Neil Withey, training centre director at the EEF on how business is starting to equip young people with the skills needed in the workplace; Bill Sullivan about IBM's recent challenge at Do It Day and its tool to trace missing persons more effectively, and Marina Lumley of Greengrass Consulting about a recent report which revealed the gender gap among executives shows no sign of narrowing.

This week Sue is joined by Neil Brooks, the newly-appointed Head Teacher of Fulham Prep’s new independent co-educational senior school. He talks about his new role and the musical influences that have shaped his career.

With Christmas just a few weeks away, many of us will have started thinking about a winter getaway, either on the slopes or somewhere warmer. But when’s the best time to book, where can you find the best deals, and what are your options if you want a wintry break but don’t want to ski? Sue Dougan sits in for Sarah and is joined by Sean Tipton from ABTA, Alistair McLean of Artisan Travel and Dan Fox, MD of Ski Weekends.

What do you do if you’re due to retire, but you don’t really want to? This week Sue Dougan, sitting in for Sarah, looks at retiring without fully retiring and what your options are, including working for a charity or other voluntary organisation, and whether you can still take your pension if you’re still earning. Sue is joined by Michelle Cracknell of TPAS, Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, MD of Saga Money and Julian Noakes from Retirement Reinvented.

Analysis published by Royal London has revealed that new mothers could be missing out on hundreds of millions of pounds in state pension rights. Sue Dougan sits in for Sarah and she and her guests look at what this means for young mums – how do you know if you’ve missed out and what can you do? She was joined by Steve Webb of Royal London, Anna Monteith from ICAEW and freelance finance journalist Donna Ferguson.

With a fortnight to go until Black Friday, the panel look at fraud and how to stay safe online. They look at how secure online banking is, and what steps you can take to ensure that you’re not a victim of fraud. Sue Dougan sits in for Sarah and is joined by Young Money Champion Amelia Murray, Harry Rose, money editor at Which?, Joe Hancock, Cyber Security Lead at Mishcon de Reya and Brian Laing of Last Line.

Antonio was in the studio to talk about his new book, simply called Vegetables, and his career as a chef.