tv BBC Business Live BBC News September 23, 2019 8:30am-9:01am BST
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this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and alice baxter. thomas cook — one of the world's oldest and biggest travel firms collapses — as it fails to reach a rescue deal with creditors. live from london, that's our top story on monday the 23rd of september. after last ditch talks failed — the biggest ever peacetime repatriation is about to start with 600,000 passengers currently on holiday. we'll be hearing from the uk's regulator — about what people can do to try and get home as quickly
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and easily as possible. 0n the financial markets, the winners are thomas cook ‘s rivals. we will talk you through the winners and losers. and giving a new leash on life to our furry friends. 0ne company connects dog owners with professional dog walkers — we'll hear from the company's founder to see if the idea is taking off. today we want to know if you're affected by the thomas cook collapse? are you a customer — someone either already on holiday or who has booked a getaway with the company. 0r — are you one of the 22,000 worlwide who worked for thomas cook? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive hello and welcome to business live.
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do you get in touch, we have heard from many of you already. good to hear what you are facing in regards to that story. let's fill you in on what we know so far. we start in the uk, where one of the world's largest travel companies — thomas cook — has collapsed — after last ditch talks aimed at saving the firm failed. it's triggered the uk's biggest ever peacetime repatriation effort. thomas cook started up back in 1841 offering day trips — last year it had a turnover of more than $11bn. in total the tour operator has 600,000 customers on holiday at the moment — between 150 and 160,000 are british. the firm's chief executive — peter fankhauser — has apologised — saying the collapse is a matter of profound regret — and a deeply sad day he says — for the company which pioneered package holidays and made travel possible for millions
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of people around the world. thomas cook has 22,000 staff around the world — 9,000 of whom are based here in the uk. the majority of those in peterborough, in the midlands. alice, back to you. simon calderfrom the travel show joins me now from salford. thank you forjoining us, we really appreciate it, we understand you have been up all night covering this. sally giving us an indication of the history of the company, a sad day, the demise of this 178—year—old british institution, talk us through some of the headwinds, the challenges facing the company that led us to today. yes, it's a company which has been absolutely revolutionary, it really made travel possible for ordinary men and women by industrialising the processes involved and that has helped to get
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us involved and that has helped to get us to where we are, fortunately, for many people, on average wages, international travel is possible. however, they took their eye off the weight that things were changing in a really bad way about 25 years ago. you had a number of things simultaneously, open skies in europe, which means that airlines such as easyjet could be created and ryanair of such as easyjet could be created and rya nair of ireland could such as easyjet could be created and ryanair of ireland could become europe ‘s biggest airline. and of course that was when the internet really began to figure and travel in the internet are made for each other and you have millions of consumers with millions of aircraft seats, hotel beds, rental cars and so on and the internet was a natural thing to bring them together. thomas cook did not keep up with the pace, it still maintained the old idea that people would dutifully go into a travel agency, they would sit down, they will be told what sort of
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holiday they could have, one or two weeks, and unfortunately, that, although there are still some people who do that, the younger generation simply organised everything the way they wanted, probably on their smartphone and the idea of going on and talking to somebody about it simply doesn't exist. as you say, the business model, lots of expensive high street shops and of course, issues with the palm, rising fuel costs, problems in north africa, hot british weather, a lot of the businesses based there, a perfect storm. we will be talking to the civil aviation authority shortly about what to do if you are one of those 150,000 british tourists currently on holiday but let's talk about those people who potentially have booked a holiday that is still to come because i understand yourself, are actually going to be in that boat. yes, i am, firstly those 155,000 people, my advice is simple, state by the pool, order another drink. there is another line on its way to you to come back on
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roughly the date you were originally going to come back, you don't need to cut short your vacation but i managed to book a holidayjust over two hours before thomas cook collapsed, very good value, $200 for a week in the greek islands of corfu, including flights, transfers, accommodation, that's one reason why thomas cook couldn't make the sums add up but there are now begins a long white and basically, all you can do is realise you will get your money back in maybe a month or so, meanwhile prices for everything else are going through the roof. simon, we're going to have to leave it there, but we could talk and talk on this but for now, thank you, go home and some sleep! more on our top story in a moment — as alice mentioned, we will talk to the civil aviation authority in a moment. but first let's look at some of the other stories making the news president trump and
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india's narendra modi have met in houston, texas at an indian—american rally dubbed ‘howdy modi!‘. this comes amid reports that the two countries are racing to negotiate a limited trade deal that can be signed at the united nations general assembly in new york at the end of the month. i love the way you say that! oil prices have been rising — amid worries about increased tensions in the middle east. saudi arabia's state oil company — aramco — has been working to reassure markets — following an attack on its largest processing facility earlier this month. but since then it has delayed deliveries — and buyers have remained cautious. japan's softbank is reportedly looking at ways to replace the chief executive of wework — adam neumann. it comes after the office space provider postponed its stock market listing last week — amid lukewarm investor interest and tumbling valuations. reuters reports wework‘s biggest shareholder — softbank is now looking at removing mr neumann. as we've been hearing
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thomas cook has collapsed after last—minute negotiations aimed at saving the 178—year—old holiday firm failed. we are joined now by tim johnson, director of the civil aviation authority. thank you for being on the programme, operation matterhorn has been underway for some time, talk us through the logistics of getting all these people home. good morning. yes, a hugely challenging repatriation exercise, 150,000 people, that's a town the size of oxford or huddersfield, we have over 40 planes that are in the system at the moment and preparing to bring people home. the first of those planesjfk into people home. the first of those planes jfk into manchester people home. the first of those planesjfk into manchester is people home. the first of those planes jfk into manchester is about to leave so this operation is very much in full swing. in addition to that, in the first few hours of the operation we've been able to talk to
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3000 hotels and be very clear with them that we have guaranteed the payments for the bookings of customers currently in those hotels. one of the reasons we've been able to do that is because some of the thomas cook employees have been willing to stay on and help us run this repatriation on what is a very, very sad day for them and thomas cook customers. we really, really appreciate the efforts that those thomas cook employees are giving to help the caa bring their customers home. really sad day for all of those employees for the company. the transport minister grant shapps, has already been talking to the media today. saying that holiday—makers around the world should not expect the repatriation to be smooth sailing, he's warned that this is a much, much bigger effort than that
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which had to be undertaken after the colla pse which had to be undertaken after the collapse of monarch airways. do you agree with that assessment? yes, it is more challenging, the numbers of passengers abroad or greater and the geographical spread of the resorts as greater as well. we are doing everything we can, we've got over 40 planes and ouraim everything we can, we've got over 40 planes and our aim is to get back passengers who are currently overseas as close as possible to their originally planned arrival date back in the uk. the website, has all the details of those flights for viewers who are on holiday at the moment and are waking up to this news, we would ask them to look at the website. but be really clear that the repatriation ever that we've got underway will bring people home, as simon colder said, we would encourage people to enjoy their holiday but do keep an eye on the
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website because that will have the details of those repatriation flights, there may be some small adjustments to timings in certain cases but the caa and the people we are working with from government and from the airline industry are absolutely committed and we are working around the clock to deliver the best possible repatriation service. how long do you think the process will take? we talked to customers already this morning giving an palma airport in places like that, they said they have heard very little information, communication has been at a minimum for them. the website is up and running. and it has the flight details for the first day or two, clearly for passengers returning to the uk over the next few days, beyond these first couple of days and into next week, we will be providing those return flight details a little bit later so we would ask passengers to keep checking the website which will have all of the information on it. but as
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i say, everyone all of the information on it. but as i say, everyone overseas all of the information on it. but as i say, everyone overseas due to return to the uk, please continue to enjoy your holiday, check the website and be assured that this repatriation effort, we've got over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you home. tim, thank you very much, director of the civil aviation authority, managing operation matterhorn, that huge project to get everybody back to the uk. let's look at the financial markets. more on thomas cook later. japan should today for a public holiday, that is the close on friday, as a bleak reopening tomorrow. in asia, a bit ofa reopening tomorrow. in asia, a bit of a mixed day, if not quite negative, the price of oil edging higher, talk about that in a moment. let's look at shares in europe. i mentioned easyjet shares up, ryanair up mentioned easyjet shares up, ryanair ‘7. mentioned easyjet shares up, ryanair up 3%, companies that may well benefit from the collapse of thomas cook. tui also. maybe dry to swap
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what was a thomas cook holiday with perhaps a tui holiday. we'll talk about that in a moment. and vivienne nunis has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. the manufacturing sector here in the us has been contracting lately amid a series of global economic headwinds, worries about brexit, the us china trade war and the global slowdown have all put a dampener on business activity. on monday, it will get a fresh chance to assess the health of us industry activity when the latest manufacturing data is published. later in the week there will be more clues about the health of the economy with new figures about american consumer confidence and home sales. in company news this week sportswear giant nike will be reporting its latest financial earnings, nike stock wobbled over the summer thanks to fears it was being hurt badly by the trade war but the company is expected to report a strong first fiscal quarter thanks in part to the success of its digital app sneakers. joining us is mouhammed choukeir,
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chief investment officer at kleinwort hambros good morning to you, good to see you. let's talk about oil, of course, that story interwoven with the story of thomas cook in the travel industry, generally. it's received a little bit of a bounce today. the story of all, if you like, since the beginning of the year has been very much about the health of the global economy but re ce ntly health of the global economy but recently it's been about the situation in saudi arabia and the cut in supply. initially the saudis gave a statement and said it would be weeks before they could resume the supply chain but some estimates say it could be months, as a result the oil price is having a bit of a bounce today. you'd notice number is a difference, manufacturing data a bit better—than—expected which is encouraging? these are the latest signs in terms of the health of the global economy and will be seen in re ce nt global economy and will be seen in recent months, continued deterioration, the key number is the 50 mark, if it is above 50 id
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usually identifies the economy is expanding and that's what they have the time being but it's very close to dipping below 50. you are going to dipping below 50. you are going to come back and talk us through some business stories in a bit but for now, thank you. still to come an idea with some legs... 0ne app connects dog owners with pooch walkers — we'll find out if it's taking off. you're with business live from bbc news. as we've been hearing this morning, thomas cook has collapsed after last—minute negotiations failed to save the 178—year—old holiday firm. let's get the latest from theo leggett who is at gatwick airport. i believe something like 18 flights we re i believe something like 18 flights were due to come and go today, thomas cook flights. 16 flights supposedly leaving her today, 13
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coming back, obviously none of those flights taking place, they've all been cancelled but we will see the civil aviation authority beginning a massive repatriation exercise as you heard earlier in the programme. the first of those flights is due to land around now. there is activity going on, plenty of it but people who are turning up hoping to take the thomas cook holidays, they are quite disappointed as you would expect. the check—in desks were normally there would be a hub of activity at this time in the morning, no sign of any thomas cook staff, they have woken up to the news that the company they work for has failed, they will be looking for newjobs. 22,000 has failed, they will be looking for new jobs. 22,000 employees worldwide. another topic we touched on today is that after the collapse of monarch two years ago, a lot of those employees went to work for thomas cook so this is a shrinking industry, isn't it? it is and the package tour industry, many people think that industry itself has had
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its day. in the old days it was great to go to a shop, book your flight, great to go to a shop, book your flight, your holiday at the same time, your hotel at the same time, a one—stop shop but with the arrival of the internet it's so easy for people to go and book their flights independently, but their holidays independently, but their holidays independently, but their holidays independently, but any entertainment they want on their holiday, all on their laptop. is there any need to have those shops where people can go in and put the lot together? having shops, thomas cook did, high street outlets, those are factors that thomas cook has said heard it in the last year, for example as some are being very warm, people want travelling are not going to certain destinations in the western mediterranean, things like that, those have all been factors but fundamentally, business model has changed and thomas cook looks a little bit dated. huge debts as well. theo at gatwick for us, next to him. 0thers well. theo at gatwick for us, next to him. others who have commented as well, john mcdonnell shadow chancellor saying the government
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should have bailed out thomas cook, he's been talking to bbc radio earlier today. you can read more details of thomas cook at the business live page. you're watching business live — our top story — one of the world's biggest travel company's thomas cook collapses after last ditch talks fail — triggering the largest peacetime repatriation ever we've got correspondence at various airports in the uk and overseas monitoring the situation. lots online about that story as well. now let's talk about dogs — they are said to be our closest companions — and once you have a pooch it's part of the family. we have a lovely black labrador. but when it comes to the balancing act that is life — sometimes it feels like they get the short end of the stick.
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our next guest was faced with this reality when he struggled to find a reliable dog—sitter and walker for their family canine. the experience spurred james mcelroy set up a company in 2015 with his brother tim to solve their problem. well now their uk—based housemydog, an online platform that enables dog owners to find and find dog walkers and sitters, has merged with gudog, its main european competitor — making it the largest platform of dog walkers in europe. james joins us now to tell us more. he didn't bring his dog, the dog stayed at home but that's fine, we understand. they say don't work with children and animals on live television, but anyway. tell us about how this started. it was always an issue growing up, me and my brothers when we travelled on family holidays, what do we do with the dog and we didn't like the idea of leaving her in a caged environment so the idea of finding a
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sitter online was really a kind of off—line broken process we did some market research and we found about 85% of dog owners we spoke to were also facing this problem of caged environments, high cost, lack of transparency and that's really how it started. the option before it was kennels or doing it privately. how does your business model work? we connect dog owners with siders and walkers online, you go on, search your local area and you will be presented with a list of vetted service providers and you can book these people, message them, organise a meet and greet and we provide 24—7 support and veterinary coverage. how do you do the betting, you don't go to the houses, who are offering to look after your dog? marketplace at the core, trust has to be number one and it's an area we work hard and, of the siders that go on the platform have to go through a rigorous vetting process and you also get, 15% of the siders that sign up will ultimately be allowed. he started this in 2015, i must
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admit when i heard about you today andi admit when i heard about you today and i looked into your business i thought, there are so many of these out there, we've had a couple on this slot, borrowed my doggy, for example is a business that links dog owners with dog lovers who want to walk and look after your dog and you don't have to pay them anything. yes, i think, don't have to pay them anything. yes, ithink, the biggest competitor it would be the kennels and family and friends and i think it's a real education pays for the marketplace. the online services like yours, and to your competitors? 9996 the online services like yours, and to your competitors? 99% of all paid boring goes to kennels and family and friends, we feel it's educating the space for us, it's getting the kind of alternatives are people who use kennels on family and friends to realise that another alternative exists. it's that sense of security that you offer, you include emergency veterinary cover and there is legal insurance involved as well. yes. talk us through how you've grown as a business since 2015 because you're operating in eight countries, i think, because you're operating in eight
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countries, ithink, worldwide? because you're operating in eight countries, i think, worldwide? we operate in eight countries in europe, scaling in your can be quite difficult because at a very high level, the language change in a lot of country, a big one for us is the tech, we want to provide users with a great app and mobile experience and they are big challenges as we scale up. to what extent is tech the most important bit and i imagine you have loads of data about your customers, how many? we have over half a million on the platform but the deck is obviously very important because we feel that's the real value add that makes us different from the off—line alternatives. value add that makes us different from the off-line alternatives. are you pressurised to sell doggy stuff to your customers and advertise and blast them in terms of the data you have which is pretty valuable, isn't it? i think the network we have, we don't do anything with our data at the moment but the network we have, being able to upsell services such as food and veterinary products and accessories is definitely something we're looking at in the future but right now, we are very much focused on the core offering of services, sitting, walking, daycare. james,
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thank you. nice to meet you. now, let's talk some more about the implications of the thomas cook story. monarch airlines went bust in 2017 and at that time it was the biggest repatriation in peacetime. then, it was the biggest peacetime repatriating every putt that has now been overtaken by what's happening with thomas cook. timjeans was the former ceo of the airline and told the bbc about the process of bringing people home. it's an enormously complex operation but would be solvent monarch went under two years ago, it's extraordinarily efficient, the caa unfortunately are well practised in these repatriation exercises and people overseas really need to have concerns people overseas really need to have concerns that they will get stranded. they may operate, flights
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home may operate at a slightly different time to that originally planned, they even may come back to a different uk airport than they we re a different uk airport than they were originally intended but get home, they will so they need to have no concerns home, they will so they need to have no concerns on that front at all. that was him speaking to us earlier, the former boss of monarch talking about the logistics of bringing everybody home. mouhammed is back to look through some paper stories... a lot of other stories going on today, we haven't been able to get them in because of thomas cook, the un monday climate conference happening in new york today, many companies in the run—up to this making new pledges about their global warming targets. yes, we are hearing these stories of the time, it's unfolding whether its pledges, packs, communiques, announcements, there's a lot of things being said andl there's a lot of things being said and i guess the reality now is investors are looking for, staff, looking for actions and what we've seen so far, of all the commitments made so far, 15% of the companies
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are on track to meeting them so it will be interesting to see how much pressure at the un conference puts on those companies this week. it's interesting, an article in the financial times this morning covering this conference, focuses on the positives, talking about how much progress a lot of these big corporate set made over the last ten yea rs, corporate set made over the last ten years, this really just corporate set made over the last ten years, this reallyjust wasn't on their agenda particularly a decade ago for many of them. the carpets are taking matters into their own hands and clearly, you know, looking after the climb about 20 years ago is now a must have for a lot of them. thank you so much for being with us. great to have your input. let's just mention with us. great to have your input. let'sjust mention some with us. great to have your input. let's just mention some of your comments about thomas cook, edward who says flight cancelled because of the collapse, currently stuck in corfu, no contact from thomas cook, the caa or the uk government, i'm heading to the airport later where it will hopefully get a flight home. good luck, edward. amanda, booked for next year, playing monthly by direct debit, let's hope i get it
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back. another reviewer says i might have to swing back home again. thank you for your comments, good luck, we will see very soon and we will you up—to—date. good morning. we had the last blast of summer warmth over the weekend, temperatures got up to 27, 20 eight celsius but today is the autumn equinox, someone has told the weather because it's turning much more autumnal, going to be quite wet and windy and feeling much cooler, certainly compared to yesterday. the re m na nts of certainly compared to yesterday. the remnants of hurricane humberto out towards the west linked in with the area of low pressure, the weather fronts moving eastwards today, some drizzly rain across the far north of scotla nd drizzly rain across the far north of scotland pushing northwards, any mist and fog in the north—east of england will clear and for many across northern and eastern parts will be sunshine through this morning, into the afternoon but for northern ireland, wales and the south—west of england, clouds thickening up and with that, some
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abrasive rain removing and which could be heavy and persistent later today. maximum temperatures about 17-21d. today. maximum temperatures about 17—21d. through tonight, the rain continuing to move into the north and the east, behind it, for showery outbreaks of rain, really quite a wet night to come from many of us, the wind strengthening around the south—west and overnight temperatures 13—15d. quite a mild start to tuesday morning, there will bea start to tuesday morning, there will be a thoroughly wet start to the day, we still had the remnants of the hurricane out towards the west, these weather fronts across the uk and more waiting out into the atla ntic and more waiting out into the atlantic for the rest of the week but during tuesday, there could be some travel disruption because of the strong winds, particularly in southern england and across wales. within this area of rain, there could be some thunderstorms soak torrential downpours for a time, that rain moving gradually eastwards, there will be some brighter skies developing behind that but also some heavy, perhaps
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thundery showers and gusty winds, wind gusts perhaps 40—50 miles an hour around coastal parts of south—west england and wales and maximum temperatures on tuesday about 18 — 19 degrees. as i mentioned, for the rest of the week, staying very unsettled, autumnal, low pressure system is continuing to move their way from west to east and that will throw in more rain as we go throughout the rest of the week so you can see here, a lot of rain symbols on the chart, temperatures about 16 — symbols on the chart, temperatures about16 — 20, symbols on the chart, temperatures about 16 — 20,20 symbols on the chart, temperatures about 16 - 20,201 symbols on the chart, temperatures about 16 — 20, 201 degrees, fairly gusty winds at times, these temperatures about the average for the time of year. goodbye.
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you're watching bbc news at nine with me, joanna gosling. the headlines: thomas cook collapses after last—minute negotiations to save the world's oldest tour operator fail. it is deeply distressing to me that it has not been possible to save one of the most—loved brands in travel. it's left 150 , 000 holidaymakers stranded, triggering a huge repatriation effort. they're great. this is the first let down but obviously it's their big let down as well, isn't it? you feel sorry for all the people that's lost theirjobs. and coming up at 9.15: we'll be speaking to a man who has two holidays booked with thomas cook and whose wife has worked at the company for two decades.
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