>> earnings from europe's largest engineering company break now. --speak to joe pfizer first joe kaiser first as he presents a new strategy. from hear exclusively the french finance minister. he says it is not all about the money. nasdaq on keeps the their toes as the company heads for an ipo today. >> welcome to "countdown."

a warm welcome to the program. it is 6:00 in london. we are just getting earnings from a number of engineering businesses around europe. let's start with those numbers from siemens. >> a lot of news surrounding siemens. it announces its strategy review today. it has bought some energy assets from rolls-royce. it is involved in this battle for various assets. lots to talk about. i have to deal with the earnings. david will deal with all of the other parts. second quarter income from continuing operations, 1.6 one billion euros. the analyst estimate was for a 1.78 billion. above last year's figures.

the good news for investors, the company has confirmed its forecast for the sheer of 15% earnings per share growth. .t has confirmed that forecast earnings per share will be 15%. markets remain challenging in 2014. despite the fact that it has confirmed the growth forecast for this year, markets to remain challenging. it is a massive day for siemens. let's talk about the company's new strategy. let's stop to david tweed. he is live at the headquarters in berlin. we will start with the earnings. a lotis all about about of other factors. >> it is all about this massive strategy review that siemens has been looking at vinson new ceo came in last august -- looking

at since the new ceo came in last august. i will see if i can run through the main items of this reorganization. gone are the four main sectors that siemens had under the previous ceo. by, they will be replaced nine separate divisions. those divisions will focus on what siemens is saying will be the growth areas. digitization, authorization. -- automation, electrification. to be runing completely separately. which is already leading to speculation that this division will eventually be spun off from siemens altogether. we have seen it before. the semi conductor business spun off. that is the speculation with regards to that. the nine other units will focus

on these areas. these arewant to do, the fastest-growing areas they have identified. you want to fill the gaps in their portfolio, which is why we have that centerpiece announcement for this whole day, the 1.3 billion-dollar purchase of the turbine business from rolls-royce. we broke that news last week. there are also other things that are going on. employee incentive programs, they want 200,000 employees to own shares. icing on the cake, it is on the board level. they have been accused of being too german on that board. they have a new board member, lisa davis. she is american, female, an executive from royal dutch shell. responsible for energy.

>> you will be speaking to the man himself, the chief executive joe kaiser a little later. what are you going to ask him? >> we want to see what we can finally understand are the contours of the proposed siemens bid. they said they want to make a bid, could that include general electric assets? will there be some sort of three-way asset swap? the creation of two national champions? a french train production manufacturer and energy business in germany. those are some of the things i want to ask him about. their business in russia, the visit he made when he went to moscow and met president vladimir putin after the annexation of crimea. >> we will see you throughout the morning.

david tweed. breaking --are also there is rivalry in this story. alstom. ous a full year net income of 566 million euros. for the frenches engineering business. that will not be the full story today because plenty to talk about around the strategy. in lieu of that, what they are saying is they reserve the right to engage in talks with serious bidders. they have said they are discussing the ge offer, $17 billion. they have said in the past that they are in talks with ge about that, but they reserve the right to engage in talks with serious bidders. they may not solicit auster's -- offers for the purchase of their

energy operations. numbers, cashg us flow, and other parts of the company. let's get some of the broader context around the story. paris, joins us from where she is outside the company's headquarters. the numbers look like they have missed compared to what analysts were estimating. that is right. speak tof alstom will the press in a couple of hours from now. the question on everybody's lips take ge's they will offer for their energy units. the french government has been pretty vocal. it does not want to give away tom that easily.

president hollande was saying the counter offers were not sufficient, not acceptable, and he was looking for more guarantees. i spoke exclusively to the finance minister last night in paris. he says it is not all about the money. >> it is not only about the money. the money question is for shareholders, not the state. the state does not have a preference. it is here to look at the different offers made to shareholders. among these offers, how are strategic interest are preserved. we are playing our role just like any other state would. there are three things the french government wants to see. one is to protect the french company employs about 18,000 people in france. the second one is to keep the

headquarters here in paris. preserve one is to france's energy independence. 75% ofrepresents about the energy needs -- it relies on nuclear energy. for some ofrbines these nuclear reactors. he did not learning -- like accusing-- he is alstom of negotiating behind the government back and he would prefer some sort of swap with siemens. some political standpoint to reassure the public there is still patriotism and france. >> thank you very much.

>> alibaba dominate the news today after filing for an ipo. it could be one of the largest ever in the united states. talk us -- talk to us about the details. awaitedhas been long comic it has been the -- this has been long awaited, it has been the buzz in hong kong. highly files for this anticipated ipo, potentially the largest ever in the united states. here is what we know. raise as much as $20 billion. it values the company at $168 billion. that is worth more than 95% of .he s&p 500 numbers alone this company makes more money than amazon and ebay behind. it has 231 million customers. it is a formidable force and it even has the chinese banks

worried that they may take some of their customers. this market value is huge. the question is, as this ipo proceeds, the roadshow happens, where they will list the stock. will it be the nyse or the nasdaq exchange? how will investors latch onto an ipo the like they have never seen? alibaba is a force in china's e-commerce market. >> thank you. i want to talk about two companies with links to russia. , that is a miss. inhas written down goodwill its russian unit. it cited the drop in the ruble, growing uncertainty concerning the environment, and delayed performances. -- >>t is impacting

russia also impacting on carlsberg. shares up by 20 basis points. ukraine, they are saying they are operating with very limited disruptions in ukraine. we will have more on the russia story and how that is impacting areas european businesses a little bit later. we will have full analysis. >> russian stocks may be down on the year, but our next guest some key buying opportunities. find out why he says to forget facebook. ♪

>> time for today's company news. agreed to pay $14.2 billion for merck over-the-counter products. said it would put the money from selling it over-the-counter business into new drugs.

rough diamond prices gained about 10% this year. diamonds been up about 19% of anglo-americans sales in 2013. the u.s. is pressing for guilty pleas for parent companies of banks under investigation, including credit suisse. they're trying to settle a u.s. tax evasion probe. prosecutors have won guilty pleas from subsidiaries of large banks, they have not gone after holding company since the financial crisis. welcome to "countdown." >> russian stocks are down. our next guest says it has exposed a buying opportunity. therman of the invest in -- chairman joins us now. good morning, stephen. blair was right.

i think his point was that at the end of the day, the political and broccoli o at the broglio --ssia -- in broccol there is a confluence of interest. that means that at the moment, we are caught up in u.s. electoral politics and there may be a desire to sound tough, but over a. of time, that is when president is in power, does the rest really want to abandon all does the west? -- really want to abandon all of those serious? the political crisis has its limits. turning to the economy for a second, the middle classes are entrenched in russia. the crossing of the rubicon to move away from a communist

economy to a mixed economy is so well entrenched that it is unstoppable. positionputin's own has been strengthened internally. well in russia. from a position of strength, he will be able to see, hang on a minute, the weakness of the economy is a political weakness. from that position, i have an interesting feeling that some of that much in of reform will come . >> what is your interesting feeling tell you about where you should put your money? you have to be pretty convinced that the economy in russia is only going to get so weak. >> the market has already moved. russian stocks are down 30% on a hard currency basis. they were already cheap. -- when youation is

look at emerging-market investing, the time to invest is when there is a crisis. this is an is interesting opportunity. >> what are the types of stock we should be investing in within russia? >> i am less keen on the energy plays. company has 10% dividend. people will still be using their mobile phones. consumer plays in russia are safer. at the end of the day, the market will do well. >> we will take a short break. we will get some of stephen's thoughts on some of the scenes of the day. ♪

>> welcome back. >> we're back with steve and i six -- isaacs. alibaba has announced its intention to list in the united states. we do not have the details, of course. a wave of investor and doozy as and for chinese internet stocks. are you enthusiastic -- investor

enthusiasm for chinese internet stocks. are you enthusiastic? >> no, i am not. i am concerned about them. >> you have to look at the proportion of chinese people online and make predictions whether it will develop in line with western economies. the snap not -- does that not hold water with you? greater usagebe of internet-based technologies. we are not quite sure who is going to benefit. the view that there will have to be one dominant player, when google, one apple, i am not sure that is true. we do not know how these things will play out. when you're asking to be paid up fan. for that, i am not a >> is your lack of faith, is that reflected on your view of the bond market?

which is outperformed this year to the surprise of many. >> it is often a fantastic canary in the coal mine. ability toncanny somehow put its finger on something that is troubling the world. whether it is geopolitical risks, or after five years of economic expansion, we are due a recession. it is surprising the bond market has done what it has done. we are quite concerned about that. >> rates are staying lower just a little bit longer. >> you could argue that this is a yield curve flattening play. this time last year, the bond market act up almost 100 basis points and that was telling us something. >> that was furor over tapering

beginning. -- fear over tapering beginning. >> this is beyond central-bank activity. it was about eurozone picking up steam in all sorts of factors. we just feel that growth in the u.s. may not be as strong as the market is relying on. if you are relying on a half-full cup scenario and it turns out to be half empty, the disappointment can be quite profound. we are talking about housing bubbles and how they get pricked and all sort of macro credential issues the bank of england will have to look at. >> let's talk about him in a for a moment. american businesses are looking m&a foret's talk about him an a moment. money beinga lot of

sloshed around. i am less interested in chasing these developed markets. they have had a fantastic run and it is difficult to be bearish on them because the upon esch the economy appears to be ok and central-bank activity, but evaluations are very stretched. >> what else should we be dipping our toes into? >> european credit can perform very well to share. has said they will do something. the question is, what will they do? conventional qe is just too complicated. it is quite likely they will do corporate debt or bank debt or something like that. >> stephen, thank you very much. >> carlsberg russian hangover, we will look at the problems of brewer faces in its largest

markets. ♪

>> welcome back. let's get over to jonathan ferro. >> thank you very much. this is the best-performing major currency so far this year. today, it is the worst performing major. it is the kiwi. speaking,nk governor suggesting he could intervene. the tightening cycle has already started in new zealand. the appreciation could temper the aggressiveness.

when graham wheeler speaks, the market is listening. >> thank you very much. minister iseign calling for talks to help resolve the crisis in ukraine. the geneva accord designed to reduce tensions is still in effect. the g-7 says it wants to diversify the world sources of energy. it is committed to aid countries which depend on a series ash a single energy provider. the french energy mr. said -- energy minister said energy should never be used as a weapon of war. the united states is sending a team to nigeria to rescue more than 200 girls did not buy militants. boko haram claims responsibility for the abductions.

we spoke with nigeria's finance minister. she says the rise of militancy stems from a lack of jobs among the country's youth. it is not the immediate problem we are facing. they are looking at the short term. we have to look at the underlying factors. how do we create jobs for our youth? >> breaking numbers from francis -- france's second-biggest bank. good morning. is it to do with russia? >> it is all to do with russia. socgen andlk about even if you took out that

russian write-down, they would have missed on their numbers. it is the russian -- think of the ruble. they are attributing the evaluation change -- the valuation change to growing uncertainty. business,ook at the and you look inside the bank, corporate investment banking, you are seeing their revenue drop. fixed income commodities and currency, the bane of this quarter, down 16%. business, consumer that is doing quite well. a story about russia overall. >> how big is the russia business overall to them? about 13 billion euros.

they have just recently taken 100% control. we are committed. it will take a little bit more time. i have about 3.5% of their earnings in russia. it is their largest market by clients. that gives you a sense. >> may 13, investor day, what are we watching? >> return on equity. return on equity is the core focus. 10% for them. 15% for ups. dividends,about whether they will raise the dividend. >> thank you. we will pick up on the russia theme. let's talk about carlsberg. we have had earnings from that

brewing business as well. ryan chilcote is here. >> a different company, but many of the same issues. in the lastss money quarter than one investors were anticipating. about a third less than what the expectation was. their warning they will make less money in the future than they thought. is carlsbergfor me sank the russian market will decline in the mid-single digits . before they had said it would decline in a single digits or low single digits. >> people are seeing that as worse. >> russians are drinking less beer in a nutshell. they did increase market share by a little bit. it will be interesting to see.

russia is massively important. they are the number one brewer in russia. they are the number two brewer in ukraine. ast year, they got more than third of their profit in eastern europe. just because two countries are embroiled in a conflict, it is not clear why people would drink less beer. >> in ukraine, they are operating with very much a distraction. -- very limited destruction. >> it kind of just began. there are plenty of other problems. currency depreciation, the ruble is down about seven percent against the dollar. they report -- there is a foreign currency conversion. the ukrainian currency is down by much more. in both countries, the economies are really going somewhere in a

handbasket. of issues, not to mention uncertainty. .> thank you very much stay with bloomberg for more on those numbers out of carlsberg. jeeps for europeans and offer mayo's for the well-to-do -- alpha romero. hans nichols joins us. this is his third plan. is this one going to work? could be his most ambitious, it depends on whether or not you buy a jeep or anna buys -- i will let you guys decide. it is almost like he is a male teenaged driver. have 7 million for

global sales in 2018. vw, 10 million. .oyota, north of 10 million fiat wants to have profits around $48 billion. 4.7.e at about on the 48 billion, that is how much they will be spending. this is about revitalizing some brands that are well known. take a look at what he wants to do for jeep sales. he wants to double them to one point 9 million global. right now, did just make jeeps in north america. he wants to have plans in latin america and china and europe. here are the figures on alfa. heterms of growth, where expects it, do not look for him to see the growth here, because

he is not confident there'll be growth here in europe. >> in 2010, i was hoping that europe would not go to hell. in the interim, you have managed to send europe to hell. maybe i was incredibly naïve. i was hoping that europe would stop bleeding. in the interim, we have lost another 4 million cars. >> you are more confident this time? x i am much more confident in not relying on europe. >> they also reported first-quarter results. they were disappointing. there was a one-time issue. they need to revitalize a lot of these brands and have more growth outside of europe. >> thank you. >> coming up, you'll never

believe which royal was spotted flying economy on american airlines. ♪

>> time for today's company

news. siemens report rockets that missed analyst estimates -- reported profits that missed analyst estimates. they laid out the first detailed to close the profitability caga. they also announced the acquisitions of energy assets from rolls-royce holdings. it expanded just before a drop --demand, causing offers losses in four of six quarters. phone's second biggest company agreed to pay 725 million euros for controlling stake in the pay television unit. the purchase would expand its spanish business.

back.e let's have a look at what is in today's newspapers. jonathan ferro joins us. let's start with you. excise matters if you did not know -- >> size matters if you did not know. .o the dinosaurs as well the smaller you work, the bigger your potential to evolve and survive climatic change. here is another piece of information for you. it is good to be small, and a. -- anna. dinosauras the biggest ? >> there will be five-year-old shouting at the screen now. this will be a programming highlight for them.

this is a question that is being much debated at my house. qualified.rly not i will talk about prince william and what he has or has not been doing. according to a number news sources, prince william has been spotted flying coach on american airlines flight from memphis to dallas. far be it to me for me to know anything about this story. i do not know if you can see. dallas.e pictures in these pictures that appear on the website, you can check them, they are online all over the place. i am not convinced. >> should we point out there is a chance that there may not have

been any business class seats? >> memphis to dallas? let's see how he flies new york to london. >> maybe the palace has a travel policy. you have to go coach. >> they will have enough miles to get to their next tourist destination. >> housing bubble. the oecd has weighed in on those house price increases and says banks must first the housing bubble -- must burst the housing bubble. price rises are coming too fast and that is the danger of the economy, which they forecast to grow by 3.2% in the united kingdom. let's hope they do not follow

their device. -- follow their advice. do not want the bubble to burst? but i do not want the bubble to burst. i like living in my bubble. >> it has been a wonderful season if you are a manchester united fan. james wilson, the neustar of manchester united. this was the final home game. first time he played for the big boys and he scored two goals. the interim manager, he came on as sub. >> i am not a fan, i would not know. >> 13 championships.

he is an old man. james wilson. 3-1 to manchester united. if we win on sunday, we are in the league. >> the sporting broadcast. >> the daily service. we have one more game in the premier league and then you are done with me. >> and then we're on to cricket. the latest into earnings from siemens with the ceo. he will be joining us on the program. ♪

>> welcome back. from tour guides to aire, we take a look at the rise of jack ma. ♪

>> singing on a stage in front of thousand 74 use, jack -- thousand employees, jack ma is not your average chairman. he is 49 years old and was trained as an english teacher. he learned the language by working as a tour guide and listen to voice of america. he started one of china's first internet company. he persuaded 80 people to give him $60,000. that was the beginning of what is now the ali baba group. e-commerce,nown for both consumer and business to business. in clouds involved computing, banking, tv production, and an online music service. the personal fortune is valued around $13 billion.

money does not seem to be his motivation, but building an empire is. he told charlie rose, if alibaba microsoft ors walmart, he will regret it for the rest of his life. >> called -- carlsberg has cut its forecast. >> both reported they will make less money than investors were anticipating. in the future, they will make less money than they thought they were going to make. theheadline is they think russian market overall is going to shrink in the mid-single digits. they thought that it was going to shrink in the low single digits. there are always cryptic in this type of stuff. that is important. why? they are the biggest brewer in

russia and the second-biggest brewer in ukraine. they have more than a third of their profit from eastern europe. while it is not intuitive why just because there is turmoil in a region and they're embroiled in a conflict, people would link dress -- people would drink less beer. it is also what it means when you turn that into profit. currency depreciation is a big issue. the ruble is the second worst performing currency. out of 24 that we track. behind the argentine peso. is downinian currency more than 25%. plus you have the economic actor economic backdrop. >> a lot of uncertainty over what happens now in the ukraine and russia. the picture be that

is painted in these numbers. if you think in economic terms, says that russia is in a technical recession. real larger recession deepens, what will people do with their habits? what will be russian government do to increase revenue? in ukraine, the situation is even moredeepens bizarre. the eastern part of the country is blockaded by the central government. what does that mean for their ability to do logistics? how was diplomacy working? >> it is working very poorly. the russian foreign minister was in vienna yesterday. he met with the german foreign minister. the germans have been trying to get the russians to agree to another round of geneva talks.

the russian foreign minister i see no need for the geneva talks unless the separatists are invited. >> earlier, we got earnings from siemens. europe us now is our editor, david tweed. he is with the ceo. i certainly am. we did have those first quarter earnings out, but it is the reorganization. art of it looks as if it might involve some bid for alstom. i have joe kaeser with me. i want to get a sense of what are the contours of what you might repost with regard to als tom. >> this would be very premature so far, we have

got what we wanted. there was some sort of one-sided offer, which we heard about. best interest of the shareholders, we would look at the asset. this is what the board has thought about. we have given them two days to specify what the interest could be all about. what that could look like as a hypothetical case. the board decided to give us four weeks time to decide whether or not we will deliver an offer. offerit possible that the might include general electric? is that something that is under consideration? >> we do what we need to do. i guess combining some sort of things altogether would make that more complex.

we have to get the complexity out of our way. >> can one assume your offer will likely be based on what the french have been talking about? france,tion maker in energy businesses here. what is your motivation for going to make an offer? >> to fully understand the opportunities and risks and to look at it from the perspective of our shareholders, the priorities are company have been setting. this is not going to be forced on us. we are going to be under control as we are today. said theench president ge offer was not adequate. it is about job creation.

do you envision that siemens would be able to make some sort of an offer that has a component of job creation in france? what the president said has a lot of truth in it. standshat the company for. what is its value to society? why is it that this company exists? there has to be something else than quarterly money. i believe this is a very clear and thoughtful way of considering and checking our options for the greater good of the stakeholders. in the end, we are doing what we believe this right. one gets a sense the french government is looking at your proposal. what about the german government? have you spoken to angela merkel about the offer? a regular basis

about many things. she wanted to know what this is all about. we discussed the opportunities, we discussed the risks. we discussed what this could mean for europe. we are responsible to our shareholders and that is why we need to consider our options. >> i understand that she was rather annoyed by your trip to russia. i see you are slated to be at the st. petersburg for him um.king about -- for onthe amount of things going with her organization, the leadership it takes to get the french sorted out in a meaningful and long-term way, this requires me to be here. >> it looks like a scheduling clash. i do what i believe is right.

>> i want to look at the reorganization. you are taking but of cost us out. we are looking at the health care unit. people are talking about the possibility it will be spun off. what are the plans for the health care unit? >> we do one step at a time. it returns a lot of cash. it is very well managed. we have decided we are going to spin off -- which has little to no synergies in the company. it can do better on its own. has been a massive success for everyone involved. is a great asset within the company. however, the way they do

it is not one-size-fits-all. we give them the opportunity to be their own boss and their own company. thinking ik, i was wanted to ask you about the fact a board that got bavaria or all from at least germany, all male. and now you have trumped me. you have lisa davis coming in. how did you choose her? bavaria or at least germany, all male. gender and weo by do not go by passport. we go with what we believe is good for the company. >> i want to talk more about the reorganization. you will take out one billion euros worth of productivity gains. can you tell us more about how you will do that? >> we said we have a long-term

plan. .t is about energy management it is about health care. you have to be as innovative as you can possibly be. it is not enough because there is a distance in between. if you want to be really good, you have to shorten the distance between innovation and between the customer. to make that innovation more effective. that is why we have been making the company less complex and how we administer it. >> you seem to be stripping out a lot of bureaucracy. what will the cost in terms of jobs? we make the company better. out, takes some resources

look at it. accused ofe who are being bureaucratic -- >>, new jobs is this reorganization going to cost? ask i will tell you him -- >> i will tell you when we are done. for people and how we can put them to work in r&d, manufacturing. books are you going to incentivize the employees? -- >> you are going to incentivize -- incentivize the employees? >> i have been thinking about what i want this company to be. this is why i am near. the other thing, how to get there. what are the competencies that

you need to get the job done? it is also about people see if they do their job well, they should be part of it. this is why we have decided to give up to 400 million on top of the current to our people. this is ownership culture. if you get the job done, you should be part of it. >> joe kaeser, thank you very much for speaking to bloomberg. a lot of changes coming up at siemens. >> david, thank you. david influencing. >> five minutes off seven here in london. the uk's third largest supermarket chain is reporting earnings.

in terms of the pretax profit it has come in at 798 million pounds. that is better than the estimates. the revenue is broadly in line billion.mates, 23.9 5 we already knew their sales picture. that is what they told us on march 8 team. -- 18th. what is interesting is what they are saying about the future. conditions and food are likely to remain challenging. a lot of people talking about rice wars in the u.k. grocery market. things --g to get their take on whether they will be entering into that or not.

how much do they want to grow over the next year? what kinds of stores will be be getting? all of that as the run-up towards the change in leadership . michael be taking over in july from justin king. to the cfotalking over at st. mary. ainsbury. socgen.talk about about socgen. investors will be focusing on the russian link. >> we have one very common theme. how much of an impact? they are taking it in the form of a goodwill write-down.

25 million euros. corporate investment banking, the same as everybody else. the numbers down by 16%. commodities and currencies, the bane of every bank ceo's life. where the problem is. >> put it in context. but it is not the huge earner for them, but it is their biggest business for them in terms of the numbers of clients they deal with outside of france. 13 billion euros. for they aree this tying up -- almost a majority

holding. about 3.5% of their earnings. monumental, but it will expose the uncertainty. >> we have investor day coming up. >> may 13. >> i feel we should help you out. >> i have a full entourage of helpers. >> you too will regret this. will regret this. >> i thought i was being helpful. >> you are, he is being patronizing. 10% return on equity.

if it is almost in my consciousness. how i communicate with ceo's. bring women onto the board. >> i do not know what david tweed was thinking. fascinating. >> go and lie down. alibaba dominates the news today. >> it could be one of the largest ipos ever in the united states. not bad for an english school teacher. about gettingking into ceo's mind. i wish i could figure out how he created such a blockbuster company. it started back in 1990 nine. yesterday, he filed for what could be the largest ipo in u.s. history. valued as much as $20 billion. at 168value estimated

billion dollars. that is bigger than 99% of the s&p 500. it makes more money than amazon and ebay combined. customers, all of the size of the u.s. population. its new payment system is expected to revolutionize and turn the banking system on its head. china's banks are on edge. this is a major deal and it will take months as it goes on roadshow. remarkable. >> thank you very much. >> we will talk earnings, u.s. expansion. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." >> 14 minutes past 7:00. let's get more insight with the ceo, nigel wilson joins us. plenty to talk to you about.

let's deal with the performance of the business. it links nicely into the annuity story. annuity sales fell by 40%. talk us through what significance this has on the performance of your company. >> it will not impact the performance of the business. individual annuity market was profoundly changed by the chancellor. we will not go back to the past. we will see a huge to klein. -- decline. who retire do not automatically have to buy an annuity anymore? >> absolutely. it is a massive decline. we will see a bit of time shifting. they will buy one when they are 75 or 80 years of age. ?sk do you support the changes

>> we fully support the changes. it is the right thing for the chancellor's to do. >> how do you give some of your services? who pays for them? a lot of things yet to be decided. the chancellor has been very clever. he is outsourced to the regulators to see what we should do. role in the a large future of the pensions. >> what are the risks? that people will take out their lump sums and blow it? >> those people might want to boat. >> 70% have less than 30,000 pounds in their pensions. that is what we are more concerned about. people are not putting enough money aside.

we want to see much crater -- muchn the u.k. greater savings in the u.k. towards pensions. >> how are you balancing your business? what are you doing to mitigate the revenue losses? not too bothered about mitigating the losses. we have another set of record results despite the hiccup in the individual annuity market. we are confident about the future. we are expanding in america, which has been hugely successful. that is without any acquisitions. >> you have been doing some m&a? >> we have had some small

acquisitions in the last 12 months and they have all been successful. >> what about the u.k. economy? i saw in oneboom of your presentations this morning. is that how you are category senior -- categorizing it right now? -- london is the best city in the world in which to live. we have to encourage more of the capital to invest in the u.k., to help grow the u.k. economy. >> is that the right kind of recovery? you could look at what is happening with consumer spending. it has helped to line the pockets. underinvested in the u.k. and we are encouraging our business clients to invest. it is such a good place to invest and me has made massive investments to help accelerate

growth. >> when is the first rate hike? >> probably 2015. >> nigel, thank you very much. >> we will get more insight into the latest earnings from sain sbury. stay with us. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." sainsbury has released its earnings this morning. at the numbersok with the cfo john rogers. thank you for joining us. let's talk about how the business has performed. the numbers beating estimates as market share has stayed at a peak. you were talking about how the price war was a bit of a phony war. are the headline still being overdone? >> the reality about our sector is that there is always a price war, lots of competition on price. we often see often headline -- lots of headline announcements about ourselves and competitors cutting prices.

we have seen heightened activity over the last few weeks. >> rivals have been suggesting that they will throw a certain amount of money at pricing over the next months to come. is that something that sainsbury is not going to do? would you have to lose market share to justify that activity? >> we will not be losing market share and we will beat competitors on price, as we have been over the last 10 years. we always to the right thing by the customer. puts pricestry lower, we will match or competition. >> does that mean that if more decides theyison's will sacrifice margin to take on the discounters, you will be swept into that battle as well? >> we have to be competitive on

price. we have to do the right thing by our customers. we have often led on those investments. what is important to note is the -- to note is we have had a tough sector. struggling has been for some time and over that time, we have continued to grow our top line. we are able to grow our profits. profits growth of 5.3% over the last year. we have reported profit growth and increase in our capital. we are pleased with the performance we are reporting today and we're confident we can compete in the market going forward. x we saw the end of a nine-year run and increases in sales. what does the future look like? >> we are confident we can grow

ourselves going forward. should grow our sales going forward. -- we are confident we can grow our sales by two percent. we think we can continue to maintain our market share and grow our top line at the same time as maintaining a profitable business. >> what you think he will bring to the business? i read a tongue-in-cheek headline suggesting that justin king will be trying to avoid a david moment in a succession planning. difference.a key mike has been in the business for 10 years. he has been working alongside myself and just in. he has very much been part of the team. i do not think there will be a massive change in strategy going forward.

of course, we will tweak things to reflect the changes in the retail environment. i am confident we will have a smooth transition. all that in the face of conditions in the food market. challenging is the word being used today. >> there is no question it is challenging out there. a lot of talk about economic growth. we are not seeing any change in consumer behavior. they're still shopping. wasting less. although the challenges we have seen in the last five years, we expect to see for the next 12 months. we have been able to tackle those and deliver great results. >> great to speak to you. >> they have used challenging

every single year since 2008. >> that is how challenging it has been. ♪

>> welcome back. ad over to jonathan ferro. >> this is the keiwi. it is the worst-performing major currency. what you see is verbal intervention in operation. wheeler speaking early today suggesting they could intervene. remember, the tightening cycle in new zealand has started.

the appreciation of the currency over the last year could temper the need for an aggressive rate hike. when he speaks, the market is listening. >> jonathan ferro. bloomberg top headlines. russia's foreign minister is calling for talks to help resolve the crisis in ukraine. he says the geneva accord is still in effect. the g-7 says it wants to diversify the world sources of energy. it is committed to aid countries which depend on a single energy provider. ukraine gets most of its natural gas from russia. thatroup summit agreed energy should never be used as a weapon of four. the united states is sending a team to nigeria to locate and rescue more than 200 girls

kidnapped by militants. focus around -- boko haram claims responsibility for the abductions. bloomberg spoke with nigerian finance minister. she says the rise of militancy stems from a lack of jobs among the country's youth. >> the world he cannot fix for ,im -- the world economic forum it is not the immediate problem we are facing. they are looking at the short term. start to look at the underlying factors. how to re-create jobs for our youth? these typesot join of extremist groups. >> earlier, we got earnings from siemens. we heard from joe kaeser. david tweed has more.

>> you had the earnings come up with this announcement of a complete new strategic reorganization of the company. taking out a whole a rogue bureaucracy. -- a whole level of bureaucracy. the potential bid for alstom, why do they want to do it and what will they get out of it? >> there was some sort of one-sided offer, which we heard about. we would look at -- this is what the board has thought about. when we gave the proposal of what that could look like as a hypothetical case, the board decided to give us four weeks

time to do do do legends and do do legendso and decide. -- due diligence and decide. going toknow they are be able to have a good look at the financial books. the other interesting thing, completely squash the idea that any offer could involve a three-way asset breakup, including ge. we do not want to go anywhere near that complexity. this is about simplification. he got into some trouble after meeting vladimir putin after the annexation of crimea. what did he have to say about that? was absolutely scorched by the media.

angela merkel was said to be extremely upset. trip that was coming up to russia, the st. petersburg. he is slated to be in st. petersburg speaking on the panel on may 22. i said, are you planning to go? he said, i am really very busy. i have to talk about the bid. busy.ence, too he will not be turning up. which will be something of a relief for the communications people and sending a strong message. outt of u.s. ceo's dropping . this is the sort of thing that could make vladimir putin feel very embarrassed. >> thank you, david. was discussed in that interview, no doubt very

interesting to the french company at the center. potential bids from general electric and siemens. they put up numbers as well this morning. that is right. alstom missed estimates for the full year net income. whether they will validate the $17 billion bid for the energy unit. the ceo just walked in about an hour ago. he is on a conference call at the moment and he was told in a press conference in about an hour from now. they reserve the right to engage

in talks with serious bidders. a message here for siemens. they have not come yet with a binding offer. the conditions are not met for siemens to access. the french government has been pretty vocal, i do not want to give them away that easily. we had francois hollande saying yesterday the offers were not sufficient, not acceptable. what does the french government mean by saying that? i talked to the friends -- to the french find -- the french finance minister. against not about going it. the french government is not here to counter any offer. it is here to check whether french strategic interests are respected. you have the jobs, decision

centers, and what happens to production, especially in the energy business. it also in regards to french public orders. >> the french government wants to see three things. protect teen -- rejecting the the jobs,rotecting they employ about 18,000 people. make wind turbines that are used in nuclear reactors. nuclear represents about 75% of france's energy needs. he is accused the company of going behind the government back. --has suggested that ge said would noteo create any synergies. we will hear more from them in about half an hour.

>> thank you very much. >> south africa voted today. the president is widely expected to win another term. what does his party need to focus on to revitalize the company? investor confidence has taken a hit as the economy slows. do you think investors are convinced of his plan? >> good morning. i think investors are looking to the incoming administration to provide some policy certainty and policy clarity. key to that will be implementing its program called the national development plan. that seems to boost economic growth to more than five percent and bring down the jobless rate, 14%, and provide a bit -- a

better business climate in which mining companies can operate. at the moment, south africa is in the midst of a three-month platinum strike. the immediate priority of the administration is going to be to bring some kind of stability to the mining industry. that will go a long way to .rovide and restore confidence >> south africa has been overtaken by nigeria as the biggest economy on the african continent. we have the world economic forum starting in nigeria today. our investors following suit in choosing nigeria over south africa? is no doubt that nigeria has immense growth potential. it is africa's biggest oil producer and most populous nation. a large consumer market.

however, nigeria does have deep rooted problems. it is battling an insurgency in the north. we have seen violence spreading to the capital. there were two bomb attacks in the past month that left more than 90 people dead. the 200 schoolgirls that were kidnapped in the north. a deep-seated problem. -- it hasca's wealth the deepest financial markets on the continent. until nigeria can catch up, south africa will continue to be a favorite destination for investors. >> thank you. ceat and -- fiat announces a new growth program.

♪

>> welcome back. >> let's talk about cars.

jeeps. which one do you fancy? a growth plan that aims to increase sales by 60% in four years. hans nichols joins us now. this is his third plan, will this one work? >> it depends what you buy. i see you in anaphora mayo -- in an alfa romeo. he has made clear that this is his last man. here's the interesting thing about this plan. it is so ambitious, when you look at the numbers they are trying to achieve. $7 million in sales by 2018. vw, $10million -- million. 132 billion dollars in revenue they want to see by 2018.

and come in the $5 billion range. the $5 billion range. this is heavily dependent on some revitalized brands. building jeeps outside of the u.s. they want to have target sales of about 1.9 million vehicles. they will be building those outside of north america. in europe, brazil, china. meo, look at the numbers. they want to get to 400,000. that is up from 74,000. the growth will not be happening here in europe. the ceo was very clear that there is not going to be growth here. was hoping that europe would not go to hell. in the interim, you have managed .o send europe to hell

maybe i was incredibly naïve. i was hoping that europe would stop bleeding. in the interim, we have lost another 4 million cars. >> you are more confident this time? >> i am much more confident and not relying on europe. >> even in the midst of all of these positive and ambitious goals, growth for europe, he expects to stay flat at 700,000 vehicles. quarterly earnings, they missed on analyst estimates. overall, this is a confident driver. the question is, is he a good driver? >> hans nichols reporting from berlin. we will see whether investors share their ambition. >> there is one top theme and

her name is janet yellen. testifying on monetary policy. gdp, do not worry about it, it was the weather. great numbers on the headlines. inflation is still too low. the curveball could be financial stability. almost 12 months since ben bernanke said, we might step down asset purchases. the euros needs that ben bernanke moment again. speechwriter. her >> this is the jonathan ferro preview. >> what does considerable mean? >> she will going -- she's is going to get pushed on it. the fed is on autopilot. >> to buy very much. -- thank you very much. sainsbury holds onto its market

share. mayill see of the report move the stock. that is next. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." >> let's talk about where these markets are heading. minutes away from the opening of equity trading. plenty for our next guest to respond to. james, thank you for coming in.

are we going to be focusing on the individual's story? or is it going to be about twitter, a technology hangover from u.s. trading? >> we will split down the middle. too big to ignore today. those numbers are not great, but they are not too bad either. , one about article lot of the hedge funds moving away from sainsbury, mainly to do with the competition. this whole point of successful ceo's moving aside and taking up the mantle is incredibly hard. >> the telegraph had this article about three different ft se companies. likening them to manchester united.

>> they cited the word challenging. they have used challenging each year since 2008. the word. used the food market is challenging. the backdrop is challenging. >> i challenge you to find a new press writer. >> what about the broader markets? we did see twitter down 18% yesterday. >> the whole tech issue has not gone away. we are worrying about these tech stocks. there have been other stories that have come around. we have seen some pretty good earnings, but there is that fear. ,he news from alibaba yesterday another big ipo. these tech stocks are looking very strong on the top of it. the investors to not have confidence at the moment.

>> investors in alibaba -- >> our guests were suggesting happeningpo, the m&a mike harold something more sinister. herald something more sinister. we are looking at huge companies. in terms of this week, we are still looking, a lot of analyst talking about last week's u.s. jobs data. this potential change in monetary policy. for the first time in a long time, interested in those initial weekly claims. we ignore them for a long time. earnings from -- showing the

impact of geopolitical tensions and the exposure to russia. >> the drinks industry has been a strange one for a while. all of those coming out and really struggling in terms of their profit numbers. -- youur subject it to have big exposure in russia. chinaeas in the world -- is struggling and russia is struggling for other reasons, there will be issues with the numbers. especially the drinks industry. >> janet yellen talks today to the joint economic committee. will she give anything away? sometimes they do. >> every now and again. >> thank you very much for joining us.

>> guess what is next. it is "on the move." >> that will do it for "countdown." have a good day, everybody. ♪

"on the move. oh i am francine lacqua. we are moments away from the start of european trading and our markets team has everything covered. here with me is manus cranny. david tweed joins us from berlin our international correspondent hans nichols is from our studios in berlin. for slightly lower opening

four days in a row. i don't think the ukraine crisis is driving markets but it is a confirmation of issues with german data. factory orders dipped slightly. china -- land sales dropping in 20% of the biggest cities in china. and socgen. they lost russian business at over half a billion euros. it is the biggest exposure for them but if they have to do this for the first quarter, what does it mean for russia going forward? >> we have figures from carlsberg. the biggest russian brewer. we will have more of that shortly. david is in headquarters in berlin. of newse a lot coming out of siemens.