set to show the strongest quarter in three years. >> speaking of gdp, grew faster than expected. consumer splurged ahead of a tax hike. >> david tweed takes us inside adidas for an interview with their ceo. >> welcome to "countdown." >> welcome to the program. it is 6:00 in london.

a great day for various european countries. we look at the numbers from france. let's get the details of what to expect. setthan ferro joins us on with a preview. what do we need to look out for? the last couple of quarters growth.got to enjoy when you dig down beneath these numbers, this could be the best growth in some three years. when you look at the individual hentries -- germany, france, italy, those numbers are barely touching growth. when you get these high figures come it adds fuel to the fire. mario draghi sat there last week and said that reports are

circulating that the german --tral bank has stimulus via sure. we're not quite >> certainly not a done deal. talk.ere was from everything you read, it is not a done deal, is it? >> not at all. we had to look at the maxis. the really matters is outlook of inflation. it look for the average inflation of 1%. think -- are they going to readjust the forecast for next year and the year after.

we will stop low inflation. that, thatreaddress is a point that mario draghi has to walk a walk. their core view is that inflation is not necessarily going to dip into that negative territory. it is having an impact on the euro. that is quite a dramatic turnaround. people were talking about i dollar $.40. questioning it during the rest conference. we're inching higher and higher. the word still count for something. and they're all saying the same thing. >> they have got to back it up with some action. we hear time and again from

european companies that talk about the strength of the euro. fromy not be materials that perspective. list move on to talk about the bank of england good you are at the press conference yesterday around the inflation reports. >> the forecast slightly unchanged. wordsare a couple of everyone has been picking up on. it would be gradual and limited and vista -- below historical averages. they really pushed us against the wall. >> that is a phenomenal promise. >> i went and spoke to him. can they really promise that? hike,nger they leave that the more difficult it has gotten to be. that will be very ethical.

lot of them talked about it being above target. inflation the environment, what will happen going forward? it could go further south. they looked through that weakness. strength,persistent that is done to impact growth. that is something to look for in the coming month. the same situation as the euro, you get close to a dollar $.40. that is going get a lot more concerned. >> thank you very much. we will look ahead to those gdp numbers out of the eurozone coming up. >> france is the first of? -- first one? >> yes. that is just before the

government introduced a sales tax. but suppose some people are saying this is one of the greatest manipulators that could have been delivered out japan. wonder whatto message it tells us. before thelect just sales tax increase. there is the assumption in their that a lot of people have shifted in that it is better than estimated and looks better than previous quarters. better.mbers were the estimate was 4.2%. there isle are saying some strength in the economy for further quantitative easing. >> indeed. we did a survey. that there will be

additional stimulus. i wonder when they're going to do that poll again. these numbers were so good and so strong. stronger than anyone thought. thank goodness for bloomberg industries. it is an indication of where we are. zero.tion comes back to it is a first time since 2009 we are back at zero. that does a bigger story of what is going on behind the numbers. onthese numbers could be because of that sales tax. surveytalking about a and the expectation for growth in the coming quarters. of 3.3as a contraction are sent. and there is an increase of two percent. it does look as if we are owing to be trying to work through the fx of the sales tax hike for

many quarters. tax hikes of the sales for many quarters. will be talk about german gdp. we can get the eurozone number later. david tweed is standing by with one of germany's most famous companies. take a look at some of the companies diving the german economy. modern campuses in germany. what is it like? >> the building i'm standing in was only opened about three years ago. that designt incentives in here. we go in various parts of the campus. it is quite an extraordinary campus. we wereof the building,

not allowed to take our cameras because what they have got is so top-secret in terms of their latest designs coming up. that is something to watch out for later on. and takell go outside a look at the history and the sporting facilities that are here. this is quite extraordinary company. it is quite old. average age of the people working here is a roundabout 30 years old. pretty extraordinary. energy thatnse of you get when you're wandering around the campus. of the other children very thing is the range of people here are coming from all around the world who are working here in the campus. i will try to say the word [indiscernible] urinating normally call it [indiscernible] -- here they normally call it

[indiscernible] >> bavaria. good attempt. what else do we have coming up? >> german gdp -- it is a very typical german company. it has thousands of employees. then play around 3800. it is a big exporter -- they higher around 3800. it is a big exporter. there are many questions hanging over the german economy. what is going on in the russian market? what is going on in the latin american market? how much will china impact their export earnings? i have got some great interviews coming up as well.

i have the head of the foot innovation. he is responsible for developing shoes like this one, similar to -- the will be worn by you.vid, thank thatoking forward to interview. coming up, a preview on the gdp data. we look at the inside perspective. ♪

newsme for today's company . withperimental cancer drug patients in an early-stage study that pfizerhe case undervalues the company. they could generate billions according to an analyst.

bnp paribas, the french bank faces possible penalties for violating u.s. sanctions. part of the plan, they are proposing to manage all of the transactions from new york. u.s. authorities are seeking more than -- tencent, asia's largest internet company, jumps in trading. profits beat analysts estimates. welcome back to "countdown." >> we will get the first goal of european gdp data. let's take a look ahead to those

reports and what to expect. great to have you with us this morning. it is going to be the fastest growth in three years. it is still poetry, isn't it? >> it is. 0.9%.around that is really the story of the euro. it has been strong. they are comparing it to three years ago. i really think as long as that there -- forwell, ,he people were in the markets

let's not get too ahead of ourselves. we will wait for those cpi numbers. i think it will, on the second or third of june. it will go up from 0.7% of 20.9%. -- up to 0.9%. drug he was not dragging his feet. he wanted to see evidence that cbi -- mario draghi was not dragging his feet. he wanted to see evidence that cpi had gone up. >> kerley come up with a simple rule of some in the next cup -- can he come up with a simple rule in the next couple of months? is it literally they really are hanging on this one number? >> yes. >> people have been saying that

he lost the effectiveness in trying to do talk down the euro. basically what it is, yields are down. we have recovered. our nations are being upgraded. to do we have to resort cutting rates when they are near zero when things are ok? wheeling had to resort to this. -- we only had to resort to this. there is a risk of a downside on the price level. draghi has referred to the value of the euro. referencecally is

there. it is a problem for industry. it is a problem for europe and the currency. >> it is. do remember the days when it used to be that b word for "brutal"? 1.7%? 1.5%? what about adidas? and they are saying it is in the numbers were the strength of the year is a album for the industry. industry.em for the >> why is he going to damage all of the efforts they did? theye they are convinced, will try to talk down the euro. the ecb has many ways to try to intervene. we have seen the work.

they're probably be taken sentence that we could act next month. this is fine. they will do a symbolic rate cut. if people are so comfortable with the fact if there will be another lto or qe, it would be negative for the euro? no. liquidityreate the that the euro usually gains from when it goes up in the market. >> thank you. we will talk more with him around 6:30 a.m. u.k. time. lots more on japanese gdp and the state of the u.k. economy. >> in deed. coming up, ukraine is close to more war as you can get that exclusive interview with

survey lavrov. lavrov.y >> and the death toll in the turkish mine accident. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." >> turkey's prime minister was heckled as he visited the site

of the countries worst mining is asterisk. rescue -- mining disaster. rescue workers are being hampered by fire and gas. they have details for us. they could indeed. there are still many miners trapped underground. it is ready turkeys worst mining disaster -- already turkey's worst mining disaster. carbon monoxide and smoke. the death was caused by smoke inhalation, all by poison gas. this whole disaster started on tuesday. there was a unit inside the mine

that knocked the power down. they visited to show solidarity. he was heckled and booed by some people. >> and is a government being blamed for this? does that explain the bo oing? >> people are looking for someone to blame. there was anger. there were protests. people were pointing fingers.

one report is saying is that it is getting a clean bill of health. discussed that they safety about a month ago. they're tired a picture of what exactly happened and who is responsible for this -- they are trying to paint a picture of what exactly happened and who is responsible for this. >> ok. data.head, a kickoff of gdp season begins. we have got raking numbers from france. -- breaking numbers from france. ♪

>> welcome tback. getting breaking data on french gdp and it surprises the market below estimates. the market was looking for a rise of point one of 1%. to jonathaner ferro. >> looking for 0.1 and france gives us nothing. this is called the work country

of europe for a reason. those allegations will come through. not dive through reforms like italy and sprain -- spain did. aen if that beats this is fuel on the fire for the ecb and expectations they may act next month. what they do is the big unknown the outlookges on for inflation. you will get another reading for cpi for last month in june 30 will get the reading for this month. it is about the outlook and the forecast that come june 5 on that meeting. >> thank you very much. these are the top headlines this hour. japan's economy grew at the fastest pace since 2011 in the

first quarter. consumers splurge before the sales tax rise last month. chief executive fired 11 people for failing to fraudt or his cover loan according to an employee memo. it said the investigation continues and more people will probably be punished. a dedication ceremony is being held at the september 11 museum in downtown manhattan. michael bloomberg, the founder spoke about the project and the terrorist attack on freedom. >> the tragedy of the event i do not think you stop to think why, it was how do we get those people out of that building and by -- as soon as the second plane took place

there was not a surprise that as well. the pentagon it was a concerted amount coordinated attack on freedom. >> we're getting some breaking numbers from the french conglomerate. billion dollars of assets to focus on media. net profit came in at 161 million euros. they sold more than $30 billion worth of assets over the past year. they told us yesterday they had finalized the sale. they had been shifting away from content,nd more toward production, and distribution. what they will do with the proceeds of those sales is the key thing investors have been looking for. they have been talking about

using the money they will receive to pay down debt and about returning some of the cash to shareholders. the exactly the details of cash return will look like is still to be discussed and how much m&a they might be doing themselves into newer areas. they focused on content. could there be some m&a coming through, that is something that some investors have been talking about. no comment on those strategic issues but first quarter numbers for event -- four vivendi coming in ahead of estimates. >> the french gdp is a mess. rose.ing spending what you have got here is government spending rising. suitably underwhelmed. >> given that it is coming from france, not really. say theprised but to

number is coming at 0.8% which is fairly equal to the entire of 0.9%.ticipated gdp what could save the day? all the germans save the date and? we are expected to see as high as two point two percent for q1 year on year. that would be the highest level at 2.5 years. as long as we get something more than two percent from -- 2% from germany, the euro could remain stable until we get the number. numbersave some other overnight. fastest pace of orderly growth. much higher than estimates. there are so many one-off factors because people brought forward spending plans because of the tax hike. even taking that into account do you think this was a strong number? rex it was a strong number but it was all about consumers

running into the shops trying to beat the tax hike. everyone is expecting action for the q2. well the contraction be bad enough, big enough and trying to get the boj back to increase the purchases from 7 trillion per month to around 9 trillion. if we do not see that then we can see actually in an ironic fashion, we could see the yen regaining its strength. if yields continue to fall the way they are falling right now in the u.s., 2.55, that crossesship, the yen and rising again, it could be here to stay. >> you have an interesting philosophy on whether the yen is strong and why the dollar is weakening. yearhas to do with a two government bond yields. >> is not only the differentials minus is two-year yield

inflation. when people try to explain why is the euro stronger as a differential, it is not that. it is the yields are not high enough given the differential and inflation. two-year -- take the euro two-year and take two-year yields in the u.s. minus where minus 0.8%. for the eurozone, what is the bottom here, interest rates given where u.s. inflation is, interest rates are not high enough to compensate for the differential. because janet yellen is continuing to talk down these yields. >> where do you see the pound, he -- going from here? is that sustainable or will the pound go ever higher? rex we -- there was some controversy in the office when

we said respecting 1.7. we think the pullback right now is going to go toward 1.66 before we go back to one point 72. >> you think strengthening of the pound will remain the theme for this year. thank you for joining us today. >> ahead of german gdp, it is under half an hour away. our europe editor is standing by in bavaria to give us the inside scoop. one of the country's most famous companies. >> i am here in the headquarters of adidas. by howways struck similar adidas is to the german economy. when you think about the german economy it is full of these aches -- these successful exporters. they are successful because they always have been innovating and that is no different for

sportswear company. where i am standing in the administered of headquarters of a deed as there is a sign close to me which is talking about -- the founder of the company and how he was always going to sporting events and he can talk to athletes about their needs were. i want to show you something. this is a history of adidas because they're all around us. in three history boots. early sportsman in his 20's, the founder was a cobbler by trade. he turned his attention to making shoes for athletes. this football boot was warned by a german player in the 1954 world cup final. germany were underdogs that day. they had one man in the set up who made a difference. in and pouring down

with rain. to use these synthetic studs and put them in these shoes which gave the germans the ability to move more agile. a decade later it was athletic'' turn. track and field was turning from using an ashtray to rubber. when it rained athletes were more likely to slip. >> he came up with an idea and went to the washing machine and emptied the liquid of the washing machine and ported onto the surface and allowed that tested take place and happen. it worked. quicksort really well. it was phenomenally successful at the libby games. -- olympic games. what does table tennis have to do with this boot? rex a football player was laying 10 -- table tennis and he was thinking about getting more grip

. >> boots made famous by that master of the set piece, david beckham. >> speaking of innovation, i will be back in one hour to talk to the head of football innovation here at adidas. we will talk about the design behind the bazooka but also the world cup good. that is an and -- in an hour. >> uart -- you are demonstrating your football prowess for us? >> we will do some live shots on the track and field up here. >> very good. thank you. from tweed joining us bavaria. >> coming up, it is all about big data. it has been causing some controversy. europe's highest court ruled

yesterday that consumers had the right to be forgotten online. we have more on big data and the discussion behind it. what it means for business. that is next. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." >> it is 6:44 a.m. in london. >> the russian foreign minister says ukraine is as close to civil war as you can get. he made those comments in an exclusive interview with ryan chilcote. killen ukrainians ukrainians this is as close to civil war as you can get. without any iople did -- identification on their uniform. about are reports couple hundred or more of mercenaries including the rumors which were spread in the german media about blackwater.

an american mercenary group. washingtonessage to asking to respond to these assertions from the german media. rumors to this effect were spread even before. now they are propped up again and we would like to see whether this is true or not. >> but move on. let's check -- talk about big data. is launching a new platform that will allow it to run data analytics in real-time on the cloud. thank you for talking to us. a number of topics to kick about with you. let's start with the launch and solutions stack. his name to get companies using big data? >> absolutely. term thatould use the

we are trying to democratize the use of data and analytics. our customers, they needed lots of assets to build analytics and collect data. what we typically do is we can make it easier for people to access that and make it easier for people to use it. if they do not want to own it we put it on our cloud and they basically can download those. >> if they do not want to manage the software themselves they do not have to. they can rely on others to do that. >> absolutely. we build templates for them. in the past it was difficult to andanalytics deployed built. from that standpoint and the manipulation of the data would make it a lot easier so you can do it in real time now. to real-time analytics allows you to drive your business whether you are online. it makes you much more responsive in terms of the business. >> absolutely. people today want everything on their time and when they wanted. that is how it has become.

you have mobile people and everybody who is using their mobile phones. today you have all kinds of unstructured data coming through and they want it now. quick scan you give us an example of how clients have been able to reduce the amount of time it takes to or will be able to, will it take months .nalyzing data >> on our stack we use technology that basically looks at what your patterns of behavior are. in the past we would need tons of data to work that through. today it runs in real-time so as you are swiping your card or you're entering your pin depending on where you are in the world to you are being -- taking a look to see if that behavior is normal for you and you can be challenged via a mobile phone saying are you making this transaction here, here, and here my and that is something in the past they would have turned off your card and it would be frustrating to use.

tell us about the illusion of this product. it comes from credit scoring is the original point. how ubiquitous is what you do become? >> it comes from credit scoring so our foundation is, we build the credit scores that were pushed out through the world and what this comes down to is if we took a look at the way that customers worked with their customers whether they were acquiring them or trying to service them, fulfill them, or protect them. as a result we look for different uses of data. they stuff that data we didn't put the analytics in place and what we found is a became more real-time. the credit score is for my you have the information based off your purchasing patterns but it does not change that often. what you end up adding is you get to the point where you're doing real-time thing so if you are in the store and you know what your pattern of behavior is from a retailer, they can put

coupons at you when you are walking into a certain island the store. lex i have scary abilities to predict our behavior. about howu worry intrusive this is question mark rex you have a point. -- this is? >> you have a point. they have to be careful about how much you use but from the standpoint, everything we do is permissible purpose. >> what has in the biggest take-up for the new ideas, is it the blockbuster companies or smaller companies getting to grips. i have got a lot of data, let's learn how to use it better. >> increasingly it is government. >> we see more and more in government. they have lots of frames of transactional data to work through but now you're starting to see utilities or health care

or things like that where you are trying to help where doctors -- doctors art trying to help their customers it here to their medicine better. >> thank you very much. up, bursting with ride but reeking with pain. we will tell you the uplifting story of the teenager with cancer running for charity. return. that is next. ♪

>> welcome back. is an hour before the start of european trading and it is time for our top picks for today. we have jonathan ferro and elliott gotkine. let's give it away to elliott. what have you got? >> it is a story about the presidential race in israel. star courses, dreamers, and actual present -- candidates in the race for the presidency. buts a ceremonial role prime minister netanyahu is trying to abolish it or postpone the election because he does not like the identity of the main candidate who comes from his own party. an of the candidates is entrepreneur. a self-styled captain sunshine.

sister-in-law has a better chance. man everyone wants to see as president is the current perez.nt or as -- >> we will leave that one there. john? looks like he's having a terrible time. is having ank he terrible time at all. this is the one that gets me.

wait for this one. 440,000 pound cash allowance to carry -- cover clothing and other items. >> he has got to look good. anyone at burberry's watching? >> this is -- it is a sad story. it has taken on a slightly more uplifting tone. this is the coverage of the stephen who died of cancer. >> he went from a target raising money for cancer charity. and uplifting part of what is still a tragic story.

countdown continues in the next hour. gdp numbers will be breaking at the top of the hour and more --m a deed is' headquarters. didas' headquarters. ♪ >> france's recovery stalls.

growth missed estimates. we will get the latest gdp data from germany. economy grew faster than expected as consumers spent ahead of a tax hike in japan. .nd announcing a deal a warm welcome to the second hour of "countdown perko we're getting making news in the shape

of german gdp figures. the quarter on quarter estimate was for an expansion of 0.7%. let's get to jonathan ferro who can tell us how germany has done. many peoplean expected. even though this is a 30 eurozone gdp coming out of germany, germany is not the eurozone and it is not a problem. it is the outlier. they do not have a problem with very low growth. the problem lies elsewhere and that was in the number we got 30 minutes ago that came from france. they gave us nothing. we were you -- we were looking for 0.1%. they delivered nothing. it is not just france, it is spain and italy as well. we have italian gdp later and that will tell us more. this adds fuel to the fire. not germany but france for the ecb to act. this is nowhere near a done deal even given what we've heard from mario draghi.

>> even despite the conversations around the most recent ecb rate decision, perhaps people were quite comfortable with taking some action in coming months. it is not a done deal. >> it hinges on one thing, inflation. we get the number today, that will [inaudible] and we get a rating for it this month and that matters. the outlook for inflation matters. they are looking for average inflation in these -- the eurozone. it is about 2016, 2015. 2016 they are looking for 1.5%. moving back to target they have to revise that base case scenario. that is when mario draghi has to back his words up with action and do what he said he would. he said if the outlook for inflation worsens we will act. the back of that one is what they will actually do. it will be symbolic.

what does that mean, 10 basis points. and awaygoing to do qe close to qe? the market is telling us we are. >> even though it is more difficult in europe than it is in other jurisdictions. thank you. a little bit of detail coming through about that gdp number. investment developed positively. zero .8% in there, the first quarter, the gross number from germany against a forecast of 0.7%. coming in ahead of forecast. of europe editor was in area. what do you make of these numbers? >> i think the interesting thing about these numbers is there was such a wide range of estimates going into them. 0.4% to 1.1%. it was very hard to pick the --ber for first quarter gb gdp because of the number of variables. the last one the that in the

month of march we had seen some weakness in industrial production so even though it is a strong number the concern going ahead is that this is going to be a strong number for the first quarter. we will see a slowdown going into the second quarter. there are such a number of uncertainties hanging over, not just germany's economy but the european economy and those uncertainties are exogenous. the situation in russia and ukraine. christine lagarde has said we would see a slowdown in russian growth. what happens we have to see sanctions imposed on russia, how will that affect the european economy? we are seeing a lot of evidence that the chinese economy is slowing more than some people were expecting. what is that influence going to be an european growth? even though we might get relatively strong quarter in the first quarter, for eurozone economic growth, the french numbers were not great. not good at all. even though we might get some

strength into the quarter it is what happened in the second quarter and all the indications of what will happen in the second quarter that the european central bank also will be looking at along with inflation data. about german companies -- when we talk about german companies, how typical is a deed is -- adidas? gdp like to present the numbers from a german company and is -- it is true. this is typical of one of the big exporters. they employ 48,000 people worldwide. the headquarters and also down in the town is here. big key exporter. the other interesting thing about this company is that it has to constantly be innovating.

it has to be coming up with new designs and new innovations. here is one of the new innovations. in half an hour i will be back talking to the head of football innovation and we will talk about what it is that makes this particular football special and we will talk about some of the football boots that will be worn by some of the people like those that are bank sponsored. we will be cutting about the about the -- talking world cup. we will have the chief executive during talking to us "the pulse." we have lots of stories about history and what it is like to work year. average age is just 30. maybe that is not typical for a german company. >> thank you very much. us --g us from added

adidas. we are getting a merger announcement. caroline hyde has the details. announced a tie up. cart will be called dixons phone. it will be an equal merger, each getting 50% of the eventual companies. if you are a shareholder you will get 50% holding in the dixons carmpany of phone. who wille the chairman be the chairman of the entire entity. the ceo of dixons takes the helm. lockup p a 24 month eriod. it is about the synergies. pounds.ings, 18 million

this has got to be approved by the shareholders but this will be a juggernaut on the high street. also in europe because dixons is putting out its numbers this morning and does have significant areas of growth in northern europe and greece. interesting today that they have beaten in terms of their sales for the fourth quarter. up five percent. we had expected it to be unchanged. up 2% in northern europe. and greece down nine percent. not unsurprising there. internet tackle the giant and they need to become more competitive. what they can do together is dixons will suddenly have access to the fast-growing areas of mobile and tablets which cost [inaudible] >> and there is electrical retailing which dixon has been doing.

>> you have the telephone side. the connectivity. some people say the drive toward internet of everything is at the heart of putting these key businesses together if they can get it right. you have managed to sell refrigerators that talk to you and that can make phone calls. i exaggerate but that is the gist of what is putting these things together. >> it is a move to where technology is going and it is trying to be more efficient. in the age were you can buy your washing machine online. theyd to have a way of -- need to have a way of competing. >> i read analyst comments around the suggested merger. some of them were pointing out these positives. the fact they could make the most of the internet. others are pointing out, this is coming from a defensive ways. companies are feeling the pressure from internet retailers were you can go by your

electricals. ordering things online and collecting them in the store. these companies put together, it will have to be a thousand out -- outlets. when you order online you can then easily go and pick it up for yourself or go have a look at it. this is at the heart of it. it is a move to where technology is going. it is about competing with the online retailers. fascinating stuff today. we get the announcement of an all share merger. >> thank you very much. caroline hyde with the latest on that merger on the u.k. retailing scene. u.k.'s economy grew at the fastest pace in the first quarter. grew 5.9% in the first quarter. what does that dated today -- data today, what are the things driving that growth, what can we read into this number?

this was a surprisingly strong number. we were expecting growth of 4.2% in the first quarter. this is one of the main drivers and the expected driver for growth. it will be consumer spending. consumers brought tv's and increasing car sales in the first quarter because from april 1 the sales tax in japan went up to eight percent. everyone was expecting consumers would buy more durable goods in the first quarter which they did. capital investment by companies was twice as strong as expected. they invested -- investment growth rose 4.9% which was to the gdp numbers. what that shows is the companies were also trying to get ahead of the sales tax increase and lower their cost but also there more confident that the economy is going to grow and in three to six months. companies do not seem to be so worried that the sales tax will

have a long-term effect on the economy. we are expecting growth in this juneer, the april through period to contract. companies are much more confident than we were expecting. it was a change in how exports are accounted for which may have pushed up more than expected. this is good numbers for the japanese economy. >> coming in better than estimates but as you pointed out this represents a time that came before the april sales tax hike. how do things look going forward? there is something of a roller coaster for the japanese economy predicted before we got some clean data away from the tax hike. >> that is true. it is hard to make any strong judgment. we are expecting the economy to contract two percent this quarter.

we had consumer confidence data which was very negative. consumers are saying that they are less confident. at the same time we had some -- the business outlook is better than expected. business people who deal with consumers directly were saying that their outlook is they are expecting a pick up and not be such a drag on consumer spending. it is a mixed bag and the data we are seeing. are showing in the first quarter in their investment in indication that the contraction will not be as bad and in the third quarter growth will pick up much more strongly. >> thank you very much for joining us. joining us from tokyo. we will get inside some german gdp that rock at the top of the hour. just ahead of estimates. and the french number. we will wrap all that.

♪

>> time for today's company

news. we had breaking news from the world's second-biggest luxury company. full-year sales grew by five percent. vivendi has reported half it that beat analyst estimates. and profit rose 20% to 161 million euros. the company is nearing the end of a strategic revamp. focusing on media assets. says profitnsurance rose 20%. income for switzerland's largest insurer increased to $1.2 billion. the time in london is 17 minutes past 7 a.m. we have had some of the gdp data we are waiting for. france came unchanged. germany beat estimates from economists area joining us now to discuss the latest data is antonio garcia pasquale.

let's take the first countries we have heard from individually and discuss those numbers. starting with france. why this underwhelming number from france? >> there was basically on the back of a very weak investment and consumption. -- the numbergest was low because of the service we have seen in indicators. it is perhaps the investment number that is the most surprising one. this means roughly that growth for france will be close to 1%. >> is this something structural that is stopping french businesses or other businesses investing in france? >> clearly there has been an impact in the first quarter. going forward it is about consumption and investment expectations.

that some ofhat -- the policies that will, head. --, head. this is the effect related to construction. you also have good numbers from consumption. bettero expectations but than expectations. keep in mind we are fairly posts you the peak. mean for thethat german economy, is that because of headwinds coming from china or russia. some are worried that the things that made it strong could turn into the week point. >> there are -- the current

conditions are surpassing declining future expectations. that is a signal that the peak is close to where we are today. as you mentioned there is uncertainty coming from the u.k. and -- ukraine conflict area and experiencing a-- recovery. >> we will have more of your thoughts after a short rate. joining us from barclays where economist. euro area more from antonia when we come back. we will take a short break here. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." we are here with barclays chief economist for the euro area. insight on these numbers that are coming through this morning. we have heard from france and germany. have you heard anything that changes your view that the ecb is going to deliver something to yourarkets next month and choice of what that something will be. is it rate cuts? >> indeed. economic growth for the eurozone would be around 0.4% quarter on quarter. it is difficult. growth is improving but is --

inflation means stubbornly low. that will continue to be the case. remains weak.d international factors are we. is this reason the ecb forced to act and inflation will be around 0.7% for the rest of the year on average. the rate cut is in the cards. >> is the risk to that view that we get inflation higher than expected and the ecb decides we do not have the data that confirms we are heading toward inflation so we will wait and see again? >> that is a possibility but it is a low probability event. the ecb has been rather clear that they are ready to act. it will be a disappointment.

not acting will send the exchange rate close to 140. that is not what the ecb can afford. >> talk to me about the periphery versus the court. it was something we talked about a couple of years ago a great deal. what kind reforms have you been impressed by at the periphery of the eurozone? portugal has made some progress coming off its bailout program. what have you been impressed by there are elsewhere? >> it varies country to country. butonly passing reforms implement a them. ireland graduated a couple of quarters ago from the program. italy is where reforms have taken hold.

greece also has been good at passing new laws. there is a wide range. overall if you look at worldwide the only area where reforms have happened is in the european perfidy -- periphery. [indiscernible] there is also better growth prospects and better long-term growth prospects on these reforms. >> are they still having an impact on the german economy? peripheraly in the areas will be gradual. are deleveraging it has never been v-shaped. it will be l-shaped. we will be improving but only gradually. >> thank you for joining us. joining us from barclays.

goasls foradidas' growth. he is the man behind the design of the 2014 world cup football. stay with us. ♪ >> welcome back to "countdown."

let's head out to jonathan ferro for the ethics check. -- france gives us nothing. pretty much dead flat on the day. let's talk about the divergence in those two economies. 0.8% out of germany on the quarter. zero percent out of france. how does the ecb deal with that? these numbers are a deal maker or dealbreaker for what happens

next month. it is. head into next month. bigecb decision will be the driver of this. back to you. >> these are the top headlines this hour. japan's economy grew at its fastest pace since 2011 in the first quarter. theonsumers splurge before sales tax rise last month. found gdp from france and germany. the recovery stalled in the first quarter. asgermany growth accelerated construction and domestic demand [indiscernible] weaker exports. 11 people were fail -- fired for failing to discover loan fraud at its mexico unit. bank continues its

investigation more people will probably be punished. morning,p this expanding by 0.8% in the first quarter. david tweed is at adidas. he has an interview with one of the company's leading innovators. is in charge of football innovation and as i have been saying all morning innovation for german companies is absolutely essential because they have got to keep ahead of the game and it is the same for sporting -- a sporting goods company. how do you innovate a football and this is what we will talk about. member last time -- remember design for the ball got a lot of criticism.

>> it was our most technologically produced ball. it was the most tested ball at the time. bazooka has been a labor of love. it has been a four-year process by which we approached it by saying how could we create a ball that players would love, from the performance and the look and feel of it. just love in general. the world cup is a fantastic event and it creates memories and we want to make sure the players walk away with a story that they can tell. that they love that ball. >> i am intrigued by the fact that soccer has -- is the game that you are coming up with a new ball. why do you need to continue to innovate? rex innovation is in the ena of adidas. is -- dna of every event we look at we see it

as an opportunity to innovate. we see it as an opportunity to tell stories to players everywhere in the world whether they are amateur or professional. the story is about creating love and it is about creating a ball that performs at the highest level so when we started we wanted to simplify the ball that we had and we wanted to look at one panel shape. one unique panel shape. >> this is made up of one panel. i will hold the ball and you show us the panel. how do you put it together? >> it is six panels that interlock and create a very unique same geometry that allows were stable and consistent flight. >> let's have a look. that is pretty amazing. >> it is. >> this is the first time you have done anything like this. >> it is. >> why does it make the ball better? it creates seemed jim a tree that-- seam geometry

travel moreo efficiently. we want to make sure that we use the host country, the culture and the vibrancy and the colors they have and we use that for the designed. -- the design. there are flex the culture of the country. we wanted to take specific, very colorful cues from brazil, it is a vibrant company. one of the football boots that will be -- that will be worn. not a lot of color in here. a bit of orange. to me about this boot. why is this boot designed for a player like [indiscernible] stories.ell story -- he is about quickness and speed and agility.

we wanted to create this boot to help him not only fulfill the characteristics he needs on the field but also his identity. he is a player that people simply cannot catch. he is untouchable. this boot allows him to do that through a unique configuration that allows him to be the fastest in the key football movement. when he is moving anyway left, right, straight, starting, stopping, he will be the fastest he can be on the field. it is one of the lightest in its we have in our range so it allows him to magnify his game and do what he does best. >> thank you for coming to speak to us. i understand your father is spanish. >> yes. >> that means you are supporting the spanish team? >> i am. >> in your heart of hearts who is going to win the world cup? a lot ofk there are favorites out there. i think spain is still a favorite. >> not talking about brazil. innovation, a little

bit later we will be showing a package were we go into the andvation center at adidas we will see what they do and how they come up with this sort of boot. and the ball and an automatic kick of it. back to you. thank you to david and the director. it is 7:37 a.m. in london. bill ackman has been a little busy. they tried to buy allergan. the maker of botox. squarender of pershing gives bloomberg the secret to his playbook. >> through my career the vast majority of particularly our most successful investments have been ones that are controversial in one way or another.

activism is a shareholder that behaves like an owner. it is not hostile to the shareholders of these companies. it is hostile because it is not something that is meant of the target company has requested. on ank to decide to take , there-old pyramid game is some boldness associated with that. it is a bold call that we did it. of a company stock called general growth. people do not make money or had not been until that point, making money buying the stock of a group company. it has been 15 times profit of the -- multiple of the original investment. businesses that are dominant companies, and the way

we make these decisions as we do our analysis and we look for company you can buy at a deep discount. if the discount is the management issue or cost structure or -- we work to solve the problem. theard rainwater is one of great investors of all time. he came to speak at harvard business school when i was a student. i was thinking about starting my own investment firm. he said you do not need to be old to be right. that was enough for me and i started an investment firm when i graduated at 26. moree making companies valuable and efficient. it is great for the investors and employees. it is also very profitable so i like my day job. >> coming up. guest knows you can. she was behind the original tesco club card program.

we will have more on the business of understanding and keeping customers coming up on "countdown." ♪

>> dixons has agreed to merge carphone warehouse.

cisco shares are rising after hours. the tech giant gave a forecast of fourth quarter estimates that topped estimates. they're seeking to restore growth and prepare the company to meet new challenges. and europe's semi-conductor maker said it is extending an agreement with samsung. it will include a type of production meant to enable more low-power chips. samsung is expanding in the chip market. welcome back to the program. you're watching "countdown." festival kicks off. early reviews have slammed noted.

joining the course of criticism, the monaco royal family called the film totally fictional. here is nicole kidman's reaction. >> obviously i feel sad because film has no the malice toward the family or two words, particularly toward grace. i want them to know that the performance was done with love. our next guest is in the business of keeping customers loyal. she joins us ahead of tomorrow's growth summit taking lace here tomorrow. joining me is the thunder -- the founder. thank you for talking to us. let's cast our minds back to

when you set up what became the tesco club card. big data was not a phrase that people talked about then. big big aware of how data could be? >> my first job was with population statistics is -- which is about where people live. at the time.e data we had a computer the size of a room. could probably do this analysis on your smart phone. >> absolutely. and the data at club card when we started to work with tesco was in armrest. -- enormous. there was an interesting and exciting challenge. >> are retailers still struggling to deal with the amount of data they have and the possibilities that they can unlock within that data because for number of years people were talking about how they were sitting on this massive data but

they did not have perhaps even the imagination to know what to do with it. >> it has become much less about storing the data and holding the data but actually telling stories from the data is the that remains difficult. as we have moved onto new platforms, social platforms, digital engagement, it has become more diverse and we are having to look at new tools and new mathematics to discover not only what evil do but how they connect -- people do but how they connect and influence other people and that is an interesting aspect. >> tell me about your new venture, starcount. migrated into this area? >> we were looking at that final moment where people decided what they're going to buy. they would choose things and put them in the basket and that is what we were trying. >> unit that person liked that

rent of orange juice. >> you became you are what you eat. what we are now looking at is perhaps a bit further upstream. it is what you are interested in and what we are excited about is that loyalty is about our passion, what we love. when you strip everything back it comes down to what do you spend your time doing, your free time, what do you love, is it cycling, is it politics, is it music? aree discussions of people very powerful and we'll have a sense of wanting to belong to communities. that is what we're trying to discover. we are looking at the communities people choose to be part of. >> in helping as this is to make money out of those. interesting with your retail expertise, dixons and carphone warehouse saying that they are merging, heralding the synergy they will get from that type of a deal. any thoughts on where the customer sits on all of this,

where the customer typically sits in mergers such as these. >> i find it quite interesting because when people are talking mergers and acquisitions after the deal, there is always a big talk about how good it is for customers. before they do the deal them a people, companies rarely do the you diligence around customers and i have often thought about why not analyze customer data not-overlaplap or between the bases before they are merged. are they different people, are they the same -- >> it is a against some difficult competition from some online retailers who have information about us as customers and know a lot about us. they are pretty good ahead of the curve at analyzing data. tesco has become good at

launching new products, new services because they understand the people that already engage with them and the people who are to buy into your brand the best people for anything new that you bring to market. >> thank you very much for joining us. great to get your thoughts today. have -- german gdp topped estimates. stay with us for more in-depth analysis of the economy out of germany. we will bring you coverage from headquarters and with the ceo, herbert hainer. ahead at what is to come from italy and the eurozone as a whole. stay with us here on "countdown ." ♪

>> the big news in the u.k. is the merger between dixons and carphone warehouse. >> it was well flagged. dixons car phone is a new company. a merger of equals as we like to call it. know -- he will get

half of the entire company. this could change basically the face of rish electronics retailing. this is a company that will have 12 billion pounds of sales per year. more than 3000 outlets. has plants in greece and scandinavia. together to use each other's prowess and expertise. they can get into that together but also from the dixons point of view they have got scale and they have stores on the high street. carphone warehouse can use that. shops closer to us and hoping to tackle the competition. savings to 2018.

they keep saying look at the synergy. look at our presence on the high street. these are the numbers. dixons is a far bigger company. they have exactly the same basically market value. the market sees them as equivalent but if you look at the sales, dixons has double the sales that carphone warehouse has. carphone warehouse only less than 4 billion pounds so interesting that the markets use them together and they are coming together as equals to merge. others are trying to take on the competition. >> we will watch how that story develops. jonathan ferro is here. been talking about the eurozone gdp. is at 0.2% growth. this will play out in a move we

have seen before. this divergence between growth and everybody else. 0.2% out of italy. nothing out of france. how does the ecb address that, they say you look into that figure, 0.4% but that comes from germany. you see where the weakness is. it is in the south and france as part of that group. >> an interesting conversation earlier with the economist from barclays talking about how weather we have seen the peak and german growth as well so that number may have been above estimates. some people are asking questions about what the china slowdown does and the fact that there are these [inaudible] with russia. thank you. "on the move" is next. stay with us for how the market will react. dixons car phone as it will be called after the merger. all kinds ofus stories about the iconic start

-- sportswear brand. that will do it for "countdown" for today. i will see you tomorrow. goodbye. ♪ .

>> welcome to "on the move." i'm manus cranny at bloomberg's european headquarters here in london. moments ago before the start of the european trading day. we have everything from companies to currencies. joining me, jonathan ferro and caroline hyde. futures are a little bit lower. we have some of the french data.

is that what has taken us a little bit lower? >> that is a pretty lagging indicator going back to the first quarter. you have hit decade-highs on the ftse. you have touched these numbers and we haven't gone through them with any conviction. we have been flirting around these levels for a long time now. that's where we're at again now. >> we'll see how the markets actually get going. we're off 18 points. caroline, dixons-carphone. >> they are going to be dixons-carphone. they are coming together to save costs. 18 million pounds they estimate they can save by 2018. also it is about scale. about expertise. they have the scale on the high street together. 3,000 outlets, not only in the u.k. but also in greece and scandinavia.