>> greece prepares to meet its creditors with no deal in sight well the eu economic commissioners of the greek exit from the euro is not an option. >> when you start considering a plan it means you don't believe in plan a. i think there is just one option. greece and the eurozone. >> a time for peace in ukraine hangs in the balance as the violence continues. we will be speaking live to the ukrainian finance minister. >> another record for apple. its market valuation reaches more than $710 billion. the biggest in u.s. corporate history. >> the premier league payday.

sky and bt pay more than 5 billion pounds for rights to pay the -- to play the football championship. ♪ hello, welcome to countdown. i am mark barton. just getting earnings for 2014. 1.76 oh yen euros. analysts were estimating 1.7 4 billion. narrowly ahead of -- 1.7 6 billion euros. narrowly ahead of estimates. analysts estimating an increase of 3%. organic consolidated revenue growth is what it is called. that excludes the effects of acquisitions, disposals come and currency swings as well. operating profit excluding items

3.1 3 billion. analysts estimating three point 00 6 billion. those metrics seem to be ahead of estimates. -- 3.00 6 billion. analysts estimating 3% as well. when it comes to heineken we will be asking the chief executive officer later about how it is doing. we had high levels of rain in europe. it is exposed to russia. has the performance been better in russia? it will be fascinating to see whether they have improved. sab miller showed some interest in heineken in september. heineken did call the approach nonactionable. it is still viewing the approach from sab and other suitors in such a silhouette. the country sees further volatility in emerging markets

in 2015. there you go. those are the headlines of the company. it says it is confident of top and bottom-line growth in the year ahead. >> we will be speaking to the ceo of heineken about those numbers about the prospects for the business. at 7:30 you can catch that interview right here. >> a big day for europe on two fronts. greece's problems will be on the agenda at the emergency meeting with its creditors. in the east talks of plans on ukraine that could lead to peace or an escalation of the conflict that claimed thousands of lives. >> let's start with greece. the prime minister won a vote of confidence for his anti-austerity program in the greek parliament. he doesn't have the support of the country's major creditors. germany in particular has hardened its tone towards the antiauthority government in athens. >> finance ministers meet in brussels ahead of them -- meet in brussels today. ahead of the meeting he says

there is no way forward yet. >> there is no plan on the table. the commission wants to enter the debate tomorrow with a plan. with the way forward. the president will not have a plan. we must together, with a plan for greece and the eurozone, and we will see what are the technical issues that have to be dealt with. first of all, we have got to talk to each other. that is what was lacking until now. >> hans nichols has been following the story from germany. good morning to you. what we expect to see coming out of brussels today? >> what will get is the formal presentation from finance minister. rhetorically, neither side is budging. during the no-confidence vote he said there is no going back. the line from the germans seems almost as resolute.

he said it is over if greece does not ask for its final. >> we won't negotiate a new program tomorrow. we completed the program tediously. i can remember precisely it was the end of 2012, and actually this program should be checked quarterly by the three institutions. the european commission, the ecb, and the imf, which we no longer call troika because it response. one can respect this. >> there was a little bit of a softening of rhetoric no longer calling it a troika. that seems like an and knowledge meant germany and the eu has to be -- acknowledgment germany and that you has to be considerate of the position in the eu. what germany ends up saying --

what greece ends up saying you could see some way out when the eurogroup has a scheduled meeting on february 16. the interim plan from greece is going to be to ask the ecb to increase their limits on the number of t-bills. and more interest from the original loans they gave to greece back in 2010. >> if troika is the terminology what is the form we expect to see results from with regards to greece? i know jean-claude juncker was speaking on the phone, and that's another possible for him -- forum. >> juncker could play a mediator role. a commission said it might have another six-month extension. sheuble said there cannot be a deal because i don't know about it. he still wants to drive this in

terms of an interim loan. the bundesbank president said that was not going to happen. e.u. bylaws would not allow this. yesterday we saw the athens exchange up about 80%. the yields came down a little bit, the three-year and the 10 year, but at the same time you saw yields climbing on the periphery. that is spain and italy. one other final note. the u.s. treasury secretary is urging both sides to be pragmatic on all this in finding a compromise. >> thank you very much. >> on the other side of europe, in eastern ukraine, hopes of negotiating a cease-fire up among the delegates of russian president vladimir putin, ukrainian president poroshenko angela merkel, and francois hollande. if truce talks fail, fresh sanctions could come to the table. william hague told bloomberg the

west's common goal is to put pressure on russia. >> i think the united states has the possibility. that is less of a possibility for european countries, but they of course have joined in the sanctions on russia, and from europe, those have been very effective. art of the role of the united kingdom has been to propose and make sure the sanctions are implemented. what is common ground is putting pressure on russia. >> let's bring in ryan chilcote to the conversation. what are the realistic expectations in minsk? >> there is a little more optimism now than 24 hours ago. ukrainian president just confirmed he is going to these talks. it takes four of them -- it takes a president -- four of them in fact to make it work. you have heard from the german

and french leaders they will be there. president obama called the russian president yesterday. that was cause for optimism that the u.s. is getting involved. we saw that in russian stocks listed in the united states. they had a little bit of a bounce. at the end of the day we don't know. we have seen talks before. they failed to produce a cease-fire that produce lasting peace. we will have to see. what we do know is there are couple of sticks being brandished about by the united states and by western europe, and they include more sanctions. the deputy foreign minister for germany said russia would face more sanctions as early as tomorrow. now when the heads of state get together if these talks fail, in addition, the united states has suggest did they are still -- suggested they are still considering arming the ukrainian military. >> how is ukraine's economy

holding up amongst this? >> not great. ukraine's economy fell by more than 6% last year. the forecast this year is almost 5% 4.7% fall. ukraine needs 15 billion in assistants. it got 3 billion just before last year from russia. russia yesterday said ukraine asked russia to restructure the debt. russia said it declined. that's an important part of the financial aid package that $3 billion the ukrainians over the russians has to be sorted out. just before the new government in ukraine came to power, it was going to be part of a big $10 billion deal. we did hear from jack lew also at the g 20 finance ministers meeting in istanbul saying there has been significant progress in

the last you days -- few days in coming together to reach a deal. the imf is essential to the deal. we have heard the managing director say as long as there is a war going on in the eastern side of the country is difficult to imagine how they could sustain paying back a debt on a new imf loan. >> we will speak to you later. >> as the leaders gather in minsk today we will bring you an exclusive interview with ukraine's finance minister. that is coming up shortly after 8:00 u.k. time. >> let's look at some of the other stories we're following this morning. another record for the company that brought you the iphone and the mac. apple closed in new york with a record valuation of more than $710 billion. that's the biggest market capitalization never. -- ever. next is has a market cap of $385 billion.

the big screen iphone six came out last september. >> the chairman of emirates airlines has a simple message for his competitors. improve your service. the exclusively to bloomberg, he said airlines based in the u.s. should provide a better offering. >> improve your service offer the best to the passengers, and people will fly with you. they don't mind paying extra to be able to fly. >> in the u.k. the opposition labor party led by ed miliband is losing his supporters according to a report in the financial times. labor is said to have received just 8.7 million pounds in donations in the current harlem and. it has received -- current parliament. it received 20 million last

year. >> nick clegg told business leaders in london the ruling coalition in london had fixed a broken economy. >> together we have achieved marble -- remarkable success of the last five years. we brought stability out of crisis. we started to build a stronger economy and a fair society where there are opportunities for everyone. we took a broken economy and turned it into one of the fastest-growing economies in the developed world. >> iraq and iran cut their crude prices in asia to the lowest level in decades. iraqi crude will sell at $4.10 a barrel, below benchmarks, while iranian crew will sell at $2.10 a barrel. -- crude will sell at two dollars 10 a barrel. saudi arabia reduced its pricing

to asia to the lowest level in at least 14 years. >> the unmanned space rocket holds its liftoff because of strong winds that the kennedy space station in florida. a fresh attempt to launch the rocket and land its booster on a barge in the ocean will be decided today. >> jon stewart is leaving the daily show. that's the big news in the u.s. today. there is an up. back from the cold today. smiling. >> 14 minutes past six. we will take a short break. coming up, the date is set for the face-off between germany and greece. we will talk about whether a deal can be reached when greece puts its plan to finance ministers in brussels. fijian for that. -- stay tuned for that. ♪

>> we are joined by michael o'sullivan credit suisse's chief officer in the u.k. in africa as well. thanks for joining us. a meeting with the finance

ministers. are we a day closer to some sort of compromise between the parties? >> i don't think so. >> it has been a crazy start to the year. we have a crisis almost every week. we are into a new higher volatility regime. we will not get a clean close to the greek crisis. we have another meeting next tuesday that we have the ecb review. if there is a financing deal closed imagine what we have got for the rest of the year. it is in their interest to keep prodding out at the eu. the greeks have digested a record amount of austerity. we will want some relief from that. as we get to the end of the year we will have elections in spain and portugal. as an investor it is very easy

to the get the bloomberg screens and get distracted by the dramatic headlines. if you look at the investment world, european earnings are picking up for the first time in four years. macro is beginning to pick up as well. look at french stocks. they are setting a blistering pace. >> sticking with the french theme, how much is the ecb dabbling in politics at the moment and how much cover do they have for the decisions they are going to be making. >> i think it is a good point. people think it is independent of a central bank. they think of a central bank attacked by politicians as they cut rates

and not the other way around. the justice ruling did have a pervy's of the ecb should not get involved in the probe. arguably the decision could be seen as political. it could be seen by others of being robust and defending the rules. this is the agreement of the ecb to do this, to defend the sanctity of the eurozone. it is one extra pressure. i think the greeks will get the impression the eu and its institutions. >> the ecb is about to embark on its program. this looks at the data going

back over a century. it is telling you the bond yields are very low. to use your words, potentially treacherous. >> this is my theme about illusions. you see something in the real world. in markets it's quite different. we released the yearbook. it's a market geek dream. one thing that shows clearly is bond yields are out paced. we have qe in europe and deflation or disinflation. i think they are very expensive. they're are down from underway to neutral.

i think we have been lucky so far in the last week. we have gone from 168 at the lowest two 200. >> thank you. the chief investment officer. we have 22 minutes past six. ♪

>> welcome back. we are joined by the chief investment officer. 20% now trading at negative yields. the overall message is the same. what does this mean for the world? >> i think it means a range of things. it means investors pension funds have to adjust how they look at asset allocation. it is well trodden. investors are hoaxed. i am beginning to see it is happening. i think that is changing the world of investment. it is also changing the world of central banking. i think small companies are the canaries in the coal mine of the world economy.

the likes of denmark and switzerland are to the fore in this. it shows some of the pressures building on smaller equality countries. i think that will be a story for the rest of this year. >> very quickly, it would be remiss of me not to ask about the move. how have your clients reacted to the shock that took place? >> it is a big event in switzerland, not just in monetary circles but also for the country, for the economy. what i see is this was very adaptive. a lot of his misses are beginning to adapt to this by

cutting prices. that's a lot of businesses are beginning to adapt to this by cutting prices. >> thank you very much. >> stay with us. 6:26.

>> let's take a look at the four and exchange markets. the showdown set for today. an ongoing showdown between egregious financial situation and their debts. -- greece's financial situation and their debts. this is the index trading not far from its highest level we have seen since 2004 to the data that feeds this index goes back. fed officials i was referring to

moving this more than anything else. policymakers could increase interest rates by midyear. jeffrey lacher saying raising rates in june looks like the attractive offer for me. john williams saying the company is getting closer to changing interest rates. looking at what is going on with the euro. the g 20 meeting. the focus seems to be on greece finance ministers. he says they don't have time to give greece anymore time to hold conversations and going on to say it's over if the nation doesn't want the final trench of its aid program. that is where we are currently

on euro-dollar. >> the top stories, taking for are a public. -- for ari -- ferrarri public. mark uni told bloomberg about his hopes for an industrywide european rebound. >> the european market lost regally in cars. i think there is ample opportunity for this to be scaled back. every once in a while it continues to be a significant overhang. i think the european bloc is bound to do better. >> goldman sachs said it hired almost 90% of the -- it hired new positions.

90% chose to join the company. the company said the simpler business model made it the employer of choice in the industry. crude could be in for another slump as growth in u.s. output leads to a build in the nation's stockpiles. that is according to the chief executive. taylor told bloomberg how the industry's players are reacting. >> what is being cut is future products. i am not sure how it is going to play out. >> up next is the fate of ukraine. we spoke to william hague, and he told bloomberg russia is facing a crucial decision. >> i think there is good resolve

here. the european ministers talk about these things together and with the united states. i think it's clear russia faces a choice of increasing sanctions and isolation and the internet -- in the international community or the prospect of a more peaceful outlook. >> will the gathering lead to a solution that could end with 10 months of bloodshed? what is the worst we can expect? >> everything will depend on what russia decides to do.

the facts on the ground is they are trying to establish a military solution, which we say is not possible for us. i presume an easing of sanctions. president putin doesn't know precisely what he needs to achieve on the ground. it is a general sort of aim what he is trying to do in terms of military territory. it is unclear even to him. >> should poroshenko cede more

territory or not? >> not from his point of view. i presume he would have to in certain segments. he hasn't ceased anything in formal terms -- seized anything informal terms. or as they hold a substantial slice of that territory. >> he did go on to suggest that arming ukraine is something the u.s. has mentioned but is much less likely for europe. does that sound like unity to you? >> it is not unity. i don't think there has been an american decision. if you are going to arm ukraine even with defensive weapons it would have been better to do it some months ago i than to do it

now. i don't know how long it takes to train people. there is risk the russians would up their game. >> do you see it happening? do you see the u.s. or the west arming ukraine? what is the probability? >> i think we have in driven in that direction -- we have been driven in that direction. it is a logical response. what you actually do is a variety of things and relatively small gestures all the way up to putting troops on the ground which we are not going to do. >> what is your take on the economic relationship between europe and russia? clearly it exists, and that is part of the reason a lot of this has been so difficult for europe. is it a positive these economic

ties exist? they perhaps have stop things from escalating more quickly, or is that naïve? >> they haven't stopped the russians from escalating. it hasn't stopped us participating in russia's growing and huge economic crisis . the russians are going to face increasing pressure with or without sanctions. with sanctions is going to be worse. they have a year before they go for reserves. >> sanctions could have been imposed with less impact on europe. >> if there were no ties there would be nothing to sanction i think it is a principle that we cooperate with russia. this mess in russia has a role with -- business in russia has a role with spreading good practice.

the russian economy has been increasingly subject to state control. >> is there a way of putin pulling back without losing capital at home? is there a way he can do that without losing face? >> it is relative. two weeks before the collapse of the berlin wall, there was a 70% approval rating. he is popular because no one can see an alternative and people fear in russia what would happen if there were no government. but he is not popular in the sense if you ask the russian what he thinks is going to be the prospects for the next six months, he would say i don't know. that is a negative sign. >> thank you, andrew would.

you can find more on the ukraine and russian developments in depth on bloomberg.com. >> as food fads come and go take hong kong for example. it might be barbecue when we, top is the next. one man has been out to catch up on the latest trends. >> that is upon. >> at lunchtime -- that is a pun. >> at lunchtime these crowds get ready for the latest craze. gourmet burgers. fast food hit the scene in new york before making headlines in london and now asia. >> there has been a renaissance in burgers in hong kong. >> everyone knows where they were when they had their best hamburger. >> the celebrity chefs flipping

the once humble burger into gourmet status. what makes a high-class burger? it is more complicated than it looks. they have been perfecting the tt -- dd four months. >> i think it is a trend towards understanding ingredients. somebody saying we can do better. >> gourmet burger sales rose nearly 5% last year. that is more than the u.s. rate. it shows our tastes are changing and people are willing to favor quality, even in fast food. the research firm expects burger sales in hong kong to generate more than $650 million this year. >> i guess it's about the height . one places a good burger. -- the height -- hype.

it's just like the roman craze. >> the robin berger has deep fried noodle buns with korean beef and kimchi. -- ramen burger has deep fried noodle buns with korean beef and kimchi. >> i think my cholesterol level just went through the roof by watching that. but i love it. >> a full english burger. >> anytime of day. >> you can join the conversation on twitter and tell us which of those you prefer. >> there you go. coming up, or merely payday. sky beauty pick up tv rights.

we will work through the numbers after the break.

>> top stories this hour. let's bring you up to speed with what is happening at apple. it is another record for the company that brought you the iphone and the mac. a record valuation of more than $710 billion. it is the biggest market cap relation in the u.s. ever. the next biggest company has a

market cap of 380 5 billion. apple has been growing in value since the release of the big-screen iphone six. shake a bit and -- the head of emirates airline says airline should focus on providing a better offering. >> improve service, offer the best to the passenger, and people will fly with you. they don't mind paying extra to be able to fly if your service is good. >> in the u.k. the opposition labor party led by ed miliband is losing the backing of business leaders. labor is said to have received just 8.7 million pounds in donations in the current parliament compared to more than 20 million pounds last year. the leader of the u.k. liberal democrat party nick clegg told

business leaders in london the ruling coalition has fixed a broken economy. clegg highlighted growth in the u.k. economy at the conference. >> together we have received remarkable success over the last five years. we brought stability after crisis. we started to build a stronger economy and better opportunities for everyone. we took a broken economy and turned it into one of the fastest-growing economies in the developed world. >> iraq and iran have cut their large crude oil prices in asia to the lowest level in more than a decade. iraq you crew will sell at more than $4.10 a barrel, -- iraq he crude -- iraqi crude will sell at four dollars 10 a barrel. the launch of the unmanned space

rocket was halted minutes before liftoff because of strong winds at the kennedy space center in florida. a fresh attempt to land the booster on a barge in the ocean will be made later today. >> football mad after the rivalry to show live matches pushed up the rights to a new record high. >> the value that is being delivered for these three seasons following the heavily scrutinized sales process will be 5.13 6 billion pounds. >> here with more is caroline hyde. >> he said very slowly. >> why should we be surprised? 17% more.

back in 2012 when the auction happened and suddenly we had a new player in the game -- we had bt wanting to snap up football rights. it pushed up the price. again, it is pushed up by 70% this time around. was in 5 billion pounds for 160 eight matches. the market was expecting it wouldn't be pushed up so much. they thought 40% or 50% higher. sky remains top dog. 126 games. they are coughing up 83% more. bet has kept the matches. sure, they don't have some of the leading matches happening on a saturday afternoon. maybe they don't have sunday matches. bt are paying up to 30% more. perhaps they got better value but sky is paying a lot to keep

status quo. >> is it necessary? >> many analysts feel it is. i think sky shares will be hit because people will scoff that they were willing to pay more but they need to keep dominating the sport. football is the most supported sport here in the united kingdom, and it's a cash cow. sky is able to get more lucrative deals. they are able to get more subscribers, and some of the concerns raised by analysts was thinking like many think because bank of america says they are underestimating many of the risks. sky could lose subscribers if bt became the top dog. there really was a big worry. no wonder. when you hand over a sealed

envelope you are trying to preempt how much et is going to offer. -- bt is going to offer. when you hand in the sealed envelope you are more likely to go big. >> who is going to pay in the end? is it going to be the consumer? what's the likelihood is they are going to pay more. you have 330 million pounds per year more than was expected at sky. how are they going to pay that? they will say we will make savings. efficiency gains. that is how they are going to pay for this. 330 million pounds for efficiency gains. some are saying that is 11% of the budget. the way they are going to do that is to inch up subscriber payments but are we going to have to sit on the phone that much longer? are we going to have to put in our own skyboxes?

they are going to have to make savings somewhere. many feel this is why virgin media wanted a halt from the process. they feel they pay fewer for fewer -- they pay more for fewer matches. >> you cannot broadcast to do encourage people to watch live in the stadium. coming up, i am going to be looking at our favorite stories including the amazing spiderman and tim cook. stay with us. ♪

>> times for a look at our digital pick. >> you are just a big kid. >> spiderman is going to be reunited with his marvel brethren. for those who know their staff, -- stuff marvel is -- all those guys were separated, but sony had the rights to the amazing spiderman and produced a number of films such as this one. it didn't do very well compared to the original spiderman about 10 years earlier.

what is going to happen is there is going to be a film produced to the president of marvel studios and the outgoing chairman of sony, amy pascal. also spiderman will appear in an unnamed marvel film. they will try to guess the marvel character. he tried to merge the world which is good for sony, because spiderman hasn't fared as well as the iron man, the avengers the hold, and so forth. >> we are going to try to merge it on countdown. on stage, everyone was a little bit in the dark when gary: of goldman sachs referred to the law of large numbers. there is a law of large numbers, but it doesn't have anything to do with how high markets can go. apple set another record. apparently if you perform the

same experiment a large number of times, the outcome you might get, but it is often missed on wall street. >> there you go. we're going to speak to the ceo next. ♪

>> greece prepares to meet its competitors with no end in sight. >> when you consider plan b it means you don't think there is a plan a. >> a plan for the ukraine. we will be speaking with the finance minister. >> apple's market valuation reaches 710 billion dollars, the biggest in u.s. corporate history. >> the premier league payday.

sky and bt pay more than 5 billion pounds for rights to screen the world's richest football championship. pretax income down by a percent. we will get into the details of the management of this business. the ceo will be with us in a few minutes time.

to talk about the turnaround story. >> back to the top story. a big day in europe on two fronts. greece's problems will be on the agenda at the emergency meeting with its creditors, and in the east, talks of plans on ukraine that could lead to peace or escalation of the conflict that lame -- claimed thousands of lives. >> the prime minister won a vote of confidence for his austerity program in the greek parliament. he doesn't have the support of the major creditors. germany has hardened its tone in athens. >> finance ministers meet in brussels today. the eu commissioner says there is no way forward just yet. >> there is no plan on the table. the commission wants to go tomorrow with a plan. with the way forward, but not with a plan. we must together build these

plans for greece and the eurozone. we will see what are the technical issues that have to be dealt with. first of all, we have got to talk with each other. i think that is what was lacking until now. >> hans nichols has been following the story from germany and joins us now. what can we expect from brussels today? >> we are going to get the formal presentation of our plan and how he plans to have bridge financing until june. in athens it's very clear there is going to be no way back. he is doubling down on his position. the finance minister in germany was just as resolute. he was speaking in istanbul. he talked about there being no way to extend it. if greece wants her and this program, get out of the bailout program, that could be a final straw.

>> we won't negotiate a new program tomorrow. we have completed a program tediously. i can remember precisely it was the end of 2012, and actually the program should be checked quarterly by three institutions which are the european commission, the ecb, and the imf, which we no longer call the troika. one can respect this. >> if you want the -- of -- a dash of optimism, not calling it the troika. that is ending knowledge meant of the challenges they face. you could end up seeing when the eurogroup meeting takes place february 16, you could end up having what greece wants to call a bridge loan and have germany call it an extension of the imf program. you could see a way to gloss over that. yesterday the stock market in

athens was up. yields were also going up for spain and italy. here is the plan greece wants. they want another 8 billion euros. he wants the ecb to sign off on that. then they want 1.9 billion. this is from the original loan in 2010. that is the plan. we need formal reaction later tonight. >> complex linguistics are going on around this. it seems you can write all sorts of stories around the terminology, but where is the actual negotiation taking place? another format for the conversation was the phone call. >> we could see juncker emerged as a mediator. one thing on this, and this is very clear. they you cannot -- the eu cannot sign off on its own.

he said you could not have a bridge loan from the ecb without any -- it is not possible unless you have eu sign off. this is going to have to come from the finance ministers and the eu heads of state when they gather tomorrow in brussels. >> thank you very much for that. we are getting the details from glen corps. >> and core is going to offload its stake in the platinum and palladium maker -- glen core is going to offload its stake in the platinum and palladium maker. >> click core said they told -- they said they hold investments in the commodities in which they trade. they have always regarded that as non-core. they believe it is better to leave it to the shareholders to decide how they manage those.

>> it is a share price that has slumped in value since its peak in 2007. it was a 20 pound share price. yesterday it closed at one pound 72. it was a billion pound company in the shadow of its former glories. >> glencore saying this reflects their strategy and is not a view on the company. >> is glencore freeing up resources to come back to the table? many are wondering. >> let's get back to another of our top stories. a war is raging in eastern ukraine as world leaders meet in minsk in hopes of negotiating a cease-fire. >> the ukrainian president poroshenko, angela merkel, and

french president francois hollande. >> fresh russian sanctions and lethal weapons from the ukraine could come to the table. william hague spoke about the common goals and whether to arm the ukrainians. >> i think the united states has raised the possibility. there is much less of a possibility for european countries, but they have joined in sanctions on russia. those have been very effective in part of the role of the united kingdom has been to make sure those sanctions are implemented. what is absolutely common ground is putting the pressure on russia. >> that spring ryan chilcote into the conversation. any expectation for some sort of deal today or not? >> we have to confirm they are going to show up. the ukrainian president says he is going. we have heard from the french foreign minister saying along -- hollande and merkel will make a decision this morning.

that is not confirmed. we heard from the russian minister talks are going forward. we will have to wait until we hear from merkel. if they don't go the whole thing is off. talks have been underway. have been meeting at lower levels. things seem to be moving in the right direction. yesterday a russian wire service said they agreed to a cease-fire. two of the participants in the talks we spoke with said that is not the case. we have to see. it all depends on two things. first, territory. who is willing to give up how much? since they last set down and reached a cease-fire agreement the russian backed separatists have taken more territory. if the ukrainian president happy to see that in the nominal sense? maintaining territorial integrity but allowing it to be controlled by these separatists i think that is the main question and will that be

enough for them or do they want some territory they don't even control right now? there are a lot of talks underway. the russian president got a call from president obama. president obama met with angela merkel the day before. they talked about foreign sanctions from the eu and the united states as an option if these talks fail, and in addition, president obama was talking about the possibility of arming the ukrainians, saying that was still on the table. >> the former foreign secretary in the u.k. told us william hague was less of an option for europe, but where does the ukrainian economy sit in all this? where are we in the status of foreign aid going into ukraine? >> ukraine is in a difficult space. the ukrainian president says the war effort cost them 8 million euros a day. you can imagine this is more than a $2.5 billion loss a year for the ukrainian people. the head of the imf said there

is going to be a financial aid program, then we need some peace in the east. the ukrainian finance minister we are going to be talking to in just an hour says they need $15 billion. they got $17 billion of aid last year from the imf. take a look at ukrainian bonds right now. the yield is just shy. the eurobond holders lost 25% last year. the biggest loss of any eurobond holders out there over the last 12 months. people are concerned even if there is on the investment side some kind of bailout, as soon as that is agreed there is going to be talks with investors. that is going to involve restructuring the debt. >> thank you very much. as the leaders gather today, we will be bringing you an exclusive interview with ukraine finance minister. that is shortly at 8:00 u.k. time. >> let's look at the stories.

it's another record from the company that brought you the iphone. apple close with a record valuation of more than $710 billion. that's the biggest market capitalization in the u.s. ever. the next biggest company exxon has market cap of 385 billion. apple has been increasing value after the release of the big screen iphone six. >> the head of emirates airlines has a simple message. improve your service. shaikh ahmed says airline should focus on preparing a better offering. >> improve yourself. offer the best to the passenger. people don't mind paying extra to be able to fly if your service is good. >> in the u.k. the opposition labor party led by ed miliband

is losing supporters in the business community according to a report in the financial times. labor is risk just said to receive a .7 million pounds in donations compared with more than 20 million last year. >> the leader of the u.k. liberal democratic party and -- nick legg said the rulers had fixed a broken economy. clegg highlighted growth in the economy. >> together we will achieve remarkable success over the last five years. we brought stability after crisis. we started a fairer society where there are opportunities for everyone. whitaker broken economy and turned it into one of the fastest-growing economies in the developed world. -- we took a broken economy and turned it into one of the fastest-growing economies in the developed world. >> saudi arabia reduced its

pricing to asia. the lowest level in at least 14 years. >> the launch of the unmanned rocket halted its liftoff because of strong winds. it's the second time a launch has been postponed. >> the world's third biggest brewer heineken slipped in volumes will grow at a slower pace because of dampened demand in developed markets. profit reports came in just above analyst estimates at 1.7 6 billion euros. it has been hurt by price competition and followed from sanctions against russia. >> you can see the ceo of heineken speaking about those numbers. that is coming up in 15 minutes or so. stay with us. we will take a short break. see you in a few minutes.

>> welcome back. a producer of paper-based packaging just reported earnings for the fourth quarter. we are joined by the chief executive. thank you. sum it up for us, the fourth quarter of 2014.

>> the fourth quarter is different in isolation. we have had a good year. volumes are up. prices are reasonably positive. a good diversity across different regions. generally despite the macroeconomic environment, it is a robust product area. >> tell us about your plans to reduce the debt level. >> i think in 2012 we got a clear message from the market that are debt was too high. the appetite for risk was significantly reduced. we committed to the market we would basically get our debt below 3 billion and reduce our leverage. we focused on that for two and a half years. basically since the ipo we reduced our debt short of 700

million. despite the fact we were investing in our asset base and got the leverage down at the beginning of 2014 we redirected the market back to a growth strategy. we have a good strategy. >> it has been a roller coaster ride since 2007 when you came to the market. your shares were at 1.18 euros. they are 22 and a half today. you are worth 5.2 billion. paint a picture for us. what that was like and how you managed to turn things around many years on. >> i think we are basically the victim of a scared equity market. our business is hugely asset

back. always profitable, always positive free cash flow. very hard to understand how anyone would value that at just over a euro a share. we needed to address the concerns, which was basically leverage and we did. our ipo message was that we would grow the business and we would have the leverage of three and a half times or for the half times -- four and a half times. we changed it two or three times. the growth strategy is still the same. we have grown our dividend by 30%. basically that is a strong vote of confidence in the cash flow capabilities of the business. we believe in the message. we believe investors believed in the message. >> markets can be a fickle business. what about the world of packaging itself? you say what you produce is sustainable but is it going to

be as necessary in the future as it has been in the past? many use it for marketing, but there is a push to reduce packaging in general. how do you sustain the growth model? >> paper-based packaging is the most sustainable in the world because it is recyclable. it is the medium through which almost every product marketed in the retail market is marketed. our whole focus going forward is to differentiate our offering from our competitors and to work with our customers to have the visuals and the insight into consumer markets. you can see we are winning business, mainly through partnering on a point of purchase and a strategy that optimizes the sale of products. when you put the packaging together with marketing-based packaging, you look at options for people who had to display on

the shares or the internet. the future is very good. >> europe you are in 21 countries. 11 in the americas. you are in eurozone and non-eurozone countries. how do you view the troubles taking place? how that might spread and affect the economy of the eurozone? >> i suppose it has worked. the eurozone has had a tough time over the past 3, 4, 5 years. it has been extremely slow to recover, if you compare it to the u.s. by and large, despite the challenges in the european marketplace, paper-based packaging has done well, mainly because our products serve the

domestic market and the export market. europe is the biggest consumer market in the developed world. secondly, it has brands of international standards, so the export community is very substantial. we package from the low-end cheaper products to the high-end differentiated product. between our geography and the fact we have some offerings in terms of supply chains -- >> that works for you? >> it is a fundamental platform. it has smoothed our earnings in terms of highs and lows. we don't have anything like the extremes of our competitors. it basically services extremely well the aspects of the economic downturn. >> thank you for joining us.

good to speak to you. he is the ceo. >> i just want to give you an update on the story we brought you a little earlier. glencore has divested the stake in london. we were working from an incorrect report. glencore is planning to divest its 24% to its own shareholders. >> this is all part of what they previously declared as their strategy. they said that is what this is reflecting, strategic decisions. let's talk about football and television. >> bt and sky bid up the price of premier league writes to a new record high. >> the value that is being

delivered for these things following the heavily scrutinized sales process will be 5.136 billion pounds. >> caroline is here. that is more than the most bullish forecast. >> it is record after record. perhaps it is not that surprising you should pay record prices to get your hands on the rights to show for football prices. premier league costing 70% more than in 2012. interesting they have a new player on the game. it was up 70%. clearly we are seeing a bit of a theme. it is the most popular sport in the united kingdom. it is more than the market has

expected. 40% or 50% would be how much it got. they are sticking to sky being the main monopoly. they have three quarters of all matches. they have the sunday matches in particular. bt has a quarter of the matches. sky having to pay 83% more than last time. bt only paying 30% more. they are not getting the most lucrative gains. still, sky cares so much. was that necessary paying this much? >> i think the share could take a bit of a not because people might feel they overpaid. you have to -- bit of a knock because people might feel they have overpaid. you could have discovery coming in as well.

many felt you could lose a lot of top subscribers. they had to go big and perhaps charge their customers. >> thank you indeed. we are speaking to the ceo of heineken after the dutch brewer released earnings earlier. stay with us. ♪

>> "countdown," 7:30 here in london. what is going on between germany and the rest of the eurozone and greece. the showdown potentially taking place today. on the latter of those two, let's take a look at the bloomberg dollar spot index. not far from levels we have not seen since 2004. that is as far as the data goes

back. it has been lifting the dollar. policymakers could increase interest rates by midyear seems to be one of the conclusions you could draw from this commentary. jeffrey lacher saying raising rates in june looks like the attractive offer. john williams of san francisco has said the fed is getting closer and closer to raising interest rates. that is one theory to be aware of freedom looking at the euro the g-20 very much focused on what is happening with greece. it moves from turkey to the back of europe and into brussels. the german finance minister saying the germans are not going to give greece more time to hold talks. that was something he was asked about. he went on to say it is over if greece says it does not want its final charge of its aid program. the prime minister of greece 18

confidence vote in parliament last night. that is the latest on the foreign exchange market front. >> the top stories on bloomberg at this hour. mining and commodity trading company glencore has a stake worth about 63.6 ilion dollars. talking to the republic will be an easy job for the banks handling the job. that is according to the chief executive of the company's parent company. he told about his hopes for an industrywide rebound. >> i think that there is ample opportunity for some of the

numbers to be got back. even though we dropped numbers in eastern europe, it continues to be a significant overhang on the market. i think the european block is bound to do better. >> goldman sachs says it is just 3% of -- it hired only 3% of to an 67,000 job applications last year. -- 267,000 job applications last year. the bank said it had higher levels of profitability that made it "employer of choice." >> these future projects, will they be big relatively small? i don't know yet how it is going to shake out, where the cost paying really is. >> crude could be in for another thump as growth in u.s. output leads to a build in the nation's

stockpile according to the oil trader chief executive. he told bloomberg how the industry players are reacting. >> honestly, what is getting cut now his future investment future projects, whether they be big relatively small. i don't think we know yet how it's all going to shake out and whether cost paying really is. >> heineken reported earnings earlier. the world's third-biggest brewer said volume will advance at a slower pace this year because of slower demand in smaller markets. joining us is ceo jean-francois van boxmeer. thank you for joining us here on "countdown." as i said in my introduction -- by the way, last year just in case our viewers did not know, operating profit rose by 8.7%. you had organic consolidated revenue growth of 3%.

looking ahead to next year, you have said that beer volume will rise at a slower pace. he said that margin expansion will be below your 40% racist point target. the -- basis point target. can you give us the reason for that? >> correct. traditionally, we always cautious in the beginning of the year. we take a somewhat more cautious outlook in the beginning of this year, but we still take a few of growth because the majority of the countries in which we operate, we bank on growth going forward. we have strong programs geared on innovation, new product introduction. we have seen over the last two or three years it is delivering to our top line. we remain confident that it will also be the case in 2015. there is a technicality here. we have promised the market as we would increase our margins by 40 basis points on the midterm year or year.

we delivered 90 basis points on 2014. slightly below that in 2015 because we have divested a huge packaging operation in mexico, which has technically, or accounting-wise a 25 basis point dilution on our margin. if you count that out, we are much closer to that guidance going forward. that is what we told the market. >> europe is your biggest market. it represents 40% of your sales. after you recovered from the exceptionally high levels of rain during the summer, which curtailed bill or drinking -- beer drinking in the u k france, and in italy? >> i'm not a weatherman, so i can never predict what it's going to be. last year we had the world soccer season, which was helps a bit in the summer season. the first half would be more comparative to work on.

we remain optimistic that our program is geared towards innovations and it will bring us market share. if i look back on the performance of 2014 in europe, we have gained market share and practically all the countries where we have been operating. very strong innovation right at 7.5%, which is exceptionally strong. we see that there is structure on the market. europe will remain a difficult market to operate. it is not a natural growing market because it does not have fantastic demographics like other part of the world, that it is a big contributor to our business and we stay committed to market share and revenue growth also in europe albeit at a lower pace than markets like mexico or brazil or vietnam, obviously. >> what about russia? he says that -- you say that europe will be a

difficult market. what about russia? it will be an important market for you. how do you forecast the russian market in 2015 as the crisis continue between russia and ukraine which is damaging the russian economy? >> yes. we don't see improvement over there. one has to realize that our industry is very much fed by inputs locally produced in russia. we are less affected by the sanction regimes then those outside of russia. they are flexible and have adapted a new reality. last year we lost a lot of volume but we made more operating profits because we have to restructure to new realities. bear in mind that for us, russia is not a very huge operation. what is happening in russia is not stemming optimism, but it

is not affecting heineken that much. >> i must ask you about sab miller. it approach to in september. he said the approach was non-actionable. has sab miller approached you again? would you be open to discussions with sab miller? >> we have been very clear and the family shareholder controlling shareholder has been very clear about its intention to remain an independent company and management alongside maintains the view that we can grow independently. we operate in more than 80 countries with a vast portfolio of beers. we have exposure to growing markets. we are second to none today. it is not because we are a smaller company, we are weaker company. we remain very firmly committed to independence. >> jean-francois van boxmeer, it has been a pleasure, sir talking to you today. i look forward to speaking to you again next quarter. the chief executive officer on

heineken. >> you can join the conversation on twitter. committed to an independent business, so says heineken this morning. ♪ >> the bar chart has the s&p 500 index. ♪

>> welcome back. time for today's are chart. as the s&p 500 index broken out? something very interesting happen on tuesday for the u.s. benchmark. it closed at 2068.59, above the 2063 level that marked the top of advances on january 8. that is the white circle. january the 22nd, that is the red circle, and february 5. there you have it. the green circle. that is 2063. you can see it closed above those three highs, which is sick forget -- is significant. that may pull back investors who

sold in january. it felt 3.4% in january, the biggest fall of the year. now the s&p 500, which finished yesterday tuesday a 2068, it is just 22 points from that level, the yellow circle. it's like the olympics as caroline said earlier to me. that is december 29 last year. barely below the all-time high. what is also interesting about yesterday's" which was the highest of 2015, it was just 3.8% above its lowest close of the year, which is the blue circle. that was on january 15. that is the smallest spread of this point in the year since 2007. it is all happening is daily price swings widen with an

average move up .9%, the biggest year to date since 2000. let's ask the question. has the s&p 500 broken out* matt malia -- broken out? matt malia says tuesday was a positive move, but we have to get above the december highs to confirm the breakout. that is the all-time record. people are a little freaked out over what is going on in europe and greece and until we get clarity or see something fundamentally different, our indicators are not saying whether we are totally breaking out or not. keep an eye on this chart. >> football mad. not just the british public, it seems, but so are the broadcasters after sky in bt's

rivalry pushed prices to a record high. >> the value being delivered for these three seasons following the open and heavily scrutinized sales process will be 5.136 billion pounds. >> richard scudamore saying that number two great effect. caroline hyde looking at the effect of this deal. >> we thought football players were expected. gareth bale, eager hard at when it comes to 5 billion you are playing for the rights to watch and play. 70% more than the previous auction. the previous auction was 70% more than the auction before that. there seems to be a theme here. mark, do a chart on a. [laughter] there are 168 matches being played.

what is coming through here is blasting to analyst expectations. they thought that prices would rise by 50%. why? sky decided has to remain the monopoly. it is keeping its 3/4 of all the matches. bt is keeping just 1/4 of the gets. sky is paying 11 million pounds per game for this. bt is being called higher. et has not had to flash the cash so much. sky having to pay up. >> is it necessary to use your term? flashing the cash? >> if you are looking at keeping the most lucrative of advertising, then yes, it is necessary. some of the risks being analyzed by financial and analyst

before this, if half the customers switched to bt they were saying sky could lose half a million customers it and lost the main bulk of its football games. they got word. you have talk of new people entering the game. you have the likes of discovery communications expressing their interest in getting their hands on a few matches as well. you are upping the ante. the way the process is done, you see your bed. you all know what happens when you are trying to buy a house in the united kingdom. you see all the prices rise. it is a game. we need game theory for this. what on earth you pay up for this? who is going to pay at the end of it? are they going to pass on this cost to the consumers? they promise not. the chief executive of sky came out and said yes, this is 330 million pounds more expensive per year then you thought. we are going to become more

efficient. when you're looking at 1/3 of a billion efficiency per your, that is about 11% of the nonprogramming budget. where do you squeeze? p have to wait forever on the skybox being plugged in? or do you charge subscribers more? the question will be asked if they can deliver efficient savings. >> do they have to install the skybox? isn't it just plugging it in? >> i don't know. they usually send buddy, don't take? -- send somebody don't they? >> interestingly, we know that we have to pay up in the united kingdom. for fewer matches. mark, you know that on the main matches they don't want to air because they want people in the stadium. they want the fans. >> they are friday night games which is big. >> friday night games and you have midweek names. the key thing is that off

comments analyzing all this. they are trying to see if it is like you kf -- ukf, more matches on tv if spain and italy does. and virgin media. >> they complained about the entire process. thank you very much. >> it is 7:50 in london. we are nine minutes and a half at the most literally from the start -- it is a literal on "countdown." a live look at what is happening on london today. futures down 125%. what about bt? stay with us.

>> we are just a few minutes away from the start of european equity trading. government bond yields approaching -- investors could be looking forward to equities. all of his opinions are his own. good morning. you see a specific opportunity inequity. what exactly are you looking at? >> interesting that you brought up the chart with s&p. guess what? if you look at euro-dollar against the s&p, it is highly correlated.

when eurozone goes lower, s&p follows. we are living and die by event risk in greece. i'm looking at the s&p in price forward if you look forward, the stoxx 50 is sloping downward versus the s&p, which is slightly down to going higher. when you have it going down like that, and implies that the option market has more value. >> there it is right there. there is the charge. -- the chart. >> as we go further up the curve, we can see that the gradient increases. there is an opportunity there to have successful trade where we sell the push for the stoxx 50 and by the correlation. versus the spx because it is

flat to slightly going higher the put options are essentially cheaper. that will be a hedge. were close to even coming in. as we have seen in the u.s. w here country had supported stocks, we expect that we'll have the same implications for europe. as the skew is going downwards, you are essentially reversing that and hedge that. >> what are the risks around that? >> the obvious one is greece. greece they are taking the brinksmanship beyond the line. we will increase global volatility in stock markets. if you see that with the stoxx 50, your market is going to go significantly negative because you are essentially short volatility. what you do is hedge with the s&p. >> thank you very much.

tanvir sandhu, bloomberg strategist. >> up next, it is "on the move." ♪

>> good morning and welcome to "on the move." i'm jonathan ferro. let's get straight year morning brief. crisis in ukraine. representatives from russia france, ukraine, and germany are set to meet for peace talks today. este the nation's economy continues to crumble, we will speak to the nation's finance minister. the german finance minister warns that if greece does not accept an aid program, is over. apple set eight new record as the tech giant in violation has

crossed the 700 -- evaluation has crossed the $700 billion mark. we will be watching shares of bp and sky. they have driven the value of premier tv rights to a record north of 5 billion pounds. future markets this morning, dead flat. zero stoxx 50 futures market flat is all. >> the main market is going to be about the emerging eurogroup meeting today. it will be focused on one thing. it is going to be greece. they are going to be discussing the financing they want. the 10 billion euros to get them through to buy them time. the new bailout program as well. they want a focus on austerity. the germans are standing firm. it looks as though co