Share Radio Breakfast

Today, Alcohol duty is on the increase, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that duty on alcohol would rise in line with inflation during the Spring Budget speech much to the dismay of many hospitality businesses.

So what does this mean politically, for the consumer and the industry?

Nigel spoke to Larry Nelson, Publisher & Editor of BrewersGuardian.com to discuss further...

H&T Group, the UK pawnbrokers, who offer loans, pawn services and cash for gold, has released its full year results. So how is the company doing? Steve Fenerty, Finance Director at H&T, joined Nigel Cassidy on Share Radio Breakfast to discuss the numbers.

Paul Sedgwick, Head of Investments at Frank Investments joined Nigel Cassidy and Rachel Winter from Killik & Co to discuss all the top business and finance stories from the weekend and today. First up, they analysed why Bovis homes have been seeing significantly lower share prices than its counterparts as of late.

The boss of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, is engulfed in a massive bribery scandal that's threatening to put him in jail. The case is also linked to the huge scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's President Park Geun-hye. Shares in South Korea rose 0.4% in Friday's session after the country's Constitutional Court upheld parliament's impeachment of the President. James Brydges reports.

New research conducted by Halifax has found that 'homeowners in one in three UK areas earn more from bricks and mortar than the day job'. Halifax suggests that average house prices have increased by more than the total average of employees' net earnings. So what impact does this have on homeowners and potential buyers? Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax joined Nigel Cassidy to give his analysis.

The anti-secrecy website Wikileaks has published thousands of the CIA's secret documents, including what it says are it's hacking tools. Founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange said that, after some thought, he will give technology companies exclusive access to these cyber-weapons, so that they can be defended against. This has caused quite some embarrassment for the CIA, as the agency who is supposed to protect us, is somewhat unprotected. Joining Nigel Cassidy is Jason Murdock, Technology and Cybersecurity reporter with the International Business Times to discuss further.

British citizens should be able to keep various benefits of EU membership including freedom of movement after Brexit, the European parliament’s chief negotiator has said. Guy Verhofstadt said Britons could be allowed to keep certain rights if they applied for them on an individual basis. “All British citizens today have also EU citizenship. That means a number of things: the possibility to participate in the European elections, the freedom of travel without problem inside the union". Joining Nigel Cassidy is Chris Bailey, Founder of financial orbit to discuss today's top finance news.

According to The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) latest residential market survey the UK’s most vulnerable tenants are being pushed out of the private rental market due to rising rents and benefits cuts. However, could the government offer some assistance? Respondents to the survey suggested that more than half of the UK's private landlords would be prepared to rent their properties to homeless people or those on housing benefits if the Government introduced some form of state-endorsed deposit guarantor scheme. But is this really feasible? Joining Nigel Cassidy to give his analysis is Simon Rubinsohn, Chief Economist at RICS.

Car dealer Lookers has posted record profits for the year to the end of December - its eighth successive year of turnover and profit growth. Revenue increased 17% to £4.3 billion, while profit before tax rose by 46% to £91.8 million. To analyse the numbers, Robin Gregson, CFO of Lookers, joined Nigel Cassidy on Share Radio Breakfast.

Phillip Hammond of course delivered his spring budget yesterday, it was pretty quiet according to some. However there were some notable points on business rates, forecasts and national insurance hikes. To give his take on the Budget is Stephen Boyle, Chief Economist at Natwest.