Share Radio Breakfast

Every year since 2001, the British public and a self-appointed CoolBrands Council have voted for the UK's coolest brands. Apple tops the list with the Glastonbury Festival in second. But is this list anything to go by, or is it just a gimmick? Adrian Day, a brand and communications consultant, who’s also Non-Executive Director of Adrian Day Advisors, joined Share Radio to discuss the concept of a cool brand.

Brendan Mooney, CEO of Kainos, joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss the company’s latest interim results. Kainos is a UK-based provider of digital services and products for the public and private sector, and it does a lot of work with government through its digital services offering. So how did it perform and how is life as a listed company, having IPO’d in June 2015?

A number of companies which provide VPN's (Virtual Private Networks), or encryption services, are reporting a growth in the number of UK customers. One catalyst for this increased interest is the Investigatory Powers Bill. This will oblige internet providers to record which websites and services their user’s devices connect to. As a result, some UK based users are choosing to use tech companies which can hide their browsing habits. Matt Cox has been hearing more from tech consultant, Chris Green.

On Sunday, Italian voters will go to the polls in a referendum on whether to curb the powers of the senate. The polls suggest Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who has promised to resign in the case of a No Vote, is on course to lose. As Italy's fragile banking sector struggles to stay afloat, a change of government, which could see the populist anti-EU Five Star Movement elected, will have severe repercussions for the Italian economy and the Eurozone. Robert Van Egghen reports.

Black Friday is on and bargain hunting shoppers may spend an estimated £2 billion trying to beat expected new year price rises. And according to the online retailing association IMRG, well over half the spend will be done online. So it might seem surprising to find that two old pre-internet age stores are being revived on the High Street. Safeway and Austin Reed are both staging a comeback, so Matt Cox has been hearing from Mintel’s Retail Analyst, Richard Perks, about the return of these old names.

Leading Chinese online travel agent Ctrip has agreed to acquire the price comparison site Skyscanner for approximately £1.4 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Skyscanner’s current management team will continue to manage its operations independently as part of the Ctrip group. Our correspondent in Scotland, Maurice Smith, has been looking into the deal.

Josh Lowe of Newsweek joined Share Radio Breakfast for his politics round-up. There are calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to reverse her flagship boardroom reforms on executive pay. Company bosses and the Bank of England’s Chief Economist have suggested such intervention will damage the motivation and retention of good business leaders. Josh offered his view on this, as well as the reports that former Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to help block Britain's exit from the EU.

The European Parliament's President, Martin Schulz, is to run for election in the German parliament next year, instead of seeking a third term leading MEPs. And his replacement could matter for Britain. Politico Europe's Ryan Heath said it could well be the former Belgian prime minister, who's currently due to lead the EU in the Brexit negotiations. Ryan spoke to Share Radio’s Nigel Cassidy from Brussels.

John Hardy, Head of FX Strategy at Saxo Bank, joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss the forex market. Has sterling survived the Autumn Statement onslaught? John offers his view on this as well as assessing the performance of the other major currencies.

Official figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) show that consumer credit expanded last month at the fastest pace in nearly ten years. Mortgage approvals meanwhile hit a five-month high. Alastair Douglas is the Chief of TotallyMoney.com, the price comparison site focusing on credit cards, loans and mortgages. Alastair has been digesting these latest borrowing trends and he joined Share Radio to delve into the findings.