Image source, IWG

Is starting your own business a route to increased social mobility? Mark Dixon, who left school with 'O' levels and began his business career selling sandwiches, says it's never been more important.

He's the billionaire boss of serviced-office provider IWG - formally Regus - and has been on Today talking about social mobility.

Did he feel that not having more formal qualifications put him at a disadvantage?

"It's not about the qualifications, its about education," he says. Having good people around him was important. "I've been able to work with great people and learned from them."

Dixon says starting a business has never been easier. "It's seen as a normal thing to do. That wasn't true 40 years ago."

But he says that starting young is important. "When I started up, I always knew that I was young. If I failed I could start again. When you are old and have a family it's much more difficult."

Shares in Dixons Carphone are up 4% after its half-year results.

Shares in outsourcing firm Serco have jumped 10% after it said that full-year profits would come in at the top end of its guidance range.

The FTSE 100 has made no clear move in the early going and is trading at 7,498.

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A third of the average water bill is accounted for by the financing costs of water companies, says Catherine Ross, the chief executive of regulator Ofwat.

The regulator has judged that those have come down significantly - from 3.74% in 2014 to 2.4%.

And that will translate into lower water prices, says Ms Ross.

The final price for water in England and Wales from 2020 onwards will be decided in December 2019.

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Dixons Carphone boss Sebastian James has been on Today, explaining the tumble in the retailer's half-year profits.

He says that one-off items, including the need to account for changes in EU roaming legislation, were behind the steep fall from £154m last year to £61m this time.

But that doesn't account for all the slide. "Our business is a game of two halves," he says. "We are an electricals business and that is doing well. It's a bit tougher in mobile.

"People are fairly rationally holding onto their phones a little longer... They are an expensive bit of kit."

On the bright side, Black Friday sales were a record - "we took just under half-a-billion quid".

The four-day Black Friday bonanza is now the retailer's single most important sales period, followed by the New Year period, he says.

Independent retail analyst Nick Bubb tweets:

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Pre-tax profits at retailer Dixons Carphone slumped to £61m from £154m in the six months to the end of October. However, the company said the number was skewed by £58m in one-off charges.

The mobile phones market remained "challenging", Dixons said, with customers holding onto handsets for longer.

And it has tweaked its full-year profits guidance to between £360m-£400m, down from £362m-£420m.

On the plus side,the company said in a statement, external that it had a good start to the key Christmas trading period with record Black Friday sales.

Dixons issued a profit warning in August and its shares have more than halved this year. It said group like-for-like sales rose 4% in the first half, and were up 3% in the second quarter.

Ofwat Chief Executive, Cathryn Ross said: “Today, we unveil our blueprint for how we will push water companies to deliver more for customers through to 2025.

"The methodology we’ve published today outlines how we will use our price review to get the very best for customers, through higher quality of service and support for those who need it most, all with scope for lower bills.

"We’ve said many times already that this will be a tough price review for companies.

"We will cut the financing costs they can recover from customers and, with this lower guaranteed return, they will need to more efficient and innovative than ever before."

Ofwat says customers could save up to £25 a year from 2020 onwards, thanks partly to the reduced cost of borrowing for water companies.

The regulator has started its review of the regulation and pricing of water. , external

It says the cost of capital for water companies should be 2.4%, which would be a record low for a regulated utility.

"Ofwat is challenging water companies to go the extra mile in terms of the services they provide to their customers in the years ahead," the regulator said.

On its front page the Guardian reports, external that big firms have paid corporate intelligence firms to monitor political groups that challenge their businesses.

The Telegraph and the Times report that households and motorists, external are likely to see sharp rises in gas bills and petrol prices. That's due to recent supply problems.

The Financial Times says the deal between 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney could be announced tomorrow. The big regulatory concern is the combination of the two movie studios and Disney's dominant position in sport.

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More on the likelihood of a US rate rise later today...

The Federal Reserve will have to take into account the impact of the Trump administration's planned deep tax cuts to stimulate growth.

That said, Megan Green, chief economist at Manulife Asset Management, is not sure the tax plans will have much of an impact on the economy. "We might get a bit of a sugar hit next year," she says, but very little beyond that.

What might companies do with a corporate windfall from a tax cut?

She tells Today that the priorities for companies are always, first de-leverage their balance sheets, second, share buy-backs, third, pay higher dividends. "Finally, its capital investment. Unfortunately, what we really need is the investment, but that's not high up on their list," she says.

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South Korea is reportedly considering imposing a capital gains tax on cryptocurrency trading.

A government statement obtained by the Reuters newsagency said South Korea will also ban minors from opening accounts on virtual coin exchanges.

The measures being looked at also include regulations that only allow eligible exchanges to operate in the country.

To become eligible, exchanges will need to uphold investor protection rules and disclose details about all bids and offers.

The statement follows an emergency policy meeting held to discuss cryptocurrencies.

Senior officials from the justice and finance ministries, as well as the tax and financial regulator's offices attended the meeting.

It comes a day after reports that the top financial regulator was considering ways of minimising risks - including a possible complete ban.

South Korea has one of the world's largest cryptocurrency markets and authorities want to reduce what they call "reckless speculative investments".

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US interest rates are expected to rise by 0.25% later today, the third hike by the Federal Reserve this year.

But with inflation still relatively low, there's a big debate about whether raising rates is the right course of action.

Randy Kroszner, a former Fed governor and now economics professor at the University of Chicago School of Business, thinks another rise is "perfectly reasonable".

He tells Today: "It's wise to be looking forward rather than looking backward; thinking about where inflation might go."

There's a good chance US inflation will go higher next year. "If that doesn't come through then, of course, the Fed doesn't need to follow through with more rises," he says.

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Labour has been considering nationalising the water industry.

"The question about renationalisation is an interesting one. There is no question that government could borrow money cheaper than a water company can, so there could be a price reduction," says Tony Smith, the chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water.

"The crucial question for customers would be: Would the government invest efficiently?

"There is no question that since privatisation there has been a massive amount of investment and services have been improved," he said.

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Tony Smith is the Chief Executive of the Consumer Council for Water and formerly of Ofwat, where he worked on the five-year price review.

He doesn't think that customers are getting value for money from the water companies "but it is improving".

Investors in water companies have been making higher returns than the overall stock market, almost every year since privatisation, he points out.

The review which starts today is "very important" he says..

He expects it to be customer focused and also look at the cost of finance.

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There was another blow for Uber last night when York council refused to grant the ride-hailing service a licence to operate in the city.

It follows a decision by London not to renew Uber's licence - subject to an appeal - and Sheffield's demand that the service suspend operations.

A committee at the City of York Council cited the number of complaints it had received about the service and a recent well-publicised data protection breach as reasons for the decision.

The 7-3 vote of the Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee was greeted by applause and cries of "thank you" from the public gallery on Tuesday night.

Saf Din, chairman of the York Hackney Carriage Drivers Association, told the meeting Uber was "systematically abusing" the local laws and "looking for loopholes" by using out-of-town vehicles.

Sheffield City suspended the company's licence on 7 December after the firm failed to respond to requests for information about its management.

Uber is allowed to continue operating in the city until 18 December, and if it chooses to appeal the suspension, it can function until that has been heard.

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Japan's Toshiba has settled a legal dispute with US partner Western Digital that could have prevented the $18bn (£13.3bn) sale of Toshiba's prized memory chip unit.

Both firms agreed to withdraw all claims against each other which ensures "all parties are aligned" on the sale to a consortium led by Bain Capital.

Toshiba needs to sell the chip business to cover heavy losses at its US nuclear unit and prevent the company from being delisted.

But its US joint venture partner Western Digital had threatened to block the sale.

In a statement, the firms said they were pleased with the outcome after they agreed to resolve all ongoing litigation and arbitration disputes.

Toshiba's shares have slipped back in mid-afternoon Asian trading, after initially jumping 2.3% on the news.

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Walt Disney is reportedly close to buying the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox.

What's behind the deal? Well Fox might not be big enough says Jessica Ground, Global Head of Stewardship at Schroders.

"What we're seeing in a lot of industries is giants, but if you're in the middle space then life gets extremely difficult."

And for Rupert Murdoch, who controls the Fox empire?

Under the deal he will be left with the newspapers and the news channels. "For him it's almost going back to his basics," said Ms Ground.

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Back in August Dixons Carphone warned of weak profits.

Today we'll find out how badly things are going for the owner of Carphone Warehouse when the company releases half-year results. Some analysts are forecasting a fall in profits of more than 50%.

Part of the problem is that customers are holding on to phones for longer, which is reducing sales volume for Dixons Carphone.

"Handsets now just tend to be higher quality, they last longer," said Daniel Gleeson a consumer technology analyst at Ovum.

"New phones simply aren't as exciting as they were a few years ago. There's less difference between this year's phone compared with last year's phone.

"People look at it and say I'm going to hang on, there's no bit reason for me to upgrade right now."

Ben Morris
Business reporter

Welcome to Wednesday's Business Live page.

The price of water in the England and Wales will be under discussion this morning, as the industry regulator starts the process which will set prices between 2020 and 2025.

Dixons Carphone is expected to reveal a big drop in profits when its half year results come out later this morning.

And will the mouse catch a fox? Disney looks set to buy the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox.