Being estimates on quarterly sales. We will have an exclusive interview with the companys chief executive. Welcome to countdown. I am mark barton. And im anna edwards. I am anna edwards. The governor of swedens Central Bank Says he is ready to expand his Bond Purchase Program and will not rule out intervention on his countrys currency. You never know. We are in a very uncertain world. That would not be our first choice, but never say never. It has been a tumultuous week for europe on two fronts. Gridlock talks over the future of greeces a program. Bailout talks have resumed in hopes of a new contract. And a ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine was the result of over 18 hours of negotiations in minsk. The collapse of previous provinces has left the eu skeptical to leaders threatened russia with fresh sanctions should the ceasefire collapsed. Lets get to hans nichols who is following this story on both fronts. What is the latest from the leaders in brussels . Grexit good morning. It is cautious optimism on both stories, the ceasefire in ukraine and also a resumption at least on the technical level of talks with greece on how they are going to stay in the program. Angela merkel and Francois Hollande arrived yesterday and briefed their counterparts on the negotiations that took part in minsk. As Angela Merkel said, more difficult work needs to be done. We have to try to take this Peace Process further. Ukraines president made clear that this is an important thing for his country. We are aware it will take a lot of effort. Therefore, we are open to all possible reactions. If it goes well, we will happily go forward with this process. If there are difficulties, we are not ruling out additional sanctions. Angela merkel was perhaps more optimistic after her first meeting with the greek Prime Minister peter she said coming out of that meeting that she wants to see what they can offer. She also wants to make sure the rules were followed and everyone stay within their commitments. At the same time, there is some give in both the greeks and the germans. From the german side, they are willing to accept that not all elements of the current Bailout Program, the one that ends at the end of this month, will need to be implemented. And the greeks acknowledge that they still need to run a surplus in terms of percentage of gdp. Maybe not as high as 4. 5 , but above 0 . There is still a great deal of concern. Jeanclaude juncker said he remains concerned. Prime minister David Cameron spoke for many when he talked about the Overall Economic consequences that have prolonged that a prolonged negotiation could have. What is required between greece and the eurozone is not a standoff, but a solution. The british economy is growing and succeeding but we are affected by the situation on the european continent. The longer this standoff goes on, the worst that could be for britain and that underlies the importance of sticking to our own economic plan. There are going to be technical discussions, meetings between officials from what we used to call the troika, which may be a little politically inexpedient in greece now. They need to agree to a common set of numbers and get the data before the resumption of talks on monday between finance ministers from the eurozone. A selfimposed deadline to keep greece inside of this Bailout Program. It ends at the end of the month it after that, they are at the mercy of the markets. It looks like the European Central bank will be increasing the amount of emergency liquidity assistance to 65 billion euros. Previously, it was 60 billion euros. Another 5 billion euros of breathing space. It will be fascinating to see how much of it is about real change in terms of how much is a change of language. You can follow that story at bloomberg. Com. A bloomberg exclusive with a man who has done many successful deals but is best known for one that lost money. He is the founder of terra firma and grabbed headlines when his investment in the iconic Music Company emi went wrong, wiping out much of his personal wealth. He has been telling guy johnson that he is looking for fresh deals with one billion euros to invest. We have one billion euros to commit to deals. A large percentage of that will be my money and my firm terra firma. Can you give us a break down . Not exactly. The majority will be coming from you and your partners. Correct. That money is not hindered on further exits. Hinged on further exits. It is there now. Yes. One of the things that people missed about terra firma our portfolio looked sick after the emi trial. Since then, we have had 6. 5 billion in exits and made 4. 5 billion in profits. It has been a wonderful feeling quite a spectacular performance. Additionally, a lot of people came in in 2011 and bought our funds in the secondary market. Some of those have made three, five times their money. If i was being cynical, i would say, guy hands is stretching this as an admission that he is struggling to raise my. Raise money. Would i be being overly cynical . It is an interesting thing. We have our own money invested and fees have always been used to hire people. So it does not actually, from an economic point of view what is important is, what other returns on the money we invest . It is nice to get fees but if you have more money to invest you have more pressure to invest it. You probably end up averaging down your returns. Why not do one or two deals a year that you feel really excited about . Guy hands speaking to guy johnson. You will see more of that exclusive interview through the day youre on bloomberg with a 30minute special program at the end of the week. Interesting commentary coming from greece. Lets talk about what is happening in the steel sector. tis in group has fisa group thyssenkrupp, germanys largest steel maker, has been cutting costs. Net income has come in at 50 Million Euros for the three months ending december 31. That is compared to a net 65 Million Euros a year earlier. In terms of the analysts estimate, adjusted earnings rose 21 , just short of the average of 10 analysts. Slightly short, but some improving trends. They have been expanded their industrial component units because of weak steel prices. It is much more of a diversified industrial business than a steel business. The worlds biggest cosmetics maker is getting a boost. Loreal reported fourthquarter earnings that Beat Estimates which helped on the rebound of its consumerproducts business. Caroline is live at loreal headquarters in paris, where she will speak exclusively to the chief executive later this morning. What is behind the beat . Loreal benefited from a strong dollar. They do have half of their revenues in north america. They also benefited from the buyback of their nestle shares. They got a 2 billion capital gain from that buyback. The main reason is the rebound in the Fourth Quarter of the Consumer Products division. That division is affected by economic uncertainties in emerging markets, western europe, and north america. That division, which includes loreal paris, maybelline, garnier, had 3 like for like sales growth in the Fourth Quarter. That is better than expected. The Luxury Division was the star performer. That includes brands such as lancome and george your money giogio giorgio armani,. Many uncertainties remain on the economic front. Sluggish growth, slowing demand in china. These are all questions i will be asking. The ceo of loreal coming up in the next hour here at loreal headquarters in paris. In a Statement Last night, he said that the economic environment remains challenging but 2015 should be a better year on the monetary front. Caroline, it is not just about cosmetics today. France unveiled gdp data in 20 minutes. What can we expect . It will be a very important number. Of course for president Francois Hollandes popularity. The estimates we have is. 1 for the Fourth Quarter. 2 on a year on year basis. Of course it will play a lot on the popularity of president hollandee. President hollande. According to the latest poll, his popularity dropped another eight points to 30 . You have some economic lows, the economy minister debated in parliament that could also play in the balance. We will have to see if these small changes are enough to really revive the French Economy. Thank you. Be sure to stay tuned to bloomberg throughout the debuted she will bring us an exclusive interview with the chief executive of loreal in just over an hour. Stay tuned for that. The top stories on bloomberg this hour. In south Africas Parliament the Opposition Party staged an unprecedented protest and walked out during jacob zumas state of the nation address. Police were called to remove members of the Economic Freedom fighters party after they repeatedly interrupted his speech. Numbers of the main Opposition Party then walked out in protest. The members had been protecting against his protesting against his use of state funds to upgrade his private home. Valiant pharmaceutical has arranged for a possible takeover of the gastrointestinal drugmaker. Valeant is likely to make an offer of more than 150 per share. English football giants Manchester United looked to be heading for their first ever annual lost since its ipo in 2012. The loss is expected to be around 11 Million Pounds after the team failed to qualify for the uefa champions league. No comment. Join the conversation on twitter. Let us know what you think of the day of the show today. Among the trending stories Steve Strange sadly dying from a heart attack in his 50s. Sad day if you are a fan of the 1980s. That is a sad story. Lets talk about what has been happening in ukraine. A source of many developments all this week at a ceasefire was the result of over 18 hours of negotiations in minsk. Previous collapses have yet have left leaders skeptical. Leaders have threatened further sanctions against russia should the ceasefire collapsed. Lets bring in a senior russian analyst. Thank you for joining us. What do you make of the deal from 24 hours on . Not much. From the very beginning, the actual outlines of this deal, there was very little different from the original ceasefire accords that were signed at last the temper. Aside from the fact that it did appear to give the rebels a little bit more territory as well as the fact that this ceasefire is not due to kick in until midnight on saturday. That gives the russian proxy forces and local militias plenty of time to expand the territory they have already taken. Uptodate neither the russians nor the leaders of the peoples republics have negotiated in good faith. I do not believe that there is any reason to suspect that they are suddenly doing so now especially when they have the advantage on the ground in military terms. Is it a win for putin . Or is it a cynical, delaying tactic . I do not think it is either of those things. There was a summit that the germans spoke of as the last chance before sanctions. It certainly gives russia a certain amount of time under which the you can the ukraine is confused, they do make a good effort, start withdrawing artillery which the rebel forces on the ground might take advantage of. There is also all sorts of this and pieces in the accordance itself. Theyve are to withdraw all foreign fighters and mercenaries on the ground. Russia has maintained from the beginning that its troops are not in ukraine despite the voluble evidence to the contrary. At the same time, there are foreign fighters in some of the ukrainian volunteer battalions from all over europe. That could be used as a pretext to restart fighting. There is not really a lot in these accords that gives one hope that this is going to be a durable ceasefire. Are there things in it that will be difficult for ukraine to sell back in kiev and for putin to sell in moscow . Certainly not for putin because he is not beholden to the same Political Forces that poroshenko is beholden to. He is also not making the decisions in public. To involve Russian Military forces has been decided behind closed doors. Poroshenko has a tougher job. Reintroducing autonomy for these regions, the introduction of a demilitarized zone. Talk of Ukrainian Forces taking over the international border. Why would the rebels allow that . That is their supply line. That is where they are getting all their ammunition and equipment. There are so many elements that looked impossible to actually implement. Even if poroshenko does have to sell it, i do not know whether it will be a viable argument. Further sanctions are being prepared. What is going to trigger these sanctions . Is that unanimity behind them . You need these nations. Correct. The nations will put forward new sanctions read a lot of the sanctions already in place have to be renewed in july. The ones that are really hurting russia that is a big part of why you are hearing germany talk about it is the last chance. It was worth giving this a try so that the more hawkish members of the eu can say, look we gave this our best shot. We have given diplomacy every possible chance during this crisis. And it has not worked. The problem again is whether greek or the other members of the eu that are more sanctionsskeptic will go along with that. Thank you so much. You are watching countdown. We are back with darrell to discuss russia. Where does this leave ukraine when it comes to its economy this 40 billion imf loan announced yesterday . Does this put a fall under the economic collapse . We saw the collapse of the ruble in december. The ukrainian central bank, last week, said that they could no longer keep doing currency intervention. Ukraine has massive problems. Not only does it have this war prior to that, its economy was largely unreformed. They are not terribly competitive. And it has a huge corruption problem as well. While this is a welcome sign for kiev, this injection of a and cash, the threat that the country is going to default the loan could be swallowed up by corruption. That is a real possibility. We saw that in russia in the 1990s. There is tremendous pressure within ukraine to tackle corruption that we are seeing from the streets, but not as much from the poroshenko administration. That is something that is going to be one of those points that will be watched going forward. On a positive note, i read an interesting piece that suggested that the terms were just tough enough and the size of the deal was just small enough that it might encourage reform activity on the ground in ukraine. That is absolutely the hope. The problem with this is that the ukrainian state, the actual bureaucracy not just the politicians, that is a real source of corruption as well. It is the within the state, deep within the lymph nodes of the state if you want to think of corruption as a cancer. The people who engage in corruption are the same people who know how to do the technical aspects, drawing down an imf loan facility, interacting with international banks. There have been a lot of great pieces on the Health Care Sector in ukraine and how corrupt procurement of medicines and this sort of thing is you cannot just fire these people overnight. Even if they may be corrupt, skimming something off the side. It is a real question as to how rigorous the state is going to be able to be in policing itself and getting rid of people who might have Technical Skills that are in short supply. What is the endgame here . Putin remains in place, this continues. I find it difficult to see any and game endgame for the ukraine crisis and i believe it has become something more along the line of it is a crisis that is growing with increasing incompatibility between putins russia and europe. He has invested a lot of personal credibility in this ukrainian venture. Any backing down on his part any compromise, is potentially politically threatening. Existentially politically threatening at home. How long is he in power for . At the moment, he is in power indefinitely or may as well be. He does not have to face reelection until 2018. At the same time, the russian state has shown absolutely no bombs about bringing these elections in the past. The state has strengthened its control over the media and the internet sphere all the information that is going to the people. And the regime itself has become much less it has become autocratic. There is a reliant on security services. It is hard to see where there is an endpoint for putin. It is hard to see where there is an endpoint for this crisis even if there is ukrainian capitulation. What happens next . We have seen figures like the former nato secretarygeneral saying ukraine today is essentially the baltics tomorrow. There is a very real possibility that, before he leaves office depending on the outcome of this crisis putin could provoke a crisis with nato to test the political and military coherence of that bloc. Thank you for joining us today. We will take a break. Coming up on the program, more with terra firmas guy hands. Fascinating comments on greece from him this week. We will be back with more of that interview. Time for a look at the Foreign Exchange market. The euro on track for the third weekly gain against the dollar. We have the ceasefire agreement in ukraine. That is easing geopolitical concerns. Falling retail sales dimming the outlook for growth in the u. S. The currency rose to a oneweek high after rush and Ukraine Russia and ukraine agree to the ceasefire. That is eurodollar your to date. Year to date. As low as one twelve. It has rebounded to 1. 14. Hope of a deal with greece, the euro is reacting to news about greece. There you go. The euro euro to date lower but on track for the third weekly gain against the dollar, the best stretch since march, 2014. Breaking