Cameron seeks action on firms that avoid UK corporation tax October 24, 2012 DAVID Cameron yesterday told the House of Commons that he was “not happy” with the level of corporate tax avoidance in the UK and urged HMRC to re-examine the current situation. His comments follow a spate of reports that high-profile firms – such as eBay, Facebook and Google – pay little UK corporation tax. “This [...]
North Sea oil plan approved October 24, 2012 A £1.6bn project to develop mature North Sea oil fields has been approved by the Department for Energy and Climate Change. The Talisman Energy project is the first to be implemented as a result of HM Treasury’s brownfield tax allowance. The Montrose Area Redevelopment project will integrate established fields with two under developed oil fields. [...]
Nike sells Umbro for $225m October 24, 2012 Iconix Brand will buy the Umbro sneaker brand from Nike for $225m, the companies said yesterday. Nike, the world’s largest athletic footwear company, said in May that it planned to sell Umbro and Cole Haan to sharpen its focus on its Nike, Jordan, Converse and Hurley brands. The sale of Umbro, which is expected to [...]
BG Group switches audit firm October 24, 2012 FTSE 100 gas company BG Group yesterday announced it had ditched PwC as its auditor, replacing it with Ernst & Young. PwC had spent 12 years auditing the books of the firm following its float in 2000. PwC UK head of assurance James Chalmers said: “We operate in a fiercely competitive market where all participants [...]
ONS says pensioners’ incomes have surged 50pc since 1990s October 24, 2012 PENSIONERS’ incomes have steadily grown since the 1990s, data showed yesterday, even rising steadily through the deep recession of the last four years. The average pensioner or couple had an income of £446 per week in the 2010-2011 tax year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, a rise of 50.2 per cent over the average [...]
Civil service sees jobs slashed and below inflation pay rises October 24, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT has made good on its plans to streamline Whitehall, official data out yesterday showed. Civil service employment was cut 34,621 between 2011 and 2012, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed, bringing the total down seven per cent from 508,433 to 463,812. “We are reforming the Civil Service so it will be smaller, [...]
Business lobby calls for shift to private sector October 24, 2012 THE COUNTRY’S most prominent business lobby today proposed a raft of measures designed to rebalance the economy away from the public sector in order to create private sector growth. In a report centred around what it called “the geography of growth,” the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) made the case for focused localist measures, intended to [...]
Developed countries take more tax as global economy recovers October 24, 2012 TAX takes across developed countries continued to slowly recover from lows hit during the depths of the recession, data revealed yesterday. Average tax revenue across rich countries climbed to 34 per cent of GDP in 2011, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said yesterday, up from 33.8 per cent in 2010 – but [...]
CEBR expects wages to stay flat for years October 24, 2012 WAGE growth will be sluggish for years into the future, a think tank predicted today, due to slack in the labour market. Average gross earnings will grow just 1.5 per cent over 2012 as a whole, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) predicted, before growing around 2.2 per cent in 2013. Even by [...]
Chinese factory slowdown may have bottomed out in October October 24, 2012 THE manufacturing slowdown in China could have bottomed out in October, business survey data from Markit suggested yesterday, but the sector is still in the doldrums. China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – a prominent business survey correlated with GDP – climbed to 49.1 in October, from 47.9 in September, reaching its highest level for [...]
