UBM joins tax exodus to Ireland

United Business Media is the latest company to join a growing exodus of UK companies in search of a better tax regime.

The publishing and events group, which generates 85% of its earnings overseas, announced the move today, releasing details of a new holding company, incorporated in Jersey, tax resident in Ireland and listed in the UK.

The company said: 'The board of UBM now believes that the long term interests of UBM and its Shareholders are best served by the adoption of an international holding company corporate structure that domiciles UBM’s parent company in the Republic of Ireland, which has a less complex system of taxation,' the company said.

'In contrast, the UK tax system imposes tax on all companies in a worldwide group, and consequently UBM has had to manage the interaction between the UK tax system and the tax systems of the multiple countries in which UBM operates. This has given rise to both significant compliance costs and risks of inadvertent tax charges arising,' it added.

The UK is planning to hike taxes on foreign subsidiaries prompting several companies to leave the UK.

The move is part of a growing number of British companies which are looking to escape the relative high domestic tax rates and follows the board of Shire, Britain’s third-biggest pharmaceutical company, which is planning to move its parent company to Ireland to help protect the group’s tax position.

Further reading

Read UBM's announcement

Call to stem company exodus

GSK: tax rules must be 'favourable'

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