British tax benefits attract foreign wealth

Britain is once again a magnet for big businesses and the super rich because of its favourable tax scheme.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s attempt to lower the corporation tax rate to 20 per cent has encouraged offshore enterprises to return to Britain — including Sir Martin Sorrell’s leading advertising group WPP.

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Insurers’ excessive pay must be curbed

Prudential Plc is one of the most respected names in financial services — trusted with billions of the people’s savings in ISAs, pension products and insurance.

So it came as a surprise when the company was fined up to £30 million last month for its failure to deal with the Financial Services Authority in “an open and co-operative manner”.

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Courting Qatar could harm British interests

Qatar’s credentials as one of Britain’s biggest inward investors are rarely questioned, and the economic friendship is growing.

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Osborne must take axe to tax

There are two big misrepresentations about the current state of the British economy.
The first is that the present government has engaged in savage cuts in public spending that are shrinking the size of the state in the most painful way. The second is that the size of the economy is shrinking and as a result, the nation is heading into a “triple dip” recession.

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Watch out Sky, the rivals are coming

The domination of Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB in Britain’s pay television space looks set to face its greatest challenge since the launch of satellite broadcasting more than two decades ago. Changes in technology, delivery systems and ownership structures threaten to undermine Sky’s market leadership, under which it has gained more than 10 million UK subscribers.

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Tough task for Israel's new banking boss

Central bankers used to be grey anonymous figures that operated largely behind the scenes to set interest rates and stabilise currency markets. The great recession of 2008-10, followed by the crisis in euroland, changed all that.

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Battle is on for Bolland's M&S

Among the bigger retail losers in the January reporting season was the private shareholders’ favourite, Marks & Spencer.

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Iran sanctions are stepped up

There is no better time to bury news than when newspapers are not published or when the attention of those who report the news is elsewhere. Traditionally, the most dodgy companies hold their annual general meeting on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Day.

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It's not all over for high streets

The shape of retailing on Britain's high streets, in the shopping malls and in local neighbourhoods, is changing rapidly. The advance of the internet has been catastrophic for some retailers.

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SodaStream to fizz up the market

In recent weeks, Brighton has become the focus of Palestinian boycott activity, with demonstrators noisily picketing the clinical Ecostream store on the city’s main thoroughfare, Western Road.

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