Posted: 16/05/2011 Filed under: Investment, UK Company Set Up Leave a comment »
While inflation in the rest of the world seems to be on a steady increase or at least staying level, the inflation rates in Malta are rising at a slower pace than the rest of Europe, at least for the month of April. This points to good things for the economy as a whole, and certainly for those that are interested in investing in small or large businesses in Malta. That decrease of course is relative. In relation to March, when the inflation rate was 2.8%, the rate in April was only 2.4%, which indicates a strengthening of the economy as a whole.
Why is this good for business investment in Malta? It proves that Malta is a stable economy that is ripe for further investment. A stable economy is vital to any new business. In fact, it is vital to existing businesses. Just look at the number of businesses that have failed in the recent economic down turn. If inflation is on the rise, it means that people will have less expendable income, and will be far more conscious of their purchases.
When inflation begins to slow, it means that the economy is beginning to find its footing again and people’s expendable income will increase, though at a slower rate than that at which it decreased.
Malta has long been a desired location for opening new businesses, and with the slow in inflation rates, it will become even more popular. This is in contrast to other European nations where inflation is still on the rise or remaining stable, and where taxes, language barriers, import duties and any number of other hurdles make people think twice about investing their hard earned money in a new or even established company in these other countries.
Malta is a perfect destination for business for people that come from the UK. If you have been looking into investing in Malta, now is a good time to dust off those dreams and ideas and get your foot into the door long before the influx comes.
UK Rich Lose More than The Poor
Posted: 11/08/2010 Filed under: Investment, Moving to London, UK Company Set Up, VAT, VAT Registration | Tags: business concerns, corporation tax, Small Business, VAT Leave a comment »In latest polls, it has come to light that the recession is costing the wealthiest house holds more than that of less ‘well off’ ones. This is something that should please most people as it is a favorite hobby horse of many that conservative governments take money out of the pockets of the poorer members of society. It seems this time they are taking money from everyone’s pockets with rises in VAT and such like.
Which is, of course, as it should be.
The ‘best off’ group, usually headed by someone aged between 55 and 74, with a degree, have took a blow recently losing £25,000 of their total wealth between 2007 and the autumn of 2009.
Whereas the less well off house holds, headed by people under the age of 35 with no qualifications, have felt a smaller blow of just £2,000, during the same period. Of course it does need to be pointed out that it is all relative and the percentage of income earned is probably the relevant figure here.
Clearly the lower earning households felt less of a blow when it came to the recession due to the fact they had less wealth to begin with. It is also being said that the fact that they had stored their assets in more stable places such as banks and building societies (we are talking comparatively here). As opposed to the wealthier households who invest their wealth in places with more uncertain stability such as the stock market.
This study was held by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, or the IFS and commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions. The study was held to aid research into how households lack of confidence could shake the already fragile economy, not aid its recovery.
There is no doubt, however, that as focused as we may be on pulling the UK up by its bootstraps we must never lose sight of the fact that we are all in it together. Any society that neglects its more vulnerable members risks losing something much more valuable than cash. It risks losing its humanity.
OK I will jump off my soapbox now.
Plimco Say the UK is Going to be OK
Posted: 10/08/2010 Filed under: Small Business, UK Company Set Up, UK Immigration | Tags: business, business concerns, corporate tax, Moving to London, moving to UK, VAT 1 Comment »I am always pretty sure that the UK is going to continue to be an economic strength despite the somewhat hard times we have been experiencing. It is always good to have outside confirmation of this though.
The UK have been backed by the world’s second largest bond house, Pimco, after they changed their aggressive stance against Britain’s gilts.
This is a major turn around from the beginning of the year when the very same company warned that the UK gilts (gilt-edged security) were “resting on a bed of nitroglycerine” as a result of the nations high levels of debt.
Strong words indeed and they caused a lot of angst at the time.
But after Pimco talking down the UK for much of the year they now seemed pleased since yields, which fell as gilt prices improved, have recovered from 4.27pc in February to 3.39pc.
The bond house have been quoted as saying “We do not expect the UK to fail in meeting its commitments”. For expert investors, Pimco added: “We believe exposure to the UK in the credit default swap (CDS) market offers a valuable opportunity.”
This dramatic change of stance has been put down to the Governments plan to attack the deficit. Mike Amey, an executive vice-president stated in his bid to support the Coalition Government “The coalition has demonstrated their intent to tackle the deficit immediately, and we think that is generally good news.”
I for one am happy with this new opinion, as I believe it shows the world that Britain is making a come back from our recession and that the likelihood of a ‘double-dip’ recession has decreased.
Austerity measures may well be as much about world opinion as anything else and I suppose we must look at the big picture for the UK economy.
Entrepreneurs Want Stimulation For Small Business
Posted: 23/06/2010 Filed under: Moving to London, Small Business, UK Company Set Up | Tags: business concerns, Small Business Leave a comment »I have always said that Britain is a great place for the establishment of a small business. At most times in our history we have fostered a winning entrepreneurial mans set and it has really worked for us as a nation. I am hoping that this idea of Britain as a place to start up a company and enjoy huge success continues. And I am not the only one who has these hopes.
Leading entrepreneurs in Britain have come out this week ahead of the emergency budget to call for the continuance of policies that will allow people to start and grow businesses on our shores. In this way tax receipts will be increased for the good of the nation as a whole.
Keith Curran, a serial entrepreneur who has had great success with setting up companies that make money in Britain had this to say on the topic. “It does not just have to be about massive cuts. What about increasing the top line? I really want to see some change,” He is referring to the fact that the government (and to be fair both parties seemed fairly set on this idea) is determined to cut spending and increase taxation to bring in more funds rather than increasing the stimulation for the public sector.
I am not a doom monger as those of you who are familiar with my blog are aware, so I am going to be an optimist and predict that there will be government policies aimed at growing the public sector.
CBI: UK Will Still Avoid Double Dip Recession
Posted: 14/06/2010 Filed under: Moving to London, UK Company Set Up, UK Taxation, Uncategorized, VAT | Tags: business, business concerns, corporate tax, corporation tax, recession, recovery, UK tax, VAT Leave a comment »Despite the dire talk coning from a lot of economic pundits and the way the government are talking up the ‘mess’ they have inherited, the CBI says Britain will still avoid a double dip recession. I think people understimate how important this is. Even with tax hikes in VAT and CGT predicted, the avoidance of the double dip specter is a huge plus.
I have a lot of customers who are involved in small business and other industries that rely directly on a healthy economy for their livelihood. I know we all do in some sense but for most of us it is a little more second hand. The news that a double dip is highly unlikely has small business celebrating.
The CBI, one of England’s most respected business organisations, also said that they expected the British economy to continue to grow this year, fuelled by the private sector.
They did have a warning for the new government though. They pointed out quite strongly that any over zealousness in the attempts to cut public spending would slow down the economic recovery. They acknowledge that borrowing needs to be brought under control but huge swathes of cuts was likely to be counterproductive.
I am not sure that the government is in any frame of mind to listen to these warnings.
Capital Gains Tax Encourages Investment Gambling
Posted: 11/06/2010 Filed under: Offshore Solutions, Remote Gambling License, UK Company Set Up | Tags: business concerns, corporation tax, gambling, gambling laws, gambling sites Leave a comment »We have talked before about the fact that the British love to gamble. And we have certainly covered the proposed capital gains tax rise planned for the UK. A recent article in the Telegraph talked about how one will cause people to be rewarded for the other.
The article was specifically pointing out that if the huge rise that is expected in capital gains tax does eventuate then people who have had a safe and steady attitude to investment and saving will be heavily penalized and those that gambled on the things far less trustworthy will nearly avoid the taxation all together.
It seems three million shareholders – a lot of them blue collar workers who have invested their earnings in their own companies — are likely to be hit hard by the increase in capital gains tax.
While those that invested in a kind of stock market gamble known as a spread bet, this is where you take a punt on which stocks will got up and which will drop, will miss out on being taxed at all. You don’t even have to own the shares.
Many experts are warning that this kind of reward for risk is likely to foster a gambling mentality and put people off the kind of patient long term investment that will see Britain recover its buoyant economy more quickly. It is also feared that the shift to avoid the huge taxation hike will result in the money going into the pockets of bookies rather than the coffers of the government.
Call me a cynic but I think that this type of talk is more likely to result in a change to laws to allow the taxing of spread betting than the stoppage of the proposed capital gains tax rise.
How Will New Government Affect Property Investors
Posted: 14/05/2010 Filed under: Investment, UK Company Set Up, UK election, UK Investment, Uncategorized | Tags: investments, recovery, Small Business Leave a comment »The rumour is so strong that George Osborne is going to hike up capital gains tax in his emergency budget that i am not even sure it qualifies as a rumour. It is fairly certain that the property sector in the UK is going to rasie CGT from 18% to a whopping 40% or maybe even 50%. That is going to have huge ramifications for small business men who earn their living in property. But contrary to what you may think it is not all bad news for property investors.
Granted this is news that will have some property investors gasping for air. So much so that it may well lead to a lot of people getting rid of their properties. This is likely to send prices plummeting. But here is, no cloud without a silver lining. Those people who make their living through renting property and are lucky enough to be able to finance it will be very excited by this news. They will be able to snap up property at a very low price and then rent it and sit back and wait to see what happens. With most landlords keeping their properties for an average of 12 years, todays policies on CGT are of little consequence.
It may be a very a good time to be a property investor in the UK.
Breath Of Fresh Air On Immigration in The UK
Posted: 21/04/2010 Filed under: Moving to London, UK Company Set Up, UK election, UK Immigration | Tags: business, business concerns, Immigration, Moving to London, moving to the UK, moving to UK, uk investments Leave a comment »If you have been following the UK election in any way then you will be aware that there is talk of a hung parliament. Leaving aside for a moment how this will affect the world’s perception of Britain, there other interesting implications. One is the amount of power a hung parliament will hand to Nick Clegg and his Lib Dem party. I have been looking more closely at this party lately given their possible influence over Britain in the near future and one of the things I like the most about them is their attitude to immigration into the UK.
Nick Clegg recently suggested an amnesty on foreign workers who are already earning a living in the UK. Why not I say? We have amnesties on truly dangerous things such as guns and things that are actually costing the country money such as tax evasion, so why not one for people who are working hard and actually contributing to our economy?
As a aside it is interesting to me that some of the paper in this country have chosen to see this suggested amnesty as being weak on immigration. This astounds me. Surely even those with an issue with immigration can see that the most productive members of our foreign communities should be the ones being encouraged to stay? I suspect that most of the public does see it this way but then that would not sell papers so the media have chosen a different spin.
If you are considering moving to Britain to be a productive member of our great country or even just investing in our fast recovering economy then please give us a ring here at St Matthew’s eAccounting we would love to help you with your plans.
The Big Debate Gamble; What Are the Odds?
Posted: 13/04/2010 Filed under: Remote Gambling License, Small Business, UK Company Set Up | Tags: business concerns, gambling, gambling laws, gambling sites, uk companies, uk investments 1 Comment »As i have mentioned before I am involved in helping people obtain remote gambling licenses and to run UK companies that specialise in gambling. It is a growing trade in the UK and it is no wonder as it seems we have a fascination with it. Earlier in the month I published a blog that outlined the types of bets available for the various aspects of the budget. I thought I would do the same for the big party debate, but get in a little earlier so you have time to mull over your bets.
As with the budget the bookmakers are hard at it trying to find interesting and lively ways to part us from our money. Gone are the days where you were likely to be only able to bet on the result of an event. In this day and age that would never satisfy the average punter. On the serious side we have bets such as who will be the first to break the rules of the debate and which of the three with achieve the highest TV audience. The last one though does appear to depend on whoever goes first, apparently after that a lot of us lose motivation. The odds are probably not worth publishing this far out from the debate but they should be interesting.
On the more frivolous side you can also bet on who will be the first to perspire, the most fascinating thing about this will be how they plan to measure it.
If you are looking to cash in on the growth in the UK gambling market feel free to get in touch and discuss it. We have been setting people up in this business for years.
Britain Emerges From Recession With Momentum
Posted: 30/03/2010 Filed under: Small Business, UK Company Set Up, UK Investment | Tags: corporate tax, corporation tax, moving to UK, Tax, uk companies, uk investments Leave a comment »I do not want to turn this blog into one that deals solely with the state of the economy, there are plenty around that do that already. But I do think that anyone who, like myself, is involved in business in the UK and UK companies needs to keep somewhat abreast of the state of the nation and it is great to see that its current state is nowhere near as bad as so many had predicted.
An article in the finance pages of the Telegraph today points out that the country has come out of the recession way stronger than most people expected despite the fact that no one ever stops talking about the deficit. To quote the article
The Office for National Statistics said the economy grew 0.4pc in the last three months of 2009, the first quarter of growth since the first quarter of 2008 and above analysts expectations for an unrevised reading of 0.3pc.
Now while that is not earth shattering it is great to see things put into perspective. The article goes on to say that the upward revision is due to a combination of higher services, construction and agricultural output. Whatever the reason the UK is looking likely to emerge for the recession with little long term damage and perhaps a little wiser.
If you are looking to set up a UK company then we are the very people to help you with it. We have been helping people to set up UK businesses for years and even have some custom built that may suit you. Give us a ring here at St Matthew’s eAccounting and someone friendly and helpful will answer all your questions.
