Shire, the UK’s third-biggest pharmaceutical company, will incorporate a new holding company in Jersey and hold all board meetings in Dublin, leaving its operations and 300 staff in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

The move is understood to be a result of disquiet about a possible government crackdown on profits from offshore subsidiaries. Most UK companies do not pay corporation tax on offshore profits that are kept overseas unless the foreign subsidiary is deemed to have been set up to avoid tax. However, all firms must pay corporation tax of 28 per cent on all profits brought into the UK, “topping up” any lesser tax already paid in another country to the UK level.

More on this from Times Online.