Informa eyes a return to UK if tax cut plans pan out

Informa, the exhibitions and publishing group that owns Lloyd's List, today hinted it will move its corporate tax base from Switzerland back to the UK, saying: "We'll do the right thing at the appropriate time."

Chief executive Peter Rigby warned he still needs to see more details after Chancellor George Osborne vowed to cut corporation tax to 23% and ease rules on controlled foreign companies (CFCs) in the Budget.

Rigby said: "It's not as clear-cut as the fact that when the tax rate goes down to 23% that makes it more workable to be UK-domiciled than Swiss-domiciled."

He added: "When the CFC situation is properly resolved, if the right thing is to return to the UK, we will return to the UK."

Changes to CFCs would mean cutting tax on firms' overseas profits. Advertising giant WPP has already committed to return from Ireland.

Informa, which moved its tax base from Britain in 2009, has had no recent discussions with UK authorities.

Half-year results revealed Informa's tax bill fell thanks to its use of "low-tax jurisdictions".

Like-for-like revenues nudged up marginally to £634.8 million, with pre-tax profits flat at £66.5 million.

Informa has "confidence" about the full year because of the "resilience" of academic publishing and big exhibitions.