THE WORLD’S BIGGEST advertising group is to move its headquarters from Dublin to London over new tax rules for businesses.
WPP confirmed today that the group will move as soon as the Conservative-led coalition in Britain passes legislation which will change the taxation of profits earned overseas by UK businesses.
CEO Martin Sorrell said he was “delighted” about the move and said that he expects it to happen “soon”. A spokesperson for WPP told TheJournal.ie today that there is as no time scale for the move yet.
The spokesperson wouldn’t comment on whether jobs will be lost as a result of the move. The company is believed to employ a small number of full-time employees in the Dublin office.
The company moved its official corporate headquarters to Ely Place in Dublin city centre in 2008 due to the taxation laws in Ireland for overseas companies. Sorrell has repeatedly fought to ensure that the company pays minimal levels of corporation tax.
“As soon as the legislation is pased, as soon as we can have a shareholder’s meeting to approve it, we’ll be back [in London],” Sorrell told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme earlier today.
The company said today that it now believed that the British coalition government had succeeded in giving certainty to businesses on the tax regime in the UK, which had encouraged WPP to relocate. Sorrell had repeatedly called on the British coalition government to reassure big businesses on the “double” taxation of overseas profits.
The group announced today that its profits are up 20 per cent to £1 billion (€1.2 billion).
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