The government has scrapped Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR),
meaning goods sent to the UK from the Channel Islands will no
longer be sold VAT-free from 1st April 2012. In March, Chancellor
George Osborne said that from 1st November 2011, Low Value
Consignment Relief (LVCR) will be reduced from £18 to
£15. The move sought to prevent the abuse of a tax loophole
that allows businesses operating out of the Channel Islands to
sell goods with a value of less than £18 without VAT. Today,
the government announced that as of April next year, LVCR will be
abolished altogether. According to David Gauke, exchequer
secretary to the treasury, “These reforms will ensure that
UK companies, especially small and medium sized enterprises, can
compete on a level playing field with those larger companies with
the resources to set up operations in the Channel Islands. We are
also protecting a significant amount of tax revenue.”
For more on LVCR read:
Government reduces LVCR, published May 2011. We will be
revisiting the issue in our January edition. If your business is
affected by the scrapping of LVCR, we’d love to hear from you.
Email miri@catalog-biz.com and state
whether you are happy to be quoted in our upcoming news story. If
you wish to comment anonymously, your request will be
respected.
Kobo, a provider of ebook services including
reading devices, an ebook catalogue, and apps for smartphones and
tablet devices, has been acquired by Japanese firm
Rakuten for $315 million (£196 million).
Kobo was founded by and spun out of Indigo, a Canada-based book,
gift and toy retailer, in December 2009. Acquiring Kobo will see
Rakuten expand its product range to encompass downloadable media
products to consumers, starting with ebooks. In September,
Rakuten acquired Play.com, a UK-based online
seller of entertainments products, for £25 million.
In the three months to 30th October, sales at
Superdry owner SuperGroup rose 42 percent to
£82 million. Retail sales increased 23 percent to £40
million, having been affected by disruption to warehouse
operations earlier this season. SuperGroup says its recovery plan
is “on track”, with progress made in restoring the
replenishment capability. Further improvements are expected to be
made this month.
Kesa has announced it is divesting Comet, its
subsidiaries and Triptych Insurance to
Hailey Holdings Ltd and Hailey
Acquisitions Limited, entities advised by
OpCapita LLP, for £2. Kesa is also
investing £50 million into Hailey 2 LP
(Holdco) and will retain the Comet pension liability,
which had a net deficit of €45.9 million at 30th April
2011. Kesa’s investment means it will receive equity proceeds of
any subsequent sale so long as the sale or other exit proceeds
received by Holdco exceed £70 million. Comet will trade a
going concern for at least 18 months from completion of the
disposal.
Following the news that Best Buy is closing its
“big box” format stores in the UK, John
Lewis‘s managing director Andy Street tells the Guardian: Best Buy underestimated us.
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