Kraft,promised in their takeover bid for Cadburys that they would respect the company's British core characteristics and keep all its UK factories open. It didn't take long for the first factory to go. Now it appears that a good chunk of UK Plc's tax take is about to disappear as well. Several British brands are being moved to be part of a new Swiss company and in doing so will pay a large chunk of their taxes to Switzerland instead. No doubt they would say that the original promises were made in good faith but unfortunate typos left out the magic words about for how long. Or was there one of those never to be trusted phrases about the forseable future hidden away in their statements?
Students of corporate promises might do well to dig out the statements made about the BA/Iberia merger into Spanish registered IAG-International Airlines Group and ponder on phrases like " British to the core".They might also think a bit more deeply about the the Chairman's statement that one of the reasons for the Spanish registration was useful tax breaks. It looks as if some of the corporate taxes now paid by BA will shortly be following the those of the Krafties in heading offshore,- in this case to Spain.
