[ad_1]
It’s a threat that will send a shiver down the spine of Downing Street and shake the City of London to its core.
Even the notion that AstraZeneca (AZ) – the UK’s most valuable listed company – is thinking of upping sticks and switching its stock market listing to America is a frightening prospect on many levels.
After all, if your biggest firm departs for Wall Street, what message does it send to an already bruised London stock market that has struggled to find its way since the UK’s vote to leave the European Union?
Money latest: Cash in your pocket set to change
The timing of the report in The Times that Pascal Soriot, the pharmaceutical company’s long-standing chief executive, is considering his own Brexit for the company, will not be lost on anyone.
The Treasury is under severe strain and the Starmer government, apparently focused on compromise given its welfare reform U-turns, bruised.
Ministers have been scrambling to get the support of business back, after a budget tax raid that has added to the cost of employing people in the UK, by launching a series of strategies to demonstrate a growth-led focus.
Mr Soriot’s reported shift is the culmination of years of frustration over UK tax rates and support for business – though it could also remove a focus on his own remuneration as the highest-paid director of a UK-listed firm.
AZ has its own gripes with Labour.
In January, the company cancelled a planned £450m investment in a vaccine factory on Merseyside, accusing the government of reneging on the previous Conservative administration’s offer of financial aid.
At the same time, it has been rebuilding its presence in the United States.
That speaks to not only a home market snub but also the election of a US president intent on protecting, as he sees it, America-based companies and jobs.
Donald Trump is threatening 25% tariffs on all…
[ad_2]
