Starbucks to pay more tax in UK after moving European HQ to London
17 Apr 2014
Starbucks said it would pay more tax in the UK as it moved its European headquarters to the UK from the Netherlands after a tax avoidance row.
Customers had boycotted the coffee shop chain a couple of years back protesting against its tax payments.
The company would relocate its regional head office from Amsterdam to London by the end of the year.
According to the company's statement, a "modest" number of senior executives would shift to London so the firm would be "better able to oversee the UK market.
The regional offices of its Middle East and Africa businesses too would shift to London.
The company said, "Today, our largest and fastest growing European market is the UK. As the coffee industry has grown, the UK and London specifically has become one of the most competitive coffee markets in the world.
"In the UK alone, we plan to open over 100 retail stores across the country this year, creating 1000 new, permanent jobs. We expect continued growth in other European markets as well. This move will mean we pay more tax in the UK."
After it announced the move Starbucks hailed London as the coffee industry's Silicon Valley.
Kris Engskov, Starbucks' president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, described London as ''the perfect place'' to move to as the UK was the fastest growing European market.
Speaking to The Independent, he said he thought it would be very hard to ignore the progress made by London around coffee.
He said the capital had become an innovation centre for coffee and espresso and Starbucks had got to be in the middle of that.
Starbucks – which said it would open over 100 cafés this year – also promised to pay more tax in the UK as it was moving its European, Middle East and Africa headquarters from the Netherlands.
A controversy last year had considerably damaged the company's reputation after it emerged that in 2012 it reportedly paid only £8.6 million in UK corporation tax over 14 years despite making as much as £400 million between 2009 and 2012.