Commercial
Trading Companies
Due to its particular set of advantages
(membership of the EU, offshore tax regimes,
climate, English language, common law, low
costs) Gibraltar has always attracted certain
types of trading operation, whereby a Gibraltar
company can reap some or all of the profits
generated by trades taking place elsewhere.
In some cases, its excellent port and handling
facilities allow trans-shipment if that
is needed as part of the supply chain.
The
management of trading operations often generates
administrative or sales or customer-handling
jobs, and the Government of Gibraltar offers
incentives to attract such companies. The
massive retrenchment of the British military
has left Gibraltar with a persistent unemployment
problem - something that marks it out from
most its competitors, which have the opposite
problem.
Thus
it is easily understandable that when the
UK betting industry started looking for
a new home in 2000, the choice should have
fallen on Gibraltar. Readily available,
well-educated, low-cost, English-speaking
labour is a big advantage in attracting
customer-service centres. Victor Chandler's
sports betting operation has been the most
high-profile immigrant, but there have been
a number of other, similar cases.
Gibraltar
also has an unusually sophisticated telecommunications
environment, which is vital in setting up
e-commerce operations. It is to be expected
that other industries will follow betting
and gambling in establishing sales, marketing
and service operations offshore to take
advantage of the e-commerce possibilities
in low tax jurisdictions, and Gibraltar
will be the right place for many firms whose
trading is concentrated in the EU.
For
a company with B2C or B2B trading operations
in high-tax countries, large parts of its
sales, marketing and procurement activities
can be based in a low-tax area such as Gibraltar.
Distribution of physical goods in high-tax
areas can be outsourced or can be handled
locally, while distribution of digital goods
(eg software or music) can of course be
undertaken locally. Corporate structures
can be adjusted so that profits do not have
to be remitted to the high-tax jurisdiction.
See
offshore-e-com.com
for extended descriptions of how businesses
can take advantage of the combination of
offshore and e-commerce, and see E-Commerce
In Gibraltar for more details of the
facilities that are available in the jurisdiction.
