"British companies seek ‘safe haven’ in the UAE over Brexit uncertainty"

" \n British businesses are seeking a safe haven in the UAE as the uncertainty over Brexit continues, according to Scott Cairns, managing director of Creation Business Consultants . \n \n\n \n Britain formally left the European Union in January but remains bound by most of its rules until the end of the year under the terms of its Brexit divorce. Despite continued negotiations, the future remains unclear, with a no-deal agreement very-much on the cards. \n \n\n \n Cairns revealed companies are already eyeing up alternative countries from which to operate, with the UAE proving popular. \n \n\n \n He told Arabian Business: \u201cWe\u2019re certainly seeing a lot of activity from Brexit. That\u2019s not re-domiciling, that\u2019s just people setting up companies here because they\u2019re worried about how the UK is going to fare after their public bailing out of every company over Covid and how they\u2019re going to fare in the future with Brexit. So we\u2019ve had a lot of people setting up companies to get away from that too.\" \n \n\n \n \u201cWe\u2019ve had probably more than a dozen in the last couple of months, specifically mentioning that reason. They\u2019re doing well in that region, but they can see massive tax hikes on the horizon and they\u2019re saying they can run their business from just about anywhere in the world, so they may as well have better weather and zero tax.\u201d \n \n\n \n \n \n\n \n Scott Cairns, managing director of Creation Business Consultants \n \n\n \n According to the UK Government website\u2019s latest figures from 2018, there were over 5,000 British companies operating in the UAE, including BP, Shell, Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, Standard Chartered, HSBC and John Lewis\/Waitrose. There were 779 commercial agencies and 4,762 British brands had invested in the UAE. \n \n\n \n While around 1.5 million British nationals visited the UAE in 2019, according to government data. \n \n\n \n Cairns said: \u201cBrits are obviously quite popular here insofar as the holiday-makers and the like, but once they get a taste of the local life, all the guys who are looking at relocating, we\u2019ve had one or two that have literally never been here before, but still their mates have been here and they\u2019ve said they\u2019ll do it, which I think is a pretty bold move. \n \n\n \n \u201cBut the other guys are ones who would be holidaying here three or four times a year and know what it\u2019s like, they know what they\u2019re getting and they\u2019re happy to take the chance.\u201d \n \n\n \n The current 11-month transition phase was intended to allow the EU and UK time to agree their future trading relationship after nearly five decades of economic and political integration. \n \n\n \n However, nine scheduled rounds of negotiations ended last Friday with both parties saying significant obstacles to an agreement remain, prompting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU President Ursula von der Leyen's intervention. \n \n\n \n The two leaders, who last held Brexit talks in June, asked their negotiators to \"work intensively in order to try to bridge those gaps\". \n \n\n \n But fears are growing of travel and trade chaos if progress is not made and a so-called no-deal Brexit ensues. \n \n\n \n \u201cPeople are actually uprooting their lives, moving over here and just getting on with it,\u201d said Cairns. \n \n\n \n Overall, Cairns revealed that Creation Business Consultants has fielded questions from 45 re-domiciliations in the last four months, as companies across the world look to re-home in the UAE, compared to just three enquiries over the same period in 2019. \n \n\n \n He said interest has been particularly strong from holding companies based in the British Virgin Islands and trading companies in Hong Kong. \n \n\n \n \u201cFrom the Hong Kong perspective, the companies we\u2019ve been dealing with are all western owned and they are all increasingly concerned about the political environment and the stability of the region,\u201d he said. \n \n\n \n \u201cThe guys with companies there are getting increasingly concerned that maybe the regulatory system won\u2019t favour the independent operation in the future, so they\u2019re looking for another jurisdiction where they can be a little bit more comfortable, where they\u2019ll have longevity and security in the future,\u201d he added. \n \n\n \n Dubai\u2019s economy may contract \u201csharply\u201d by around 11 percent in 2020, as its large exposure to tourism and aviation place it in a position more vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19, S&P Global Ratings said late September. It\u2019s expected to take until 2023 for gross domestic product to recover to 2019 levels. \n \n\n \n Dubai\u2019s economy may contract \u201csharply\u201d by around 11 percent in 2020 \n \n\n \n However, Cairns remains confident in the city, the country and future prospects. \n \n\n \n He said: \u201cIt seems to be that there\u2019s still that bullish attitude from business owners, especially in the SME sector where they\u2019re looking to take advantage of a time where some people are sitting and putting some projects on hold and a lot of them seem to think, if you put things on hold, you\u2019re not going to hold the same position, you\u2019re actually going to fall behind everyone else who\u2019s advancing with new projects.\u201d \n \n\n \n Negotiations between the EU and Britain on their post-Brexit relationship resume in London on Wednesday in the hope of reaching an agreement by the end of October, European sources said. \n \n\n \n The talks are due to last until Friday when a meeting is scheduled between chief negotiators Michel Barnier and David Frost. \n "

"British companies seek ‘safe haven’ in the UAE over Brexit uncertainty"

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