(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors - UK) Given the malign effect that Tony Blair''s support had on the ''Remain'' campaign, it will be interesting to see how Richard Branson''s similar intervention fares.
The entrepreneur, who''d probably turn up at the opening of a crisp packet if he thought it would get publicity for his Virgin brand, is a bit of a ''Marmite'' personality.
Some laud him as a rare British example of an American-style brash entrepreneur, while others carp about his shameless self-promotion and the labyrinthine corporate nature of his Virgin Corporation, which would probably even give a headache to those clever chaps at Google.
With the EU membership referendum set to take place on Thursday this week the billionaire founder of the Virgin group has launched a nationwide campaign urging people to vote to remain in the EU.
''As an entrepreneur I have been known for taking risks throughout my career,'' Branson said, disappointing those who thought he was going to say ''I have been known for ending up in the Arctic attempting to cross the Pacific Ocean in a balloon''.
He continued: ''But leaving the European Union is not one of the risks I would want the UK to take not as an investor, not as a father and not as a grandfather. I am deeply concerned about the impact of leaving.''
Thanks for letting us know, Richard. Perhaps he could apply for his private island in the Caribbean to join the EU should the UK leave.
Did someone mention labyrinthine corporate structures?
Step forward the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which the Sunday Times yes, the paper owned by Rupert Murdoch, but let''s not go there just now reports has apparently avoided paying up to 100mln a year in UK corporation tax by routing its sales through Ireland.
It''s all kosher and above board, though, because it has done a deal with the EU - no, hang on, the EU is the body that has consistently reprimanded the giant software organisation for behaving like a playground bully; this particular deal has been done with Her Majesty''s Revenue & Customs.
This is old news, surely, you might well ask, and you''d be right, but only in the sense that lots of other US companies run this dodge, and the Independent has helpfully listed five of them: Facebook (paid just 4,327 in UK corporation tax in 2014); Amazon (paid 11.9mln tax on sales of 5.3bn); Google (paid 11.6mln in tax on 3.4bn of revenue); Uber (last year it paid what amounts to a stingy tip - 22,134 - after making a profit of 866,000); Starbucks (the European Commission ruled last year its tax deal in the EU was illegal, and ordered to to stump up more than 20mln to the Netherlands).
All of those companies would doubtless say they are not breaking any laws, but there is a moral element involved here, just as there is in selling off a retail chain such as BHS with a giant pension deficit.
Recently released minutes of meetings between the BHS''s former chief operating officer, Paul Coackley, and pension trustees reveal he blocked increases of payments into the BHS scheme on several occasions.
Coackley claimed there was no free cash flow in the business to divert to increased pension contributions.
Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green had told MPs last week that the trustees had been ''asleep at the wheel'' and had failed to raise the issue of the pensions black hole.
So much for big business, what''s happening in the world of small caps?
Early stage logs from Sound Energy PLC''s (LON:SOU) first well at Tendrara, onshore Morocco, have indicated gas bearing levels and it is readying to drill a second well.
The news has generated a lot of interest among small-cap watchers, as has GameAccount Network PLC''s (LON:GAME) new deal with a Native American casino operator.
The business-to-business gaming software group told investors the new tie-up is for its social gaming product, Simulated Gaming.
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