Regus profit soars in first half

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Regus, which offers ready-to-use offices for rental as short as half a day, confirmed plans to quit Britain in part due to what it said is its uncompetitive tax regime. It will create a holding company incorporated in the Channel island of Jersey called New Regus.

"Tax is one reason (for the move) but we have had this idea for a long time and see it as a way to internationalise the business," Regus Chief Executive Mark Dixon told reporters. He gave no further detail on the tax advantages of the move.

The group's decision to quit the UK follows similar moves by asset manager Henderson Group and engineering company Charter.

Regus, the world's biggest provider of office space, reported a pretax profit for the six months to the end of June of 74.5 million pounds as revenue grew 23.3 percent to 507.5 million.

The group, which operates over 1,000 centres globally, said total capacity increased 6.3 percent to 165,103 during the period, while average occupancy edged up 0.6 points to 83.4 percent.

"Our offerings are proving even more attractive to global businesses and small and medium enterprises during these uncertain times ... we are well positioned to exploit opportunities to drive continued growth," said Dixon.

The group's best performing region was Asia Pacific, which boosted year-on-year sales by 57.6 percent to 55 million pounds as it opened 12 new centres, while in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sales rose 31.7 percent to 150.8 million.

Revenue rose 17.6 percent to 190.5 million pounds in the United States while UK sales grew 11 percent to 111.2 million after the purchase of new centres in Manchester, Birmingham and Reading.

Shares in Regus, which have fallen 10 percent since the turn of the year, were up 5.6 percent at 79-3/4 pence by 0720 GMT, valuing the group at about 720 million pounds.

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