David Coombs: How to stop the exodus to Uncle Sam

What's needed to stem the flow of UK companies rushing to list abroad?

clock • 3 min read

In the first of a series of columns for PA, David Coombs asks: Why are so many companies looking to move their listings away from London to the US and, to a lesser extent, Europe?

When I was about 14, I made my first visit to the US, a holiday on the West Coast that took in Disneyland in LA. Having spent my childhood visiting Barry Island's and Porthcawl's fun fairs, I was blown away by the bigger, shinier, cleaner but much more expensive US equivalent. Driving the dodgems to the soundtrack of the Bay City Rollers was never the same again. Even at that impressionable age, the US appeared to be light years away in terms of innovation and the execution of a wide range of services, entertainment and goods. I knew McDonald's, Kodak, Kellogg's and Coca-Cola. Teenagers ...

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