UK lose out to France over $20bn Indian defence contract

BAE, Europe’s largest defence contractor lost out to France’s Dassault in its tender for the $20bn contract to supply India with fighter jets. This is a major loss for the UK manufacturing industry at a time of difficult market conditions. 

Critics point out that the UK government have failed to win this contract despite investing over £350 million per annum in India. 

All VAT Returns to be Submitted Online from April 2012

All businesses with annual turnover of less than £100,000 will be required to submit their VAT returns online and pay electronically. Businesses are urged to register online and allow sufficient time before the deadline to avoid a last minute rush on the HMRC site.

Facebook to raise $5bn in IPO

Facebook is expected to raise $5bn during its highly awaited Initial Public Offering in 2012. The IPO is expected to turn several key shareholders into billionaires overnight, including founder Mark Zuckerberg who is rumoured to land a $1.5bn tax bill should the deal go through. The company is now valued between $75bn and $100bn. This is impressive for a company that has only recently begun to make profits having reported $1bn profit last year on revenues of $3.7bn.  Facebook is reported to have 161 million active users in the US alone.

Facebook is the number one online advertising company in the world and is forecast to generate $7bn advertising revenue by 2013. The IPO is particularly interesting as Facebook will be required to release details of its business which has until now been kept a closely guarded secret. This will be the second largest internet IPO in history after Google.