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Archives for October 2015

High Nordic rankings in ease of doing business

The Nordic countries ranked high in the world for doing business by the World Bank’s annual Doing Business 2016 report.

Surveying a total of 189 countries, the list is widely considered the most authoritative in the world.

The index takes into account regulations that affect facilitating the smooth flow of business. A total of 10 different areas were assessed, included everything from starting a business, to dealing with construction permits, getting credit, paying taxes, trading across borders and enforcing contracts.

Denmark ranked third, Sweden, Norway and Finland as eight, ninth and tenth. repectively

Singapore once again topped the list this year, followed by New Zealand.

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Stockholm and Helsinki as the best cities for digital startups

Stockholm was ranked third best followed by Helsinki as fourth best among 35 European cities for startups in a recent survey. The index released was created by UK-based innovation charity Nesta as part of the European Digital Forum. It rates cities by how well they create a supportive environment for digital companies, from local business regulations to available financing to the skill level of the workforce. London and Amsterdam scored first and second while Copenhagen ranked fifth followed by Paris, Berlin and Dublin.

As expected, Stockholm features quite highly on the list, ranking second for scale-ups and third for startups. The Swedish capital has produced several of Europe’s biggest digital companies such as Spotify, King (creators of Candy Crush) and Mojang (creators of Minecraft). Moreover, it is the European city leader on many measures of digital infrastructure: it has the highest penetration of residential broadband, the highest percentage of fibre broadband connection in Europe and reports a greater proportion of ICT-specialist users in the total economy than any other country in the OECD. The population also have strong English language skills. The government, too, is highly supportive of entrepreneurship: it is a relatively easy place in which to do business, and public funding may be available via VINNOVA, Sweden’s innovation agency. The city is also home to top ranking universities, such as the Karolinska Institute, as well as telecoms giant Ericsson, which promotes strong knowledge spillovers.

Helsinki scores highly on nearly every dimension in the Index except cost of living, catapulting it to fourth position overall. Helsinki was also a ‘front runner’ in Nesta’s own CITIE report, due to its benign innovation policy environment. It is a well-connected city (Finland itself topped the World Economic Forum’s 2014 Network Readiness Index) which also scores highly for entrepreneurial culture, skills and early-stage support. The presence of electronics giant Nokia exerted significant influence for many years and helped in establishing a strong ICT and software talent pool in the region – this is evident in the skills score. Industry-defining technologies such as SSH, Linux and MySQL have been developed in Helsinki. Aalto University and the state-run VTT – two large, multidisciplinary research institutions – both play important roles in connecting this deep technical base with design and business skills. Today, Helsinki region is a home for over 500 tech startups and numerous incubators and accelerator programs.

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Norway’s 2016 budget – lower corporate tax rate

On October 7th, 2015 the Norwegian conservative government presented both the 2016 budget proposal and a white paper for a tax reform. The budget proposal as well as the white paper have taken into consideration the proposal from the Scheel Committee delivered to the Government on 2 December 2014.

Some basic points of the 2016 fiscal budget:
• Reduction of the corporate tax rate from 27% to 25%
• Tightening of the interest deduction limitation rule from 30% down to 25% on interest paid to associated companies calculated on interest, taxes, depreciation and amortizations
• Increasing tax deductions allowed for R&D
• The assessment of whether the participation exemption applies at the fund investment level is no longer based on whether the relevant fund qualifies as a bond investment fund and equity fund. Instead, the assessment of whether the participation exemption applies is based on the mix of investments carried out by the fund.

Some basic points of the white paper:
• Reduction of the corporate tax rate down to 22% BY 2018
• Introduction of withholding taxes on interest, royalties, and certain forms of asset leases (in particular bare boat charters)
• The government rejects the Scheel Committee’s proposal to eliminate withholding tax on dividends to shareholders in normally taxed jurisdictions
• An introduction of a statutory general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) and narrowing the Norwegian concept of a company’s place of residency in line with the Scheel Committee’s proposal
• Possible lowering of the permanent establishment (PE) threshold under Norwegian domestic law
• Changes in CFC rules
• Introducing a withholding tax on outbound interest payments

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Nasdaq to launch first north 25 index

Stockholm, October 1, 2015 — Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today announced the launch of First North 25, a new index for the 25 largest and most traded shares on Nasdaq First North and Nasdaq First North Premier. The First North 25 index will be launched and disseminated on October 15, 2015, and is an important part of Nasdaq’s continuous efforts to provide the leading platform for growth companies.

“Supporting small and medium sized enterprises is a part of our Nasdaq DNA”, said Adam Kostyál, Senior Vice President and European Head of Listings. “By launching First North 25, we want to highlight the growing investment opportunities on Nasdaq First North to a broader group of institutional investors, and provide further visibility for companies included in the index.”

Companies included in First North 25 are selected through a two-step process. Firstly, the 30 largest companies measured by market capitalization are selected. The 25 most traded shares within this pool, measured by aggregated trading turnover over a six month period, are selected for the index. The First North 25 portfolio will be reviewed twice a year with new portfolios being effective the first trading day in January and July.

With the First North 25 launch, Nasdaq also introduces four local country indexes for the Nordic markets; First North Sweden, First North Finland, First North Denmark and First North Iceland. The four indices will include shares traded on the respective markets, and are designed to add further visibility for Nasdaq First North in the Nordics.

“Since its launch in 2005, Nasdaq First North has grown significantly and is now home to more than 200 growth companies”, said Adam Kostyál. “Studies show that job creation in small and medium sized companies increase greatly after listing. Providing these companies with visibility and an attractive platform for raising capital is essential for the future growth of our economies.”

First North Sweden, First North Finland, First North Denmark and First North Iceland will be launched and start disseminating on October 15, 2015. For a detailed description of the selection criteria is found here: Read full description

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