BUSINESS
Middle East
REAL ADVICE
TAX BURDEN BELGIUM - 55.4% FRANCE - 49.3% GERMANY - 49.1% NETHERLANDS - 38.4% OECD AVERAGE - 34.9% LUXEMBOURG - 34.0% UK - 32.7% JAPAN - 30.5% US - 29.7% IRELAND - 29.3% SWITZERLAND - 20.8%
Global Business Network SA marks its tenth year helping European companies enter Saudi and Gulf markets.
www.oecd.org/ctp/taxingwages
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE
Indicator for selected months: MAY 2009 AUGUST 2009 DECEMBER 2009 MAY 2010 DECEMBER 2010 MARCH 2011 APRIL 2011 MAY 2011
-14 -7 -5 -5 0 +5 +7 +9
The Luxembourg Central Bank said its seasonally adjusted consumer confidence indicator reached a new high in May. www.bcl.lu/en/
UCITS FLOWS
LUXEMBOURG + €23.8 BILLION IRELAND + €12.8 BILLION SWITZERLAND + €5.6 BILLION UK + €5.2 BILLION NORWAY + €4.8 BILLION SWEDEN + €1.3 BILLION SPAIN + €0.3 BILLION ROMANIA + €0.1 BILLION GERMANY - €0.5 BILLION ITALY - €7.6 BILLION FRANCE - €14.6 BILLION
UCITS investment funds attracted net inflows of more than €30 billion in Europe during the first quarter of the year, according to trade group EFAMA. Five countries reported net sales of more than €1 billion, with Luxembourg topping the list. www.efama.org
Chamber of Commerce
Belgium, France and Germany have the highest total employment tax burden in the OECD, when taxes on wages and social security charges are included. The group said governments should increase property and VAT taxes to boost their economies and budgets, instead of taxing work.
Favourable demographics and a relatively immature financial sector have created a huge amount of interest in Middle East markets among Luxembourg firms. How to successfully enter the region, however, remains new territory for many. Paving the way to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf has been the mission of international business development consultancy Global Business Network SA. The ten-year-old outfit helps with the “identification and qualification of potential, customers, partners and investors,” explains Benjamine de Seille, managing partner. More than 80 percent of its clients are Benelux firms with strong domestic business but limited presence abroad. The firm also works with Saudi investors looking for business opportunities in Europe. GBN claims it can cut clients’ international development by up to two years. “If a manager is going abroad for the first time, he doesn’t know the environment and he doesn’t know the partners,” de Seille says. “It takes a long time to be aware of what’s going on.”
BENJAMINE DE SEILLE: some mistakes can be costly
Even basic cultural mistakes can be costly, such as the taboos of offering a business card with your left hand, or ordering pork when hosting Muslim visitors in Europe. De Seille comments: “I’ve seen people do it and it really is a bad way to start a relationship.” Equally as important, the fi rm helps clients know “which people you have to avoid.” He cites the example of a major European furniture company whose poorly chosen local partner illicitly trademarked the brand under his own name. While the company ultimately prevailed in court, it lost ten years of business during the dispute. GBN is active in the Saudia-Luxembourg Business Chamber that launched earlier this year. After Ramadan in August, the new Chamber will begin a series of specialised workshops. “We are not trying to be one more group doing Islamic finance conferences,” states de Seille. The series will “bring real advice to Luxembourg companies... concrete research. This is what a lot of Luxembourg companies are missing.” AG
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08.06.2011 15:01:12 Uhr