Group of companies

[tintin]

How does a group over a number of companies work?? Are there 1 bank account for the group or does each subcidary company have its own bank account in which case then what would be the benefit of a group???

[Dave A]

I have a separate bank account for each company.

Benefits of operating within a group?

Common branding/name association, shared resources are utilised more efficiently (or being viable at times), cross-over upselling, single point of contact for clients... that sort of thing.

Just to point out that each of those "advantages" can also be a liability if not handled carefully.

[tintin]

oh ok and no benefit regarding taxes?

[Dave A]

You lose all the small business tax breaks due to (interest in more than one business)/(juristic person ownership), so if they're small companies it's actually a disadvantage when it comes to income tax

[Dave A]

I've been giving some thought to your tax angle query. Ultimately I suggest if you are looking for tax efficiency the better approach is to operate divisions within a single company. This way you can at least offset any losses incurred in one division against the profits of another. In the separate company format, all you can do is carry those losses forward to offset against future profits within the same company.

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Seperate company's may be beneficial where there are divisions, particulalry from a merger and acquisition point of view.
Unbundling is easier where there are clear dividing lines.

[wynn]

You can register one Co and trade as any number of individual entities so you can be 'Joebloggs cc' clothing acessories, or shoe inserts, or rice distributors, or whatever.

You can have different accounts for each department but keep them all as 'Joebloggs cc'