PATRONS

New Italian research base for university

The University of Nottingham hopes to strengthen both its position at the forefront of technological innovation in green aviation and alliances with Europe’s aerospace leaders by establishing a research base in Italy.

It will be situated in the Campania region, which is home to the Italian National Centre for Aerospace Research (CIRA) and one of the university’s long-standing partners, Leonardo Aircraft Division. The programme also involves establishing University of Nottingham Italy, with its researchers participating in high technology-readiness level (TRL) aerospace programmes that provide access to other key industrial partners such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce Deutschland, Safran, Liebherr and Thales.

Serhiy Bozhko, director of the Institute for Aerospace Technology at the university, said: “I am extremely happy that our strong links and great history of co-operation with the Italian aerospace community has achieved a new strategic level with the establishment of University of Nottingham Italy.

“Our presence in the heart of Italian aerospace, in the Campania Region, creates exciting opportunities and enforces our university position as a leader in research towards future green aviation.”

Nottingham is already the top university contributor to Clean Sky 2, Europe’s largest research programme focused on reducing emissions and increasing the competitiveness of the aeronautics industry.

Via its Institute for Aerospace Technology, based on the Innovation Park campus, the university is now planning to work with aviation leaders on the European Partnership for Clean Aviation.

Due to go online this year, this will be the EU’s flagship programme dedicated to reduction the environmental impact of aviation.

Chris Gerada, professor of electrical machines in the university’s Faculty of Engineering, said participation “has the potential to exploit the University’s research expertise related to the electrification of aircraft, advanced manufacturing technologies and other key areas, such as hydrogen energy system”.

Cross Productions joins as patron

The company behind Niche Magazine, the bi-monthly B2B publication that champions organisations in Leicestershire, is the latest addition to the Chamber’s list of patrons.

Cross Productions hopes to forge new partnerships in the Midlands and beyond by aligning its brand with the chamber of commerce.

While the business continues to promote businesses and projects in Leicestershire, it works with clients across the UK for its services in marketing, lead generation and digital media.

CEO Jenny Cross said: “Our team is hugely concerned with building lasting relationships that help others to thrive in business, and we have always been able to achieve this in Leicester through Niche Magazine and the Niche Business Awards.

“With Cross Productions, however, we take this so many steps further as we as a parent company are not limited by Leicestershire borders.

“Becoming a patron of East Midlands Chamber is a great honour and a relationship that will help us support other businesses specifically across the East Midlands.”

Marketing mentoring is at the heart of Cross Productions’ wider support to clients. It runs a series of masterclasses, including How to write lead generation content, How to create a marketing strategy, and Understanding your audience.

The company recruits locally and has strong working practices and values. These include ensuring each

Cross Productions hosts the Niche Business Awards, pictured here in 2019

employee is a “team player”, hardworking, focused on delivering to expectation, honest, approachable and has a positive can-do attitude.

‘Our job is to find the right solution for the businesspeople we work with. This means we will never suggest an off-the-shelf package when it comes to creating a marketing strategy that works for them’

Jenny added: “What makes

Cross Productions different is that we invest fully in both our clients and our team. Taking pride in our open communication policy that cuts through the noise and ensures transparency in all aspects of our work.

“As a result, the client feels special and is always comfortable in the knowledge that we are focused on their goals.

“Our job is to find the right solution for the businesspeople we work with.

“This means we will never suggest an off-the-shelf package when it comes to creating a marketing strategy that works for them – we will dig deep to find out what makes their potential customers tick.

“We have a team of creative thinkers who will go above and beyond to add value to brands and we’re looking forward to sharing this even more throughout East Midlands Chamber and the companies it’s associated with.”

Chamber chief executive Scott Knowles said: “Niche Magazine is a fantastic brand that many businesses in Leicestershire will already be aware of so we’re fantastic to be working more closely with its parent company, helping Cross Productions to grow its presence across the region.”

Budget 2021: How will R&D tax relief be affected?

The key message to come out of the latest budget was that research and development (R&D) remains an important part of the UK’s recovery plan, with the Government keen to increase R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. This is good news for companies looking to take advantage of R&D tax relief schemes, explains Scott Burkinshaw (pictured), tax partner at Chesterfield-based accountancy firm Shorts.

WILL THE BUDGET IMPACT R&D TAX RELIEF CLAIMANTS?

While there was little of immediate impact for current R&D tax relief claimants in last month’s budget, there are several points to note that will have an effect in future years, including the Government indicating its commitment to continued support for R&D tax relief through an in-depth consultation on the scheme’s current operation. Here we summarise some of the main points of interest for innovative companies.

CONSULTATION ON THE FUTURE OF R&D TAX RELIEF

As part of the aim to increase investment in R&D, the Government announced a review of R&D tax relief to ensure it helps the UK to be a competitive location to carry out R&D and that the relief is fit for purpose.

The review will cover the definition of R&D, eligibility and scope of the relief (for example, extending the relief to the social sciences sector) and also potential operational improvements.

A previous consultation on extending qualifying costs to include data and cloud computing has been rolled into this consultation, which is also looking at whether there should be additional relief for capital costs.

One point to note is that the consultation highlights the fact that the existing SME relief is different in the context of other international schemes, operating as an additional deduction rather than credit.

Rishi Sunak unveiled a 'super-deduction' at the budget

BUDGET ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT

PAYE cap

As part of an attempt by HMRC to reduce abuse of the R&D credit scheme, this has the potential to impact genuine claimants.

Essentially, the payable R&D credit is restricted to £20,000, plus 300% of the company’s PAYE and national insurance costs.

The start date for this new legislation has been delayed until accounting periods beginning on, or after, 1 April 2021 (previously the change applied to all companies from 1 April 2021). If you claim, or expect to claim, an R&D credit in excess of £20,000 we would recommend contacting an R&D advisor to understand if this new rule will impact you.

Loss carry-back rules

Not directly an R&D measure, the change to the loss carry-back rules may have an impact on how certain claimants can best access the relief.

Broadly speaking, for accounting periods ending between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2022, taxable trading losses will be able to be carried back for three years, rather than the usual 12 months.

Companies that have either cashed in losses for a payable credit at 14.5%, or are carrying forward losses for future relief, could review whether this change now enables them to utilise losses against prior years’ liabilities for a repayment at 19%.

Super-deduction

Again, not specifically related to R&D but of interest to companies investing in R&D facilities in the UK, an enhanced first-year capital allowance will apply for expenditure between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2023.

Qualifying plant and machinery will be eligible for a superdeduction of 130%, which can be combined with the existing 100% research and development allowances (RDAs) on all capital expenditure relating to R&D facilities (excluding land).

How will corporation tax increases impact R&D claims?

While there were no changes to the rates of R&D relief, the proposed increase in the main rate of corporation tax to 25% from 1 April 2023 will impact on the value of future R&D claims.

Briefly, companies with profits under £50,000 will be subject to tax at 19%, companies with profits over £250,000 will be taxed at 25%, and there will be a marginal rate calculation for profits in between these two parameters.

As the SME R&D relief is an additional deduction against taxable profits of 130% of qualifying costs, a company with taxable profits over £250,000 could see the value of its SME R&D claim increase from 24.7% to 32.5%.

However, there may be an adverse effect for claimants of the R&D expenditure credit (RDEC) scheme, which is a taxable notional credit, as the increased corporation tax rate will reduce the benefit of an RDEC claim from 10.53% to 9.75%.

It’s worth noting that should the corporation tax rate increase, then the value of the patent box tax relief will also increase.

This is because the current patent box rules tax patented profits at 10% and, therefore, the saving for companies paying tax at the main rate of 25% becomes 15% rather than the current 9%. This additional value may encourage more companies to review their patent box eligibility.

THE CHAMBER IS HONOURED BY THE SUPPORT OF ITS STRATEGIC PARTNERS AND PATRONS