Vodafone to relocate marketing to London

VODAFONE IS relocating the marketing and sponsorship team, which manages the company’s sponsorship of McLaren Formula One racing, from Dublin to London, less than three years after it moved the division to Ireland for tax purposes.

About 15 employees are affected by the move, which will see the team move from Vodafone’s Irish headquarters in Dublin to its Paddington office in London by mid-September. The employees will be offered a relocation package and assistance during the move or voluntary redundancy.

The decision comes three years after the company moved the unit to Dublin as a way of yielding a “number of tax efficiencies”, according to a company statement at the time.

Vodafone has attracted wide-spread criticism in Britain over its tax policies, after the company last year settled a tax dispute related to a Luxembourg subsidiary for £1.25 billion.

A number of Vodafone stores in Britain have been blockaded and attacked over the last year by protesters who claim that the company avoided a tax bill of £6 billion related to the purchase of a German firm Mannesmann, which was bought through a Luxembourg facility.

Asked whether the decision to relocate the unit from Dublin was connected to the tax controversy, a spokeswoman for Vodafone said yesterday that the reason for the move was the recent creation of the “group commercial function”.

“Physically locating the brand team alongside colleagues at the global HQ in London will provide greater strength, efficiency and effectiveness in terms of faster and simpler communications and action,” she said.

Earlier this year, Vodafone announced it was to outsource call centres from Ireland to Egypt and India, affecting more than 160 jobs. The company employs about 1,200 people in Ireland.