Companies (Amendment No. 9) (Jersey) Law 2008 come into force on Friday 27 June 2008, which is principally aimed at relaxing the capital maintenance regime for Jersey companies. Details are as follows:

Distributions
Currently, Jersey companies may only make distributions out of accumulated profits. Amendment No. 9 provides that distributions may be made out of the company’s assets provided the directors who authorise the distribution give a solvency statement to the effect that the company will be able to continue its business and meet its liabilities as they fall due for the next 12 months. Distributions may in future be made by reducing any capital account of a company, except the capital redemption reserve (if any) or the nominal share capital account in the case of par value companies.

Share buyback and redemptions
Amendment No. 9 permits limited shares of both par value and no par value companies to be redeemed or bought back from any capital source, provided they are fully paid up. Further, a redemption or buyback of shares out of the distributable reserve account will no longer require an equivalent transfer to a capital redemption reserve in respect of par value companies. This change will allow more flexibility within the capital maintenance regime in that the nominal value of shares redeemed or bought back will no longer need to be paid for out of distributable reserves or the proceeds of a fresh issue. Moreover, Amendment No. 9 has extended the sources of capital from which redemptions or buybacks may be made. This will provide additional flexibility for capital reductions outside of a formal court sanctioned process.

PLC abbreviation

Existing public limited companies will be able to include in their name the term “public limited company” or, alternatively, the “plc” or “plc” abbreviation. A company which is registered with a name ending with the words “public limited company” or the abbreviation “plc” or “plc” may set out its name in the full or abbreviated form and use any combination of capital or lower case characters.

Moore Stephens sponsored the latest showing of the paintings of the renowned local artist Ian Rolls. The exhibition was held at a St. Helier art gallery and was well attended

Moore Stephens took a stand at the ALLSORTS Careers and Employment exhibition organised by Jersey Finance Limited.

The exhibition was aimed at students about to leave school, those at university who need to think about what they are going to do once they have graduated and also those who wish to change job direction

Run for Moore, the charity set up to help tackle bowel cancer in memory of Bobby Moore captain of England’s World Cup winning team in 1966 was sponsored by Moore Stephens.

It was only the third time the race has been run and the number taking part this year was the highest so far

On the 14th. June 1968 Moore Stephens Jersey was officially formed. During the intervening years the firm has changed enormously, increasing the range of services and products to meet the every changing needs of our clients. Naturally as the firm has grown in terms of the amount and variety of business we handle so the number of staff has grown steadily until the last couple of years when the increase has been very steep to a point where we have in excess of 100 people. To cope with this increase, an adjacent property was acquired and the existing building demolished to make way for an additional 5000sq. feet of office space.

As part of the events, organised to celebrate 40 years of Moore Stephens in Jersey, a cocktail party was held at a local hotel, to which politicians, local dignitaries and clients were invited.

Another 40th. Anniversary event was the Summer Ball for staff and their partners held in a marquee in the grounds of Samares Manor. As luck would have it, it was possible to hold it on the 14th. June.  It was a wonderful setting and we were blessed with a fine evening and all had a memorable time.

Ben Schofield, a member of the Trust and Corporate team, took part in the charity ITEX Round the Island Walk this year. It is an extremely demanding walk of some 48 miles starting at 03.00hrs. in St. Helier. It is a real test of endurance especially along the northern coast, which is very tough with many long steep ascents and corresponding descents. Ben not only came home first but also achieved an extraordinarily fast time of 9 hours 50 minutes.

Lucy O’Sullivan, sponsored by Moore Stephens Jersey, was in spectacular form early in May at a West Midlands FITA Star archery event.

Lucy set four junior records and three senior records over the course of the weekend.

“I was really pleased with how the weekend went but I didn’t expect to get the senior records – though I think I now have most, if not all, of the junior records in my section,” said Lucy who hopes to qualify for the Senior World Cup and also better her previous best of finishing third when competing in the Junior World Championships in Turkey this October.

The draft law enabling the setting up of Jersey foundations is scheduled to be submitted to the States by the end of June and the legislation should come into force by the end of the year.

Unlike a trust, but like a company, a foundation will be a separate legal entity, with the ability to transact in its own name. Formation will be by registration of the Formation Charter with the Registrar, a very similar process to company incorporation. Liability is similar to that of company directors and members of the foundation council will not be personally liable save in specific circumstances. This is very different from the position of trustees.

Foundations will have beneficiaries and/or purposes, just like a trust. The Foundation, however, will not be owned by anybody – not by the founder or by the donors of the assets put into it, or by the beneficiaries. As a Foundation is an ‘orphan’ structure, it is not a ‘controlled foreign entity’ for the purposes of anti-avoidance legislation in some jurisdictions such as South Africa and at the same time, it is not a trust. It may, therefore, have applications as a tax-planning vehicle.

The Foundation will have complete freedom to do everything that its charter permits – any lawful purpose or activity. With trusts, the rule of thumb is that you must not stop at words on the page, but with a Foundation you cannot go any further, so the Foundation may give greater certainty because everything has to be in the Charter and Rules.

Foundation will have many uses, particularly in wealth planning, for example, holding shares in a private trust company, but also for numerous clubs and societies which exist in the Island as unincorporated associations and whose members are therefore exposed to personal liability.

Jersey has leapt from 23rd. to 16th. place in the City of London’s third Global Financial Centres Index.

London, New York and Hong Kong are at the top of the index followed by Singapore, Zurich, Frankfurt, Geneva, Chicago, Tokyo and Sydney and Dublin is in 13th. place.

Jersey’s finance industry has reported another bumper year, with both funds and bank deposits reaching new highs.

The 2007 year end figures show a 37% increase in funds value to £ 246.1 billion and bank deposits rose by 11.9% to £212.3 billion.

The growth in funds business is particularly welcome, given that Jersey practitioners have been aiming to grow the Island’s share of the global offshore market.

Geoff Cook, Chief Executive of Jersey Finance said he had every confidence for 2008, with high hopes for the new Unregulated Fund Regime for sophisticated and high net worth investors, which was launched in February.

 

Barbara Moffat - Manager

Barbara is responsible for providing practice accountancy services and financial control for Moore Stephens Jersey and Moore Stephens Guernsey.

Barbara was born in Widnes and came to Jersey in 1985 and worked in the leisure industry before joining Moore Stephens some 12 years ago.

Her hobbies include golf, boogie boarding, cycling and walking

Danielle Doney - Manager

Danielle is responsible for providing accounts preparation and business advice for local firms.

She was born in Sydney and studied at the University of Technology Sydney and worked in public practice for some 15 years. She completed her professional studies in 2002 and gained her Public Practice Certificate in 2003.

Danielle arrived in Jersey in 2006 and commenced work with Moore Stephens.

Michael Goubert – Manager

Michael provides advice on taxation for local businesses and private clients.

Michael was born and educated in Jersey and read for a degree in mathematics at Aston University. After a short spell as a research engineer he decided to return to Jersey. He trained as an accountant with a local branch of a London firm and subsequently decided to specialise in tax. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and also a member of STEP.

 

Nick Solt has been appointed a Partner in the Real Estate and Fund Administration department of Moore Stephens Chartered Accountants, Jersey.

Nick will be responsible for the team that provides bespoke accounting services to property investors and also fund administration.

He was born in Norwich and educated at Eaton City School, Norwich and Brunel University where he gained a joint honours degree in Economics and Law. After qualifying as a chartered accountant in London in 1998 he moved to Jersey and joined Moore Stephens later that year.

Nick a retired rugby player still follows the game closely and enjoys trips to watch England and the British Lions.