24th Nov 2016 14:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - Employee benefits provider Personal Group Holdings PLC said Thursday that it remains "fully behind" its technology products business, despite the UK government planning to remove tax relief on some salary sacrifice benefits.
In his Autumn Statement on Wednesday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said salary sacrifice schemes, which allow employees to give up part of their salary for a non-cash benefit, will lose their tax relief status from April 2017.
Arrangements in place before April 2017 will be protected until April 2018, and arrangements for cars, accommodation and school fees will be protected until April 2021.
Personal Group noted that mobile phones, which form 10% of the business of its technology division, Let's Connect, will be affected, although home technology had its tax advantages removed previously.
However, the company said it "does not believe the anticipated changes will impact the overall competitiveness of its Home Technology offering," noting a recent online survey of its users revealed cost was only fifth in customer priorities, behind convenience absence of credit checks or upfront costs, affordability and trusted provisioning from their employer.
Personal Group said that its core insurance business continues to perform in line with expectations, and that it remains on track to deliver full-year profit targets.
"We welcome the clarity that the Autumn Statement brings to our Lets Connect business as it falls in line with the expectations as we understood them from the consultation published in August this year," said Mark Scanlon, chief executive officer.
"The group's salary sacrifice offering becomes much simpler and easier to understand as much of the complexity is removed," added Scanlon.
Shares in Personal Group were down 2.2% at 415.00 pence Thursday.
By Adam Clark; [email protected]
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