Immediate Media Group

Tax Strategy for financial year ending 31 December 2023

Introduction

This tax strategy applies to Vancouver Topco Limited, its subsidiary Immediate Media Company Limited, and all companies in the Immediate Media Group (‘the Group’).

We regard the publication of this strategy as complying with the Group’s duty under paragraphs 16(2) and 25(1) of Schedule 19 of the Finance Act 2016 to publish the Group’s tax strategy in each financial year.

Context

We are a profitable UK group with very limited overseas operations and a responsible approach to business, including our obligations in relation to tax. We understand that this is expected of us by our customers and our business partners.

Risk/governance

We operate within the Senior Accounting Officer Regime, and our Senior Accounting Officer is the Chief Financial Officer. We have an in-house group tax manager and indirect tax manager, both with many years of experience, and we use external specialists to advise us on complex areas, to provide additional review of computations where required, and to help ensure we are up to date with tax legislation. We ensure that people across the organisation understand their responsibilities to comply with tax legislation, and have the requisite knowledge to do so, or access to people with this knowledge.

Attitude of group to tax planning

We do not undertake aggressive tax planning activities or use elaborate structures to minimise tax. We do not seek to avoid tax but to pay the tax due under the laws in each country in which we have business operations, taking account of the provisions of the relevant tax treaties. We do seek to manage our tax costs carefully, for example by using legitimate tax incentives and reliefs, and reasonable opportunities to obtain tax efficiencies. We have regard to the potential impact of our tax decisions on our reputation as an organisation and our broader goals.

Level of tax risk accepted

As the large majority of our operations are in the UK, in relatively long-established business lines, we believe the overall level of tax risk in our Group is low. Nonetheless we acknowledge that tax risks will inevitably arise from time to time in relation to our interpretation of tax law. We seek to minimise these risks through the risk and governance procedures in relation to operational compliance set out above, and through consulting with external experts where there is significant uncertainty or complexity.

Approach to dealing with HMRC

We aim to deal promptly, honestly and openly with HMRC, in both our tax returns and our response to their enquiries, and we believe we have a positive relationship with them.

This tax strategy was approved by the Board of Immediate Media Company Limited on behalf of all companies in the Group on 24 November 2022.

Section 172 statement

The Directors understand and appreciate their duty under s.172 of the Companies Act 2006 to act in the way in which they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the Group for the benefit of its members, and in doing so have regard (amongst other matters) to:

• the likely consequences of any decision in the long term;
• the interests of the Group’s employees;
• the need to foster the Group’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;
• the impact of the Group’s operations on the community and the environment;
• the desirability of the Group maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct; and
• the need to act fairly as between members of the Group.

Employees

The Group considers itself a ‘people led business’ whose culture is collaborative, inclusive and nurturing against a background of high standards and demanding results expectations. A core belief at the Group is that motivated people who are passionate about what they do and who enjoy their work, create high-performing, successful businesses. Developing people is something the Group takes seriously as evidenced by the significant investments made in leadership and management development, as well as cultural programmes.

Throughout the pandemic, employee safety and wellbeing has been a key priority and the Group has
endeavoured to provide a supportive environment for all its staff. Employees have been encouraged to work flexibly to suit their personal situations and a comprehensive support programme of health, social and well-being resources has been put in place for everyone. Management also regularly held well-attended update meetings where information was shared with regard to Group performance and organisational priorities. Feedback was encouraged during the updates and on a frequent basis.
The Group respects and values differences and is committed to pursuing equality, diversity and inclusion in all its employment activities. It embraces equality, diversity and inclusion in its people, policies and practices – from hiring, developing, promoting, motivating, and retaining its workforce. The Group is developing partnerships with diversity recruitment specialists and groups working with under-represented communities to broaden its recruitment pool and ensure it attracts as broad range of talent as possible. In order to support this, help drive change and hold the Group accountable to its objectives, Management have created a clear strategy which includes establishing diversity and inclusion network groups, education and training, and processes which support diversity and inclusion. The Group is developing a set of diversity editorial guidelines, led by senior editorial leads and external diversity experts, to ensure its content is representative and inclusive across all its platforms and brands.

Customers

The Group is committed to putting customers at the heart of decision making in its business. Its largest customer base, consumers of its magazines and websites, are supported by dedicated service teams and it has minimum service thresholds set for its most loyal customers, its magazine subscribers. For website consumers, the Group has transparent privacy policies in place and has adopted The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Consent Framework to ensure digital advertising is fully compliant with all relevant legislation and is fully GDPR compliant. B2B customers, advertisers and exhibitors, are supported by dedicated sales and support teams.

Suppliers

The Group follows a code of ethics to guide relationships with external stakeholders such as suppliers and valuing sustainability strategies to minimise the Group’s carbon footprint on the environment. The Group has a strategy to purchase renewable energy where possible.