Previous years’ accounts also show either no tax paid or credits received. In 2012, interest payments of £60 million on these loans helped turn the £33 million profit into a £29 million loss, leaving Global with a UK tax credit of £257,000 for the year. The UK companies’ accounts show they have borrowed £233 million from their owners at a massive 15% interest rate, with another £252 million at 10.5% from another company only described as a “connected party”. Global’s UK companies are ultimately owned and controlled by the Jersey-based company Global Radio Group Limited. But Corporate Watch has found that huge interest payments on loans it has taken from its owners through the Channel Islands Stock Exchange have wiped out its taxable profits in the UK. Thanks to the revenues from its radio and other businesses, Global made an operating profit of £33 million in 2012, on a turnover of £209 million. Its website says it has 19 million listeners a week across its stations. Last year it bought the Smooth and Real radio stations from Guardian Media Group, cementing its position as the UK’s dominant commercial radio operator, having previously taken over GCAP Media and Chrysalis Radio. Global has expanded rapidly since it was started in 2007 by Ashley Tabor, the son of Irish businessman and racehorse owner Michael Tabor.

Its music publishing division has The Vaccines, Ellie Goulding, Corrine Bailey Rae, LMFAO and The Waterboys on its books.

The company also owns Xfm, Choice, Gold and LBC and manages bands including The Wanted and Lawson through its Global Talent business. This is Global, the UK’s biggest commercial radio company with stations including Heart, Capital and Classic FM, has not paid any UK corporation tax in the last five years, after sending more than £200 million through tax havens, an investigation by Corporate Watch has found.

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