"Capital gains tax is ludicrous"

by Kate Pritchard - Friday, 29th August 2008 -

Andy Hood spent nine years building Sarian Systems into a £5.3m-turnover technology manufacturer. But when he sold his business earlier this year, he got hit by a whopping £400k tax bill. “I fell victim to CGT, one of the most ill-considered tax changes ever introduced,” he says.

“It was supposed to target ‘buy and break’ private equity investors, but in reality, it has hit just about everyone, including those that you would think that the government would logically want to help, such as smaller, owner-managed businesses.”

Hood sold Sarian Systems to US-based Digi International, a NASDAQ-listed networking products firm, for £15m on April 28, just three weeks after the CGT changes. The result? His tax bill was £400k higher.

“I ignored the CGT deadline. I didn’t want to rush the deal through based on that alone. But I would say that the hike is ludicrous. To introduce what is effectively a retrospective tax hike for risk-taking entrepreneurs is just wrong.”

Hood says that he received four offers for Sarian, which was backed by YFM Group. “I knew Digi could expand the business into the US. So many British firms make the mistake of trying to take on the American market without considering the amount of time or resources needed.

"Dealing with the States is like dealing with a cluster of different countries. And we couldn’t have done that alone."

Hood, who held a 37 per cent stake in the business, will stay on as a director for a year.

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