UK vacuum giant James Dyson is moving headquarters to Singapore, citing Chinese market and Asian production
- The billionaire Brexit backer’s CEO Jim Rowan says the move is unrelated to Britain’s impending departure from the EU
- Rowan says he and Dyson’s other top executives will relocate to Singapore as soon as the paperwork to re-register is complete
James Dyson, the billionaire Brexit supporter who revolutionised vacuum cleaners with his bagless technology, is moving his head office to Singapore from Britain to be closer to his company’s fastest-growing markets.
Dyson’s company said the move to Singapore, where the firm had already announced it would build its new electric car, was not driven by Britain’s looming departure from the European Union or tax implications, with much of its product development remaining in south west England.
The 71-year-old inventor has become one of Britain’s best-known entrepreneurs, creating a multibillion-dollar company from an insight that a cyclone could collect household dust better than a clogged-up bag.
Chief Executive Jim Rowan said the manufacturer of air purifiers, hairdryers and cleaner, lauded by politicians as a British success story, was a “global technology company”, with 96 per cent of its sales outside Britain.
Hype over Dyson’s Singapore electric car plant is a load of hot air
“Our growth rate in Asia has doubled most other places in the world over recent years,” he said, adding that more than half of its profit came from the region and the move was aimed at “future proofing” Dyson, the firm.