Tescos was avoiding stamp duty in its Cayman joint ventures.

This has been stopped in the budget. The budget notes say:

Who is likely to be affected?

1. Groups of companies seeking to avoid payment of stamp duty land tax

(SDLT) on large commercial transactions.

General description of the measure

2. Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2008 to amend provisions that

enable groups to transfer assets within a group and then sell the

purchasing company on to a third party without incurring SDLT.

That's Tescos alright.