[LINK] "Tim Hortons makes move back to Canada"

[rfmcdonald]

This news will certainly pleased a very large number of Canadians.

Tim Hortons Inc. (THI-T28.62-0.13-0.45%) is returning to the land of hockey, where seemingly every street corner houses, well, a Tim Hortons.

Tims, the coffee and doughnuts icon, is currently incorporated in the United States, but it's returning to its Canadian roots to take advantage of falling corporate tax rates.

Co-founded in Hamilton in 1964 by hockey legend Tim Horton, the company announced yesterday that it is proposing to reorganize itself as a Canadian public company.

“Will other corporations do this? Maybe, maybe not,” Brian Yarbrough, an analyst with Edward Jones in St. Louis, said in an interview.

Apart from the tax issue, there are compelling administrative reasons for Tims to restructure, given that the company derives more than 90 per cent of its revenue from its Canadian operations, Mr. Yarbrough said.

“However, the tax rate is the biggest thing they are going to see the most savings from.”

After the immediate costs of the reorganization are absorbed, Tim Hortons' tax rate could initially be two or three percentage points lower than its current tax rate of 33 per cent in the U.S., he said. “And as tax rates continue to come down in Canada, obviously … that will benefit them even more.”

Up to this point, Tim Horton's was run as a subsidiary of American-owned Wendy's. No more.