The principal reason that British & Irish companies are popular in Europe is down to a number of reasons; but in particular their popularity is due to the fact that Irish & British corporate taxes are low whilst limited companies do not need to be capitalized as is required by law in all civil law countries from Portugal in the South to Sweden in the Far North. This, plus the fact that UK companies can be formed electronically in hours (In Ireland the incorporation process takes 5-10 days but can be executed online) and further that European Union (ECU) Directives/Regulations prevent discrimination against any ECU company operating within another ECU country make UK and Irish companies very attractive. Benefits
The UK & Ireland have very low corporate taxes (As little as 12.5% & 19% respectively)
British & Irish Limited Companies do not need to be capitalized before starting to trade
Legal and Incorporation Fees are a fraction of those in most civil law countries
The legal documents (known as the Memorandum & Articles of Association) can be pre-apostilled under the Hague Convention and pre-translated into most main European languages
Although trading will normally take place exclusively through the local branch / succursale / zweignniederlassung the governing law is that of either the UK or Ireland which is generally considered to be more corporate friendly than that in civil law countries
The overall cost is generally many €1,000s less than if a German gessellschaft mit beschränkter (GmbH) or French société à responsabilité limitée (Sàrl) were formed and capitalized
