Excellent Location for Pan-European Headquarters (or at least Central European Headquarters)

• In the heart of Europe – easy to access major cities
• Low and simple flat tax - 19%
• Inexpensive office rental
• Low cost labor

Bratislava is an easily accessible city. It has its own international airport and is located only 30 minutes away from Vienna’s Airport. Partially thanks to the World Cup, Vienna’s Airport handled nearly 10 million passengers (31% of traffic seen at Heathrow Airport in London) in the first half of 2008 with over 133,000 takeoffs and landings. It is capable of handling 1,161 flight takeoff and landings per day.6 From Bratislava’s headquarters almost all European and major Eastern markets can be reached within 2 hours flight from the local airport. Geographically, Bratislava’s position is more central in Europe than that of Paris, London, or Amsterdam.

In the years to come former Soviet Union countries will represent markets that will fuel the growth of established companies. Slovakia is within the Eurozone and will serve as a safe and stable springboard into the new markets.

In addition to its central location, Slovakia offers some of the cheapest office rental costs in all of Europe. While it costs around EUR 307/m2 in the country’s capital, businesses pay double the price for comparable properties in Zurich, Switzerland (EUR 622/m2), almost triple in Paris, France (EUR 896), and three and a half times as much in London, UK (EUR 1089/ m2).7It should be relatively easy and cheap to acquire a workforce in Slovakia. It registered the highest unemployment rate in Europe - 11.1% at the end of 2007. Slovakia also offers the cheapest of all highly skilled labor in the Eurozone - only EUR 775 per month on average. In terms of attendance at universities Slovakia belongs in the Top OECD countries. Therefore, the space for performing high value-added services is enormous in the country.

Furthermore, by comparing Slovak’s 19% simple and flat tax system to the top statutory corporate income taxes in Austria at 25%, the U.K. at 30%, Germany at 38.6%, or Spain at 45%, any finance advisor to a company scouting new locations will find it hard to ignore the benefits offered by Slovakia.

Covering central European countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia) is substantially easier from Bratislava, Slovakia than from any other major city in the region. The quality of living is also higher because there are fewer congested roads - this allows professionals to spend time with their families or friends rather than behind the wheel.

Of course the image of a European Headquarters’ address in London, Paris, or Amsterdam cannot be compared to that of Bratislava. But shifting some activities or processes to the Slovak market may bring a competitive edge to businesses that plan to be around for the decades to come.