LONDON (Bloomberg) — Shire Plc, England's third-largest drug-maker, will move its tax home to Ireland and cut the funds the company pays to the UK.

Shire will retain a listing on the London Stock Exchange and its American depositary shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market, the Basingstoke, England-based company said in a statement yesterday. The proposals, which include being incorporated to Jersey in the Channel Islands, won't affect day-to-day operations, strategy or jobs, the company said.

Shire got 7.3 percent of its sales from the UK last year, down from 10 percent in 2006. The company is the largest marketer of treatments for attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, and North America accounted for 74 percent of its revenue. Shire will be able to avoid any increases in UK taxes by the moves, Citigroup analyst Peter Verdult said yesterday in a note.

"We believe this to be a positive development given the likely future tax savings," Verdult said in a note to clients. "We forecast a 22-percent tax rate in 2008, increasing to 25 percent by 2012 and 26 percent thereafter." Shire shares fell 13 pence, or 1.4 percent, to 927 pence at the close of trading in London. They've declined 15 percent in the last three months.

Richard Lambert, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said the country needs to be alert to companies moving to lower-tax nations to avoid paying the UK.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's changes to taxes that affect entrepreneurs, including capital gains charges and levies on so-called non-domiciled residents, have also dented the climate for business start-ups, he said.

"We are particularly worried that an uncompetitive corporate tax system is spoiling the UK's attractiveness as a place to do business, and that other internationally-mobile firms will follow Shire's path," he said in an e-mailed statement.

Shire's move needs to be approved at a court hearing May 9, and the last day of trading of Shire ordinary shares would be May 22.