Twitter UK staff benefit from £14 million shares windfall as profits double

Twitter UK employees saw their fortunes rise last year following a £14 million shares windfall that coincided with a doubling in the social media site's profits and revenues in the region.

The San Francisco tech giant made a pre-tax profit of £3.2 million last year in the UK, nearly double the £1.7 million reported in 2013, according to filings with Companies House.

Twitter UK, which now employs 126 staff in London, also saw its revenues rise from £24 million in 2013 to £58 million in 2014.

The Companies House document shows that Twitter is spending an increasing amount of money on hiring people in the UK, with staff costs rocketing from £7.4 million in 2013 to £12.5 million in 2014.

Twitter's UK London office was opened in 2011, and it is now situated on a road just off Regent Street - but it's thought that the vast majority of revenues generated across the British Isles are legally diverted through Twitter's Dublin office, meaning Twitter doesn't have to declare them with Companies House. This is highlighted by the fact that the Irish parent company's accounts showed $140 million (£92 million) in British sales during 2014.

The report also reveals where Twitter's concerns lie in Britain.

"We generate the majority of our revenue from advertising," wrote Dublin-based Twitter finance officer Laurence O'Brien in the Companies House report. "The loss of advertisers, or reduction in spending by advertisers could affect our business. We also suffer from other macro risks including unexpected changes in regulatory environments, local political and economic conditions, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and changes to tariffs and other trade barriers."

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has revealed plans that will place pressure on Silicon Valley behemoths and others to declare all their financial activities on a country-by-country basis in a bid to eliminate tax avoidance.

Twitter just announced that it was appointing cofounder Jack Dorsey as its CEO. Dorsey was CEO of the company from 2006 to 2008.

The company immediately followed the announcement of its new leader with the unveiling of a new feature called Moments, which is designed to help Twitter users discover important things that may get lost in their feeds or may be missed because they're not following certain accounts.

"[There is] no timing yet on Moments for the UK and we aren't making any predictions about its impact on revenue," said a Twitter spokeswoman.