Jim Armitage: Carillion's clever way with tax

Outlook: Next time Carillion wins a big public sector contract like this week's deal to upgrade Thameslink depots, bear in mind the fact that last year it paid only £3.8m tax on £143m of profit. In fact, since 2006, it's only paid £16.8m in tax, on £758m of profit.

It argues this is because it's carrying over losses from a bunch of acquisitions and says much of its work is overseas. No doubt. But it does make you wonder ...