IT firm Scisys moves to Dublin to keep EU space work ahead of Brexit

(Reuters) - British software group Scisys is moving to Ireland so it can participate in EU-funded work such as the European Space Agency's programme after Brexit, it said on Wednesday.

Scisys will create a new holding company incorporated in Ireland, with shares listed on both London's junior AIM market and Euronext Dublin, it said, adding that the new company will be tax resident in the UK.

It is one of many companies which have moved to Ireland or opened a base there ahead of Britain's departure from the European Union next March with lawyers, financial firms and industrial groups needing to maintain ties with the bloc.

Scisys, founded in 1980, operates in the space industry, including work for the European satellite navigation system Galileo. It also supplies customised software systems and services to the media, space, government and defence sectors.

It said the move, which has already been flagged to shareholders, would enable it to satisfy "any applicable European Union residency requirements for EU-funded work without adversely affecting the group's ability to continue contributing to space programmes".

The Galileo satellite programme - which Scisys has been involved in since the early system design phase - has been a trigger point in Brexit negotiations.

British technology has been instrumental in Galileo's development, and London has been angered by moves to shut British companies out of the project before Brexit next year. The EU has said it is honouring existing laws.

Chippenham-based Scisys said the new firm will have the same existing board and management team.

(Reporting by Justin George Varghese in Bengaluru and Paul Sandle in London; editing by Maju Samuel and Jason Neely)