What are the UK company drawbacks for foreign owners?

we won a grant in an Italian incubator, and to receive that we should establish an Italian company. However, looking forward to gain international investments, we'd prefer having a German or, better, UK company. Main reason being the language: we speak nor Italian nor German good enough to fill all company records, and no extra money to spend on an business administration employee yet.

We are looking to set up a UK company that will own the Italian one.

So far the process of establishing the UK co looks simplistic: pay 50 to 100 pounds to an intermediary that will set up the company for us. We won't need a UK bank account at this moment, as there will be no transactions within next 6 months at least.

What are the future complications of having such a UK company, that we miss at this point?

To own an Italian co with the UK one we would need a Certificate of good standing from the UK Chamber of commerce with indication of the directors, apostilled in the UK — can that be a pricey operation?

You can easily set up a UK Limited Company using the government's Companies House website. You'll need company name, registered (i.e. "official") address, officers (one or more directors and optionally a secretary), share details (amount of capital, number of shares).

It is much cheaper to file yourself, although your registered address must be in the UK, so filing from overseas is sometimes easier via a formation agent, as they can provide a UK address (for additional fee). Shop around to get the best deal.

In the future, you'll be expected to submit an Annual Return and accounts to Companies House and financial statements and corporation tax return to HMRC and perhaps account for VAT, depending upon turnover. All of these things are trivial and I've been doing mine, for numerous businesses, for over ten years on an Excel spreadsheet. In fact, companies house does everything online these days, so it is even easier.

You may need to seek local advice about transferring ownership of the Italian company, but I can say that the UK Chamber of Commerce is just a talking shop, and won't be able to provide anything like you suggest.