According to a study by the governance institute Icsa, the majority of Britain’s large listed businesses are committed to staying in the UK in the aftermath of the Brexit result. Just one per cent of FTSE 350 firms are considering moving abroad following the vote, while 92 per cent said they were definitely not. The poll of company secretaries also revealed that 72 per cent expect the UK economy to deteriorate throughout the next 12 months, a large jump from the 24 per cent who were pessimistic just before the vote in May. Less than half of the companies surveyed viewed Brexit as a principal risk to their business, against 80 per cent who think that cyber security is an increasing danger.
Co-Owner of The Channel Partnership, Tom Rolfe commented on this news saying “It’s great to see that UK businesses are committed to staying in the UK – Nissan’s commitment to Sunderland secured 7,000 jobs and Google’s new UK HQ will create 3,000 jobs. Tata Steel also seem more committed to UK steel production if the details can be agreed. The UK is still seen as a good place to be based and the government, post-Brexit referendum, seems keen to adopt a flexible approach even going as far as unspecified guarantees for Nissan.”Tom continued “The pessimism over the economic outlook is less positive and if the fears of the 72% are accurate, the trade will be tough for many companies – not just the FTSE 350 companies surveyed by Icsa but for all companies looking to grow in a slow growth economy.”
“A less positive view of the decisions to remain in the UK might be the uncertainty of the future of the Eurozone as a whole – it may be that the Brexit Referendum result was the beginning of the end for the European Union with growing populist movements questioning membership and the Eurozone still in economic difficulties with Italy’s ongoing banking crisis, in which case, remaining in Britain may be less of a positive than the lesser of two evils?” Tom concluded.
If you are worried about business insolvency following the Brexit result and you’d like to find out more about credit insurance, please contact one of our specialist advisors on 01275 817320.