Most businesses have not changed strategic planning due to Brexit: Reuters survey
A majority of businesses are yet to change their strategic planning due to Britain's decision to leave the European Union, a survey of chief financial officers by Thomson Reuters showed.
Big businesses were vocal in the run-up to the referendum in June 2016 that a vote to leave the European Union could hit investment and the labour market, with uncertainty lingering over sectors from financial services to the car industry.
However, the Thomson Reuters survey of 200 CFOs across Britain and Europe found that 69 percent of businesses had not seen an impact from the vote for Brexit on their strategic planning.
"The results suggest a relatively muted response from business so far – not the knee-jerk reaction that some expected," said Laurence Kiddle, managing director for the EMEA Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters.
Only 12 percent of CFOs had investigated moving operations out of Britain, and while 34 percent said that they anticipated the number of employees in the UK decreasing, only 19 percent said that they planned to relocate staff as a result of Brexit.
Some are changing their plans in response to Brexit already, with 21 percent of all CFOs saying they had have held off from expanding in the UK as a result of the vote.
Earlier this month Royal Bank of Scotland said it will move 150 jobs to Amsterdam due to Brexit.
However, the survey suggests that CFOs are on average so far sanguine about Britain's departure from the bloc, and some businesses have highlighted the opportunities for firms in Brexit.
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