Brexit – Customer Statement
Since the United Kingdom (UK) referendum result on membership of the European Union (EU) in June 2016, Advanex EU has been working to assess and mitigate the likely impacts of ‘Brexit’ on its customers and suppliers under a variety of potential outcomes. This update is provided to give information to our customers and supply chain partners on our preparations.
Background
We are a global business with our European business headquartered in the UK. 5% to 10% of our sales are made to UK customers. We have 2 manufacturing sites, located in the UK, and over 150 employees. We have a small number of EU nationals working in the UK.
The Advanex group have commissioned and built a manufacturing plant in the Czech Republic, as a contingency. Certain new products will be manufactured from this site from the first quarter 2019. The senior management team are considering the possibility of stock holding in this site and shipping from there.
Brexit focus areas
In our initial risk assessment, we have identified a number of key areas of focus for a potential Brexit impact, including:
- Customer service and supply chain
- Financial performance, including the potential impact of tariffs
- Cash and financing
- Employees and mobility
- Regulatory frameworks and compliance
- Innovation
Whilst we recognise that there remains significant uncertainty around the eventual political and legal Brexit outcome, based on our understanding today we do not believe that Brexit will generate unmanageable risks for our business.
Advanex has every confidence in the skill and expertise of our administrative staff and their understanding of export procedures to be able to cope with and adapt swiftly to any changes necessitated by Brexit. Furthermore, we widely employ the services of forwarders and agents who have international status. Together we will be able to adapt and respond to likely added complexities from Brexit in the event of tariffs being introduced on trade between the UK and EU.