Brexit weekly digest 17 September
13 September 2019
UK Parliament was ‘prorogued’ or suspended this week for an unprecedented five weeks. There have been legal challenges from the Scottish Courts which will lead to a Supreme Court ruling next week.
The suggestion was that the Prime Minister had misled the Queen over the reasoning for the prorogation of parliament left investors and business leaders reflecting on the Brexit process, with the Government and Parliament still seeking alternative outcomes ranging from a no deal Brexit or a second referendum.
The pound however remained unmoved by the Scottish ruling and on Friday sterling rose 0.6% against the dollar to $1.2418 and 0.4% against the euro to 89.35 pence as fear of a no deal Brexit eased.
On Tuesday last week BMW CFO announced that their Mini production in Oxford will close for two days 31st October and 1st November to prepare for a no deal Brexit anticipating increased tariffs being announced by the WTO. Any cost increases BMW warned will impact on selling prices and potentially workers shifts being reduced.
In response to suggestions that the car industry should consider stockpiling parts in preparation for a no deal Brexit CEO of Jaguar Land Rover states "Stockpiling 20 million parts a day for more days is not possible at all. Nobody has got the warehouses, not the IT systems, not the logistical devices to make these kinds of stockpiling happen."
Irish C&C Group Plc who produce Bulmers and Magners cider seemingly unconcerned about the Brexit situation announced last week that they will cancel its stock listing on Euronext in favour of LSE's FTSE's stock index with shares being denoted in GBP rather than Euros.
More than one hundred asset managers, trading platforms and investment firms in London have so far obtained licences to run new hubs in the European Union after Brexit, a top EU regulator said on Thursday. Licences are granted by national regulators but the European Securities and Markets Authority ensures they don’t offer sweeteners to UK-based firms that want a base to serve EU clients after Britain leaves the bloc, currently scheduled for Oct. 31.
John Lewis unveil first loss in retailers 155 year trading history and blames prospect of a no deal Brexit with its food store Waitrose reporting a loss of £25.9 million.
Latest published statistics show almost 1.5 million settlement scheme applications have been received with 1.1 million applicants to date being granted. Applications are taking 1 to 4 days to process and it's a 3 key step process
A no-deal Brexit would “inevitably disrupt” fresh food supplies in Britain because delays at ports would throw just-in-time deliveries into chaos, the chief executive of supermarket group Sainsbury’s said. Mike Coupe said the Oct. 31 Brexit date could not come at a worst time for supermarkets because warehouses were already full with Christmas produce and more of the supply of fresh salad had switched to southern Europe.