Lush may invest abroad due to Brexit

[OhSusana]

Lush may invest abroad due to Brexit
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39261974
The company recently opened a plant in Germany and says further expansion of manufacturing and buying operations might have to be abroad.
It blamed a "severe" skills shortage in the UK and said that Brexit could potentially make that situation worse by restricting the movement of workers.
Lush said 20% of its UK workforce are not UK citizens....

You'd have to be out of your mind to invest in the UK at the moment. With a full Brexit all products entering the EU (from the UK) would likely come under significant taxation. Produce the goods in Germany - much more sensible.
Will other companies follow suit? We'll probably have a clearer picture of things in a couple of years' time.

Reading the same bbc business page, notice Coty are cutting back in the NE of England - now, they are a big company...
Seaton Delaval Coty closure could mean 400 jobs axed
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-39266647

[Royal]

You'd have to be out of your mind to invest in the UK at the moment.

There must be a great deal of investors who are out of their minds then...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12 ... ent-since/

The FTSE 100 has also enjoyed record highs since Brexit.

Maybe the investors are all luxuriating in Lush bath bombs?

[OhSusana]

You'd have to be out of your mind to invest in the UK at the moment.

There must be a great deal of investors who are out of their minds then...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12 ... ent-since/

The FTSE 100 has also enjoyed record highs since Brexit.

Maybe the investors are all luxuriating in Lush bath bombs?

Did you manage to read the article you quoted from?
One company only accounts for 12 of the 15 billion quoted - and they want to invest in wind farms - in Scotland!

As for the Stock Market - Economics 101 -
The FTSE 100 is primarily blue chip giants, and they make most of their money overseas. DOLLARS.... (valued in) So...
As sterling falls, their earnings appear to grow massively! And - their shares become cheaper for overseas buyers....
So - The rising FTSE 100 has basically zippo to do with the UK economy - in direct terms.
But - it looks good on paper to the uniniciated.
In dollar terms, the stock market may even have fallen. I've haven't actually checked on this. Might be worth a look )

[Royal]

Did you manage to read the article you quoted from?
One company only accounts for 12 of the 15 billion quoted - and they want to invest in wind farms - in Scotland!

Yes I did read it. Did you? Your post stated that you'd be mad to invest in the UK - yet you dismiss out of hand the empirical evidence that companies are indeed investing. Is this because it doesn't suit your argument? Your post regarding Lush and the potential loss of 400 jobs - now let's look at the maths - out of a UK workforce of 36 million workers that represents 0.00001% of the total. Should we be worried? Lush actually announced last August that it was going to switch staff from the UK to its' German factory, so this is old news.

...The rising FTSE 100 has basically zippo to do with the UK economy - in direct terms.

Okay, the FTSE 250 which is a better indication of how the domestic economy is going. Funnily enough - guess what? Just last month it was at an all time high!

Now let's talk about the UK economy which you have referred to but failed to give any statistics about. As I have said in a previous post in this thread (but which you and 'Happy' have conveniently ignored) All of the the UK economic data is good at present, despite all dire predictions prior to the Referendum:

UK GDP growth is 0.7% (EU is 0.4%)
UK inflation is 1.8% (EU is 2%)
UK unemployment is 4.8% (EU is 9.6%)
UK interest rate is 0.25% (EU is 0%)
UK Stock market (FTSE 250) at an all time high
UK tax revenues are up on all expectations and predictions
The UK trade gap is narrowing

No doubt you can find the downside in those figures - or maybe you'll just resort to the old standby and just say that Brexit hasn't been triggered yet (etc, etc, etc...).

[PhotoLady]

Who the hell are Lush anyway? Never heard of them.... Don't think I'm going to lose any sleep over them

[Dominic]

Who the hell are Lush anyway? Never heard of them.... Don't think I'm going to lose any sleep over them

You might not have heard of them, but you will probably have smelled them if you walk down a High Street.

[PhotoLady]

They are the kind of shops I usually avoid.... I just took a quick Google.

[Pete G]

Over the last 2 years both Google and Apple have said that they found the political atmosphere created by the EU commissioners, and the ridiculous rulings against them in the CJEU so oppressive that they are moving their European Operations to the UK. If May drops the corporation tax by 5%, as she's mentioned doing, they'll be fending network based tech companies, especially US ones with a pitchfork.

If the media are honestly weighing that against a potential shortage of scented bathcubes, then I think 'someone needs their bumps felt' as my Grandma used to say.

Just as a matter of interest, does anyone know if there is any empirical evidence that exiting the EU with no deal and reverting to standard WTO terms would be a disaster for the UK, or at least some evidence based forecasting?

Or is it just one of those things that's "obvious, innit", like the post-referendum recession?

[Lynsab]

Within forum admin and legal rules I'm sure Happy in Cyprus can post what he believes in, as much as he likes...fully expecting disagreement...but not to be told to cease, why should he? Or any of us who strongly believe brexit is monumentality catastrophic......

No one has any right to stifle free speech..'the power or right to express one's opinions without censorship, restraint, or legal penalty'.

So Austin if you don't like, don't read...there's many of us who prefer to read a balanced view on any subject, not a one sided, back slapping, hand clapping, all old boys or girls together, type of thread.

So if you are fed up of his opinions, or in fact any that disagrees with your own I'm afraid you are powerless to have them stopped, unless you just don't read the politics forum and allow others the right to reply without restriction...

It's not pessimistic to talk against brexit, IMO it's very real....and the disunited kingdom as a whole ( as I live here ) is indeed exactly the same as this forum as just as many disagree as agree...no one changing their views just because the odd one screams louder...or demands it.

[Dominic]

If you don't like a poster and don't want to see their posts, just add them to your foes. You do this via the User Control Panel.

If you don't know how to do that, consult the FAQs. This is the appropriate section:

help/faq#f6r0

[Cogs123]

Well Said Lynsab, I totally agree.

[Mrblobby]

Why do people insist on saying Brexit will cause skills shortagest . Britain is just taking back control of its boarders . If people from abroad have the skills needed they will be allowed in , to say other wise is rubbish .

[Jimgym]

I see Britain's jobless total has hit a new 42 year low. Puts things into perspective I think, and nice to have a bit of good news for a change!

[Jimgward]

I have rarely come across so many rude people who are intolerant of others views. A discussion or even argument is healthy. Single views not.

[Dominic]

I have rarely come across so many rude people who are intolerant of others views.

I find that hard to believe.

[Jim B]

Why do people insist on saying Brexit will cause skills shortagest . Britain is just taking back control of its boarders . If people from abroad have the skills needed they will be allowed in , to say other wise is rubbish .

Have you ever applied for a works visa for the UK, many of my works colleagues have and it isn't easy. Our company employs many different nationalities but is moving most of the Engineering to New Delhi and HR has gone back to Houston. We don't have the skill sets any more and it's too difficult bringing staff in and out the UK. I always believed we had control of our own borders and that's why we had to show our passports on entry, even us Brits.

Jim

[Jimgym]

I have rarely come across so many rude people who are intolerant of others views. A discussion or even argument is healthy. Single views not.

Perhaps I've been reading different posts, but I can't say I find people particularly rude. Some not to my taste, which is fine, but hardly rude. Still, each to their own!

[Dominic]

A lot of people who voted for Brexit did so because they WANTED there to be a skills shortage again, as they thought it would increase their salary.

[ApusApus]

That's a rather leading statement, anything to back it up?


Shane

[Dominic]

That's a rather leading statement, anything to back it up?


Shane

In what way is it leading?

On just about every forum or thread I saw in the UK where Brexit was discussed, older builders would comment that they were getting paid now the same as they were paid twenty years ago, because of Eastern Europeans. They were voting for Brexit because they wanted to get paid more.

They overlooked two things:

1. Twenty years ago there was a huge skill shortage in the construction industry, so wages then were artificially high. Compare wages to 25 years ago and you got a different story.

2. After Brexit, if there is a skill shortage, overseas workers will still be allowed in.