How has the Brexit hurt SMEs?
June Medical MD Angela Spang tells CNBC that the regulatory uncertainty and currency movements caused by Brexit has affected small businesses.
June 18 2016
‘Brexit’ could send shock waves across U.S. and global economy
“It’s not just mega-corporations that might be affected. Entrepreneur Angela Spang founded June Medical two years ago to sell medical devices in Britain. She now employs a dozen people and books about 1 million pounds in revenue a year. Her biggest customer is the National Health Service — and her biggest supplier is the United States.
Because the products she buys are largely priced in U.S. dollars, Britain’s weakened currency has shaved 20,000 to 30,000 pounds from her bottom line in a single month. Meanwhile, Spang had hoped to distribute throughout Europe, taking advantage of a single E.U. regulatory process for the approval of medical devices marketed to its 500 million residents. But if a Brexit becomes a reality, she could lose easy access to those potential customers — and so would her U.S. suppliers.
Spang said she might have to relocate her business, not only for economic reasons but also for personal ones: She is Swedish and said she is unsure what her immigration status would be if Britain left the union. Her 8-year-old daughter, who was born in Britain, has asked whether the family would have to leave if Britain votes out.
“Personally, it’s devastating. It’s just heartbreaking to see that the U.K. would be taking such steps when we need to be stronger together,” Spang said. “Surely there must be more hope for us to stay together and collaborate.”
June 22 2016 FTSE chiefs join forces in huge vote for Remain
“Don’t risk jobs, warn 1,300 business leaders; Some 1,285 business leaders who together employ 1.75 million people — including more than 900 small and medium-sized firms and 51 of the FTSE 100 — say in a letter to The Times that Brexit would damage the British economy.”
The Letter:
“Sir, We own and run more than 1,200 businesses, from micro companies to the FTSE 100, employing more than 1.75 million people. We know our firms are stronger in Europe.
Our reasons are straightforward: businesses and their employees benefit massively from being able to trade inside the world’s largest single market without barriers. As business people, we always look to the future — and a future inside the EU is where we see more opportunities for investment, growth and new jobs. We know that Britain leaving the EU would mean having to re-establish terms of trade from scratch with our home market of 500 million consumers. That wouldn’t just hurt exporters but the hundreds of thousands of small and medium firms who do business with them.
Even those that want Britain to leave say that, in the short term, Brexit would lead to economic uncertainty and would put jobs at risk. Smaller businesses and the people they employ are particularly vulnerable to any economic shock that could follow a vote to leave.
Britain leaving the EU would mean uncertainty for our firms, less trade with Europe and fewer jobs. Britain remaining in the EU would mean the opposite: more certainty, more trade and more jobs. EU membership is good for business and good for British jobs. That’s why, on June 23, we back Britain.”
“The impact on Small and Medium Enterprises of a potential Brexit”; Live interview with Angela Spang, Founder and owner of London Medical Education Academy and JUNE MEDICAL.