Vodafone Evaluating U.K. Headquarters Move
June 28 2016 - 09:00PM
Dow Jones News
LONDON—Vodafone Group PLC, the world's second-largest mobile
carrier by subscribers, said Tuesday that it was considering moving
its headquarters out of Britain, making it one of the most notable
corporations to consider leaving the U.K. after voters last week
elected to leave the European Union.
The pan-European company said in a statement late Tuesday that
it gained many benefits through the U.K.'s EU membership, including
the bloc's free movement of people and the benefits of a single
legal framework throughout Europe.
The company said it wasn't yet possible to gauge how these
positive attributes of EU membership would be affected after the
U.K. leaves the EU, a process that could take two years or more,
making it impossible "to draw any firm conclusions regarding the
long-term location for the headquarters of the group," Vodafone
said. "We will continue to evaluate the situation and will take
whatever decisions are appropriate in the interests of our
customers, shareholders and employees."
Vodafone said a "very large majority" of its 462 million
customers, 108,000 employees and 15,000 suppliers were based
outside of the U.K., where it has offices in Newbury, England, and
London. It said 55% of its earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization came from Europe, excluding the
U.K.
Vodafone has hinted for months that it would consider relocating
should the U.K. leave the EU. Chief Executive Vittorio Colao, an
Italian, had said before the election that leaving the EU would
hurt Britain's ability to access Europe's digital industry. And on
Friday, the day the election's results were announced, Vodafone
said it was "too soon" to determine whether an EU exit would spur
it to relocate its headquarters.
Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 28, 2016 20:45 ET (00:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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