Three quarters of UK companies mulling moving out of UK, survey says

More than 75% of British business leaders have said they are pondering moving their businesses overseas because of the EU referendum, a survey has found.

The research, by advisory firm KPMG, revealed that while 69% of the chief executives polled were confident the UK economy will continue to grow in the coming 12 months, 76% said they are weighing up whether to move their business's head office or main operations out of Britain.

“CEOs are reacting to the prevailing uncertainty with contingency planning,” KPMG UK chairman Simon Collins said.

“Over half believe the UK’s ability to do business will be disrupted once we Brexit and therefore, for many CEOs, it is important that they plan different scenarios to hedge against future disruption.”

While the survey only collated information from 100 CEOs of businesses generating annual sales of at least £100m, of these, 18 have more than 10,000 employees and 29 generated more than £1bn in yearly sales.

Collins said the government and its advisers "should be really concerned about a leaching of British business abroad", adding that while moving headquarters abroad was a radical move that would hit headlines, "businesses could start shifting operations abroad with little public attention".

The survey found many of the business leaders believed that loss of trust in big business was a factor in the EU referendum result, with a high proportion feeling that UK big business has a responsibility to re-establish trust and communication with the general public following the referendum vote.

Collins said: "Most CEOs voted to remain in the EU and the result of the referendum came as a shock. A break from the EU might force UK business leaders to re-evaluate their contract with the people they employ and society more broadly."

More than half of the companies surveyed make annual sales of at least £500m, with more than a third having at least 1,000 employees.