Virgin’s boss Sir Richard Branson has said that a no-deal Brexit will cause the pound to plummet and this would be “devastating” for his company and cause Virgin to move out of the UK.
Sir Richard who owns airlines, media companies and financial services is expecting huge losses for all of his UK interests and it will be “devastating for many Virgin companies.”
“It obviously is going to result in us spending a lot less money in Britain, and just putting all our energies into other countries.”
Sir Richard added, “The pound was at $1.53 when the referendum took place. The pound today it is at $1.22, $1.23, and the pound will collapse to parity [one for one] with the dollar if there is a hard Brexit.”
Speaking to the BBC Sir Richard warned in December 2018 that Britain would “near bankrupt” in the event of a hard Brexit.
He said he is “absolutely certain” leaving the EU with no deal will lead to the closure of “quite a few British businesses.”
Since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016 Virgin Atlantic has already suffered substantial losses as a result of the fall in the pound against the dollar.
He said, “All our costs are in dollars. Maintenance, plane costs, pretty well every cost is in dollars. And therefore, the bottom line hit of that was £100m a year, say.”
Airfreight from the EU to the US would simply disappear in the event of a hard Brexit, “so that would be another £100m just down the drain.”
“And I can carry on. There’s an enormous list when you look at each Virgin company.”
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