Lush cosmetics to move staff from Britain to Germany following Brexit vote

Lush said nine of its staff had already moved from Britain to Duesseldorf and a further nine are to move on Thursday

(Lush/Facebook )

The UK cosmetics company Lush is relocating staff from Britain to Germany amid uncertainty following Britain’s Brexit vote.

Lush, which makes handmade cosmetics, said following the referendum in June it had expanded production at its Dusseldorf factory for the European market.

"While this was always the plan - to make products for Europe in Europe (alongside our Croatian factory) - the reality of the Brexit vote has meant we have done it with a bullet," the company said in a statement, Reuters reports.

"Many of our staff still have uncertainties about what the Brexit deal will mean for them and continue to wait anxiously for this to be revealed."

Most companies have not said definitively how they will take action in the wake of the Brexit vote, as uncertainty looms over how and when the UK will leave the bloc.

The US hedge fund Marathon has increased its property investments in European countries, believing many companies will start leaving London in the next few years.

The head of the Paris region, Valerie Pecresse, has said she is aiming to take British jobs to France and her authority has spent several million euros on an advertising campaign promoting her region as an alternative to London.

Lush announced its intentions after the vote in June, saying it would look to continental Europe to safeguard its production, sales and multinational workforce.

It said nine of its staff had already moved from Britain to Dusseldorf and a further nine are to move on Thursday, with more keen to move and be offered roles this week.

The cosmetics company employs around 1,400 staff of 38 nationalities at its British factory in Poole on the south coast, according to Reuters.

Lush’s factory in Dusseldorf, which has 252 full-time staff, started supplying France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as well as Germany this month.

Potential restrictions on access to the single market have been a major source of concern for British firms. On Tuesday, Angela Merkel’s foreign policy guru Juergen Hardt said Britain would not be able to benefit from the trading bloc without paying its way.

Financial firms, which have been crucial to UK economic growth are concerned that they will lose the so-called “passporting” rights which allow them to trade in all 28 member states.

JPMorgan chief executive, Jamie Dimon said he would move up to 4,000 employees to the continent after Brexit.

Other American banking giants Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup have also said they could shift people abroad, while HSBC and Deutsche Bank have hinted at relocating jobs to France and Germany.