Indian firms in UK cautious

Indian corporate houses with business in the UK and Europe are assessing the impact of ‘Brexit’ vote.

“…expect very volatile markets as no clarity yet on the impact of a leave vote,” Prashant Ruia, Chief Executive Officer of the Essar Group, tweeted after the result was known.

The Essar Group operates the 60-year-old Stanlow Refinery in the UK. It also has started to sell transport fuels produced at Stanlow in the retail market in the UK through Essar Oil branded outlets. The refinery produces 16 per cent of UK’s transport fuels.

The group is still assessing the medium- to long-term impact of UK’s exit from the European Union on its business, analysts expect the weakening of the Pound to impact its revenues in the short-term.

Tyre manufacturer Apollo Tyres Ltd, which does business in the UK and across Europe, does not see an immediate impact on its businesses.

“As UK’s contribution to our consolidated revenue is in low single digits, even the weakening of the Pound, which is likely to make importing of tyres for sale costlier, would have very little impact on us,” said Neeraj Kanwar, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director.

Vedanta Group, whose holding company Vedanta Resources Plc is listed on the stock exchange, declined to comment on Friday as it is still assessing the impact of Brexit.

The company’s stock was battered on the London Stock Exchange falling as much as 10.13 per cent to 387.70 penny sterling (GBX).

Analysts too were cautious about the impact on Brexit on Vedanta as most of its operations are based outside Europe and the United Kingdom.

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