We ask md David Scott what a leave vote could mean for his business.
On June 23, the UK will go to the polls to decide if we stay or leave the European Union. If the much talked about ‘Brexit’ happens, there is no doubt the ramifications on businesses would be huge, with both positive and negative elements.
The Source asks some licensees for their thoughts on how a leave vote could impact their companies, as well as the UK licensing industry as a whole.
Today: Rainbow Productions
David Scott, managing director, Rainbow Productions
What will a leave vote mean for your business?
“We export 70% of the costumes we manufacture here in the UK and 50% of those exports go to EU countries, so any potential negative impact on trade with the EU is also a potential negative impact on our business and export growth.
“In the short-term, however, the pound will drop in value immediately post-Brexit, which will make our costumes cheaper for all our overseas clients and possibly boost our export trade.”
What could it mean for the UK licensing industry as a whole?
“I don’t believe the licensing of IP will be much affected by a Brexit and any licensed merchandise sold in the EU will need to meet EU standards anyway, so I don’t see a huge effect on merchandise manufacture either, unless trade barriers do emerge.
“I do feel that the UK licensing industry hugely benefits from its close links with both the EU and the US – for example, the larger US studios who all use London as the location for their European head offices for linguistic and historical reasons.
“If access to the EU markets should become more problematical in the future, this may influence the US licensors to look elsewhere for their European bases, which will dramatically affect the domestic licensing landscape.”
This feature originally appeared in the Summer 2016 edition of Licensing Source Book. Click here to read the full publication.
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