British cosmetics company Lush considers options outside of UK

Because of the increased concerns about brexit’s fallout, British cosmetics company Lush is looking to expand beyond the UK’s borders. It fears it may have to pay increased import taxes and that it cannot find the right employees easily any more.

Eighty people relocated to Germany

Lush revealed this information when it published its financial results for 2016 earlier this week: “To date Lush has flourished from the freedom of movement of people and goods, and now we face uncertainty in both of these areas. Having opened our new Germany manufacturing facility during the year we will be reviewing other options for growth outside of the UK“, Lush states.

About 20 % of Lush’s employees do not have a British passport and they often no longer feel welcome after the country’s residents voted to leave the European Union recently. The company said it would not fire anyone, but would gladly welcome employees that were willing to relocate to Germany to work in its facilities there. More than eighty people have decided to take Lush up on its offer and moved to Germany, where the company’s European activities have been since the fall of 2016.

Over the past fiscal year, Lush’s turnover reached 723.3 million pounds (830 million euro), up 26 % compared to the year before, while its EBITDA grew 76 % to 43.2 million pounds (50 million euro).