The boss of JD Sports has said that Brexit has ended up “considerably worse” than feared, with a warning job losses could follow as it attempts to minimise disruption.
Peter Cowgill, the firm’s chairman, said the extra cost of the UK’s departure from the EU was “double-digit millions”, as it eyed up a new distribution site in Europe to help it side-step tariff costs and disruption.
JD Sports said that the warehouse, which will employ about 1,000 staff, could have been built in the UK but will now be within the EU in light of extra “red tape” from the Brexit agreement.
The move could result in job losses in the UK but the firm said transferring jobs from Rochdale made “economic sense” for the business.
Speaking to the BBC’s World At One, Cowgill said the amount of red tape has been “very significant”, slowed down its trade processes and added to costs.
“They said we have a free-trade arrangement but that’s really not the case,” he said.
“If you source from the Far East and bring products to the UK and then ship to stores, the tariffs apply.
“With the tariffs that apply, it would make a lot of economic sense to have a distribution centre in Europe as well the UK – it would mean the transfer of a number of jobs into Europe.
“It’s considerably worse than predicted.
“The implications of it have probably been appreciated after the event and probably not attracted the airtime and publicity that they otherwise would have done because Covid is more serious at present.”
The comments come as a survey of international hauliers has found the volume of exports travelling from British ports to the EU fell 68% last month compared with the same period last year.
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