‘Amazon for engineers’ starting to stockpile as it nears Brexit jungle

MORE and more companies are taking Brexit matters into their own hands as fears grow that the UK will crash out of the European Union without a deal next year.

Today it was Electrocomponents’ turn to reveal its emergency measures, saying it would spend £30 million stockpiling goods in warehouses in the UK and across Europe.

The company, known as “the Amazon for engineers”, which offers more than 550,000 electronic parts, said the stockpiling is necessary.

It said, should there be a no-deal Brexit, there would be increased checks at the UK-EU border, meaning customers will experience delays in receiving their products.

Electrocomponents’ customers rely on next-day delivery and as a result the firm has also applied for Authorised Economic Operator accreditation, which will ensure reduced checks of its shipments crossing the UK-EU border.

Analysts said Brexit reality was “really kicking in now” adding that investors can expect many more announcements like this in the weeks ahead. Yesterday Diploma, the engineering firm which supplies components for Formula 1 cars, said it had started building inventory levels of parts ahead of Brexit.

Shares in Electrocomponents tumbled 31.6p to 580p, despite the firm separately revealing first-half profits increased by more than a fifth. Diploma dropped 4p to 1345p.

In a subdued session the FTSE 100 lost 38.19 points to 6962.70 with Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust among the fallers after a big tech sell-off overnight on Wall Street.

Apple’s stock fell sharply as the tech giant said its newest line of phones may not be selling as well as it or its investors had hoped.

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust is most exposed to the US tech scene, holding big positions in companies such as Netflix, Amazon and Tesla. Its shares were off 12.2p to 462.7p.

Overall tech sentiment was crumbling as investors also sold off bitcoin, which fell to $4430, its weakest since October last year. Increased regulation, particularly in the US, has spooked investors.

Sticking with tech, Draper Esprit provided a rare bright spot as its shares climbed 15p to 555p.

The venture capital firm has invested in Form3, a payments service for banks and regulated fintechs.

Diving sentiment: increased regulation, particularly in the US, has spooked investors TELECOMS firm KCOM today posted a profit warning and reduced dividend for the current financial year, sending its shares down 34p, to 58.5p.Weak sales mean that the company is expecting earnings for the financial year to be 5% below current market expectations.