AstraZeneca not happy with Brexit progress or lack thereof

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Good afternoon,

Years ago, an AstraZeneca ( it could have been  Zeneca) manager was trying to explain why the company was pessimistic about the economy.

“It’s where they look out the window,” he said. At the time, the United Kingdom ’s economy was more sluggish than its U.S. counterpart – hence the downcast attitude.

AstraZeneca is still looking out the window in the UK and it is not happy with what it sees.

The issue is Brexit, the populist referendum that ordered the UK out of the European Union.

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Officials of the Anglo-Swedish company have not been happy with the progress in seeking a graceful exit from the Euro. The nonexecutive chairman of AZ  recently  said the company will not invest in manufacturing in the UK until the situation becomes clearer.

It isn’t  as if  AstraZeneca is penny-pinching on its home turf.

The company is building a massive headquarters and research campus in the university city of Cambridge. The campus aims to help the company recover from a “patent cliff” that occurred when lucrative drugs lost protection and revenues plunged by tens of billions of dollars.

The cliff led to the loss of thousands of jobs in Delaware, as well as the end of research in the First State. The company maintains a U.S. headquarters near Wilmington and now employs about 1,500.

Should more companies decide to stand pat or move operations to the continent and the European Union plays hardball on a quick departure,  the vote that was cheered on by nationalists around the world will prove to be a  major mistake.

Enjoy your day. This humble newsletter returns tomorrow. – Doug Rainey, publisher

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