Heathrow operator to shift top company outside UK because of Brexit - Financial Times

Heathrow operator to shift top company outside UK because of Brexit
Ferrovial, an international infrastructure operator, will move its holding company out of Britain

Josh Spero - June 26, 2018
Ferrovial, the Spanish manager of Heathrow airport, has said that it will be moving its international holding company out of Britain because of Brexit.

The announcement came the morning after Heathrow’s third runway gained parliamentary approval, with the transport secretary declaring it would show Britain’s “future as a global nation” after Brexit.

The holding will move from Oxford to Amsterdam.

“The reason for the move is to maintain the group’s international companies under the umbrella of [EU] communities’ legislation,” the company said, following a report in Spanish newspaper Expansion.

Ferrovial is an infrastructure operator which runs airports, toll roads and urban services such as waste management in North America, Europe and Australia. It had revenue of €2.7bn in the first quarter of 2018, down from €2.9bn the year before.

In the UK, as well as Heathrow, it runs Glasgow, Southampton and Aberdeen airports and is helping to build the Crossrail project and the Thames tideway tunnel, a large new sewer for the capital.

Other companies in the transport sector have responded to Brexit by adding, not moving. EU airline Wizz Air has obtained UK licences, while British airline easyJet has set up a Vienna-based subsidiary, in case no agreement on aviation is reached in a “hard Brexit”.