Millions of pounds were wiped off the value of Bristol firms quoted on the London Stock Exchange today as they became caught up in the Brexit share price collapse.
Manufacturers were hard hit with shares in global innovator Renishaw slumping by more than 5%. The Wotton-under-Edge precision engineering firm, which makes machine tool probes and gauges used in factories across the globe, had already been suffering from the slowdown in China.
Shares in GKN, which makes aircraft wing parts at its plants at Filton and Severnside, were down by more than 3% although aero-engine developer Rolls-Royce, which had warned of the impact of Brexit on its business – and which employs around 3,000 at its Bristol plant – witnessed a 3% increase in its shares
Tech companies have also been hit. Shares in SciSys, which has a base in Brislington and its roots in the European Space Agency, were down by more than 6% at lunchtime as equities across the board continue to hit by the outcome of the referendum.
Financial services businesses suffered more than most as investors took flight from a sector that could be hard hit by quitting the EU. Bristol-based investment giant Hargreaves Lansdown was among the hardest hit – down by more than 11% this afternoon. Co-founder Peter Hargreaves helped bankroll part of the Leave campaign.
Property firms were also among the big fallers. Unite, the Bristol-based student accommodation group, dropped by 7.4%.
Shares in luxury brand Mulberry, which makes many of its iconic upmarket bags at its Chilcompton, Somerset, factory, declined by more than 6% as fears of a consumer slowdown grew.
Few companies on the entire London Stock Exchange bucked the trend. But shares in Bristol-based tobacco group Imperial Brands were up by more than 3% this afternoon.
