Telecoms giant Vodafone PLC (LON:VOD), the seventh biggest firm on FTSE 100, has cast doubts over whether it will keep its headquarters in the UK after the Brexit vote.
The referendum result announced on Friday has thrown the political and financial landscape into disarray and a big issue, says the firm, will be that of the free movement of people, capital, and goods within the EU, which is in jeopardy if the UK ends up leaving the common market.
The EU represented an opportunity in a growing digital single market for Vodafone, but that future is unclear.
Last week, chief executive Vittorio Colao had said in an interview with the BBC that the UK had offered many things that the group liked, but it may have to take "appropriate" decisions depending on Brexit and the negotiations, which follow.
The firm employs 13,000 people in the UK and has a huge operating division near Swindon and Newbury in Berkshire, but the group headquarters are in Paddington, London.
Most of the group's 462mln customers and 108,000 employees are not in the UK and over half its earnings were from European businesses in the current financial year, while Vodafone in the UK accounted for just 11% of earnings.
Vodafone is not the only group making noises on leaving. Siemens and Virgin have warned on implications.
CBI director-general, Carolyn Fairbairn, was quoted this morning, having called on the UK government to act quickly to ease business anxiety over potential future steps.
"We’re a long way off having a plan and leadership and … that is what businesses need. We urgently need leadership, particularly given the political vacuum."