Iceland has made little preparations for Brexit, according to MD Richard Walker.
Talking to The Grocer this week, Walker said planning was not possible because of the level of uncertainty.
“We have made no appointments,” he said. “We have no Brexit steering committee. We have been unable to plan because we have not known what the plan is.
“You can’t actually plan for a no-deal because no one actually knows what’s going to happen.”
Walker also expressed doubt about the extent to which competitors have been able to prepare. “I can’t help but feel a lot of the big public companies that talk about all of their elaborate Brexit preparations are potentially doing that for good PR to appease shareholders,” he said.
He added Iceland had “built a bit of buffer stock but if it’s not going to happen on the 31 [October] then that will wind down very quickly”.
Walker spoke to The Grocer after an interview earlier in the week on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, in which he said Brexit uncertainty was “crippling business”.
“What I want is clarity,” he told the programme.
The Grocer revealed in January that Lidl had created a new Brexit customs team as part of its preparations. ‘With Brexit fast approaching, our importing process may become that Lidl bit more challenging,’ a job ad on the supermarket’s website said at the time. ‘That’s where you come in.’
In April the discounter advertised for a head of customs and imports to ‘play a lead part in our Brexit strategy across our wider business network while making sure we are prepared for the challenges ahead’.
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