Nintendo says Brexit could force UK rethink

Will the UK ever actually leave the EU? Who knows, but what is certain is that the Leave vote continues to cause ripples throughout all markets.

As part of an investor Q&A, Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima has admitted that a British withdrawal from the European Union could lead to a potential change to its UK operations.

A conceivable impact of the Brexit vote is that Nintendo has a base in the UK and sell goods from there,” he said. Tax systems, product safety standards and rules, information privacy, and all sorts of other agreements are established by the EU for all of Europe, and at this point in time nobody knows how those agreements would change if the UK were to leave.

For now, what we need to do is closely watch developments and prepare appropriate measures.

The Leave vote has destabilized stock markets and financial markets. The decision to leave the EU and the ongoing preparations for doing so will gradually lead to a stabilisation in financial markets and exchange rates, but it is clear that the yen is trending strong for now.”

The book value of Nintendo’s assets denominated in foreign currencies will take a hit compared to last fiscal year-end due to foreign exchange losses if the strong yen continues, and this could have an impact on our earnings. We will need to keep a close eye on the way events unfold.”