AV Magazine
The UK’s decision to separate from the European Union continues to reverberate and is overwhelmingly negative, according to the latest review of the country’s pro-AV market in the May print edition of AV Magazine.
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Let’s take the benefits. Greater autonomy in setting trade policies and regulations could result in reduced trade barriers, tariffs, and bureaucracy for the AV industry, says Craig Storey, UK CEO of Lightware Visual Engineering.
There are opportunities for new trade agreements. “The UK can now negotiate new trade agreements with non-European countries, which could open up new markets for AV products and services,” he says.
A greater emphasis on local production and sourcing could also lead to more opportunities for AV businesses to establish local supply chains and partnerships.
However, these potential upsides are swamped by the experience today of red tape, uncertainty and loss of access to the EU single market.
“The benefit part is easy – there are none,” says Ken Morrison, sales director at Sennheiser. “Travel is more expensive and more restricted, and international trade has become more challenging, leading to more vacant high street shops and empty offices. Combined with other factors such as rising fuel bills, it feels like the perfect storm.
“Moreover, getting equipment to the UK in a timely manner to meet deadlines has become more difficult. The additional obstacles and bureaucracy involved may also discourage some European manufacturers from prioritising UK needs, as it is simply more challenging to ship products to the UK than within the EU. Overall, it seems that Brexit has brought more difficulties than benefits to our business and others in the industry.”
His colleague, business development manager Inesh Patel, adds: “Although things have improved somewhat, the number of hoops we need to jump through to achieve even straightforward tasks remains frustratingly high for everyone involved.”
“Brexit is a major problem for AV, rental and entertainment companies, with no known advantages,” says Sam Nankivell, director at 2B Heard. “Brexit has slowed down importation procedures of goods coming to the UK (such as K-array deliveries) and created over-complicated paperwork. There are big problems for live tours of UK shows within the EU, as the time AV professionals spend on holiday in EU countries is now counted against the three months that we are allowed to work there in a given year.
“This affects performers and technicians alike. We also now require carnets for any equipment that is toured. Exhibitions can also be problematic both for UK companies exhibiting in the EU and vice-versa, due to the complications of temporarily exporting exhibition products.”
Clear-Com’s regional sales manager Ben Turnwell reports integrators struggling with the effects of Brexit. “If you’re a global company it’s quite a big issue when you’re procuring kit in the UK for a physical installation in Europe, a situation that was once very normal and seamless. There’s a lot more paperwork, higher fees, and shipping and receiving protocols are extremely strict.
“Touring companies don’t have the same free ease of movement or access as they did before, which is a big deterrent to the willingness to host a big show – and not to mention the fact that audiences can’t cross borders as easily, either.”
There’s a similar view at Brompton Technology. “Brexit has made it much harder to send demonstration equipment to customers on the mainland and greatly increased time and cost when exhibiting at European trade shows,” says Rob Fowler, director of business development. “For our domestic business it is harder to gauge the impact but dealing with the red tape for goods into and out of the EU has been an unwelcome distraction.”
A neutral perspective is held by Kramer. “We don’t really see Brexit in terms of benefits or disadvantages,” says country manager Mike McHale. “We did see it as a challenge to deal with, when it came to our customers in the Republic of Ireland, but we transferred the logistics of this business to our warehouses within the EU whilst maintaining customer service, invoicing and support in the UK. We’ve been able to extend this model to support UK businesses that have an entity within the EU.”
Flight case manufacturer 5 Star Cases finds shipping overseas has been impacted, “with increased freighting costs, along with the additional paperwork,” says operations director Ingu Lasinskis. “On a positive note, where the import and export of goods has become more expensive, the amount of products being ordered from within the UK market has significantly increased.”
Chinese firm Leyard is used to dealing with international shipments so, apart from additional paperwork, Brexit hasn’t changed much. However, it is simply not workable to have 100 per cent, EU-based resources it says. Leyard identified the need to have a much stronger presence locally. Hence its new showroom in Blackfriars.
“It means increased overheads for us, but we also believe our UK business has grown because it’s simply easier to see people face to face. Maybe more impact has been felt due to Covid and the Ukraine,” says Marler-Hausen
Peerless-AV opened a new warehouse facility in the Netherlands and relocated its UK team to a new location in St Albans, both serving EMEA. “We planned well ahead for Brexit to ensure no disruption to our UK and European customers,” says sales director Chalene Chandrasiri.
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