LONDON—As British politicians attempted Tuesday to reassure investors and businesspeople about the economics effects of a Brexit, one of Britain's biggest corporate giants said it may move its headquarters out of the country because of the vote.

Vodafone Group PLC, the world's second largest mobile carrier by subscribers after China Mobile Ltd., said the long-term location of its global headquarters was now in doubt because of the uncertainties over how and when the U.K. would disentangled itself from the European Union, after the country voted for breaking away last week.

The vote has also clouded the future of an £ 18 billion pound ($24 billion) nuclear project in the U.K. that still awaits a final green light by its contractor, French power utility Electricite de France SA, better known as EDF. The construction of two nuclear reactors in Hinkley Point in southwestern England has the backing of the U.K. and France, which has a majority stake in EDF, but is waiting for the nuclear-power utility's board to sign off on the project. A Chinese firm is also a major backer of the project.

EDF's board hasn't yet approved the project amid a number of issues including its cost. The company's six representatives on the board—out of an 18-member board—reiterated their opposition to the project during a meeting Tuesday, two of them said after the meeting. A possible exit by the U.K. from the EU is another concern.

"A possible Brexit was a concern we had before the vote," one of the two the board member said. "Now that it is a fact, we see a weakening of the political environment in the U.K. and a volatile public opinion that questions many things."

Both developments underscores the longer term uncertainty the vote has created for British and foreign firms, apart from the market sell off immediately afterward. U.K. Business Secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday moved to reassure global investors and British businesses that the country is "open for business," convening a round table of business leaders he said would be the first of several meetings.

As markets grapple with the ramifications of Britain's referendum result for the global economy, and with the political tumult the vote has sparked in the U.K., attention is turning to the deal the U.K. must negotiate with the EU to allow it to continue to benefit from free trade across the bloc.

For Vodafone, the timeline of those talks is too long and uncertain for the company to guarantee Britain would remain its home.

Vodafone said in a statement late Tuesday that it gained many benefits through the U.K.'s EU membership, including the bloc's free movement of people and the benefits of a single legal framework throughout Europe.

The company said it wasn't yet possible to gauge how these positive attributes of EU membership would be affected after the U.K. leaves the EU, a process that could take two years or more, making it impossible "to draw any firm conclusions regarding the long-term location for the headquarters of the group," Vodafone said. "We will continue to evaluate the situation and will take whatever decisions are appropriate in the interests of our customers, shareholders and employees."

Vodafone said a "very large majority" of its 462 million customers, 108,000 employees and 15,000 suppliers were based outside the U.K., where it has offices in Newbury, England, and London. It said 55% of its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came from Europe, excluding the U.K.

Vodafone has hinted for months that it would consider relocating should the U.K. leave the EU Chief Executive Vittorio Colao, an Italian, had said before the election that leaving the EU would hurt Britain's ability to access Europe's digital industry. And on Friday, the day the election's results were announced, Vodafone took another baby step by saying it was "too soon" to determine whether an EU exit would spur it to relocate its headquarters.

Meanwhile, at a press conference in London on Tuesday, Mr. Javid said the biggest issue raised by business representatives has been the need to secure continued access to the European Union's single market and that this would be his "No. 1 priority."

He sidestepped a question on whether he believed Britain could retain access to the single market without also agreeing to maintain free movement of labor, saying only that Britain didn't have to follow the path charted by other countries outside the bloc that have access to the single market.

"The negotiations have only just started, and over time we will see what we get," he said.

While Norway has access to the EU market as a member of the European Economic Area, it has had to agree to allow in workers from the EU, a concession that is unlikely to gain easy approval in the U.K. Immigration was a hot-button issue throughout the campaign that ultimately handed the "leave" side its victory.

Earlier Tuesday, U.K. Treasury chief George Osborne also aimed to reassure business leaders. At a conference of CEOs in London, he said the U.K.'s economy is strong and that his priority will be to help hammer out a plan that offers financial stability and economic certainty.

The business secretary said that he is engaging with companies directly and has instructed the heads of the U.K.'s trade and investment offices around the world to reassure major investors that the U.K. is an attractive investment destination.

"In the past 48 hours we've heard senior politicians from Australia, from South Korea, calling for immediate trade talks with the U.K.," Mr. Javid said, adding that China's Huawei Technologies Co. has confirmed that its planned £ 1.3 billion investment in the U.K. will go ahead despite Brexit. Huawei representatives didn't immediately return calls for comment.

Stu Woo and Inti Landauro contributed to this article.

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 28, 2016 21:25 ET (01:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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