Lovers of Desperados tequila-flavored beer and Strongbow apple cider can rest a little easier in the stressful run-up to the British exit from the European Union. Dutch brewer Heineken NV is stockpiling extra liquor.
The drinks-maker is working with U.K. logistics company Wincanton PLC to find additional storage space ahead of March 29, when Britain is set to leave the EU. It has already started storing more volumes and plans to build them up over the coming weeks and months, according to Wincanton Chief Executive Officer Adrian Colman. Heineken is looking to stockpile thousands of pallets worth of goods, he said recently.
The move highlights growing corporate anxiety as the British exit deadline looms. While Prime Minister Theresa May has begun briefing her Cabinet on the text of a near-complete deal for the U.K.'s exit from the EU, the terms for the cross-border trade of goods and services haven't been finalized. Fears are mounting among a broad range of manufacturers that new barriers will disrupt supply chains.
Heineken, as well as other alcoholic beverage companies that Wincanton declined to name, "want to build some stock ahead of the March deadline," Colman said. "New systems and processes, whatever the change -- even if very minimal -- won't be achieved overnight."
Storage includes ingredients moved in from outside the U.K. for local drinks production, as well as imported beverages, he said.
"We always build additional buffer stock in the first quarter of the year to manage peak demand in the summer," Heineken said in a statement. "We have taken a small amount of additional warehousing space to give us greater flexibility to meet customer demands."
More than 90 percent of the beer sold in the U.K. is brewed locally, according to the company.
Information for this article was contributed by Thomas Buckley of Bloomberg News.
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