Brexit impasse takes its toll on British business investment

As uncertainty over Brexit spills into its fourth year, Swiftool Precision Engineering has taken a tough investment decision: it will press ahead with a plan to spend 250,000 pounds ($323,000) on a 3D printer but a new workshop roof will have to wait.

Like many British companies, the small, family-owned firm which makes parts for aircraft engines and offshore oil wells wants more clarity on what leaving the European Union might mean for its business before carrying out all its investment plans.

“You become more mindful,” director Sam Handley said at the company’s workshops, near Mansfield in central England, where it employs 126 people.

Swiftool (SPE) is not alone in being cautious. British business investment has fallen 1.1% since the Brexit referendum in June 2016 and analysts warn that could cause long-term damage to the economy.

Over the same period, business investment in the other Group of Seven big, industrialized economies has risen 10%, with the United States posting an increase of 13%, according to Alpesh Paleja, an economist with the Confederation of British Industry.

“With every piece of machinery we have to convince the bank that we are doing the right thing. Every decision counts,” Handley said.

SPE cuts parts to within a hundredth of a millimeter for global manufacturers such as Britain’s Rolls Royce (RR.L), U.S. company Baker Hughes (BKR.N) and Germany’s Siemens (SIEGn.DE) and is busy working on scores of potential new orders.

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