Dyson “optimistic” about Brexit as group sales rise 45pc

Billionaire investor Sir James Dyson has said he is “enormously optimistic” about post-Brexit trade, claiming that World Trade Organisation tariffs are unlikely to harm businesses.

Dyson, the head of the global technology company of the same name, played down the effects of a hard Brexit ahead of May’s decision to trigger Article 50 on Wednesday. He said WTO tariffs had “not held us back at all” and were a “tiny penalty to pay” for trading with Europe, despite warnings from other business leaders that the tariffs of between 5 and 10 percent could hurt the economy.

In an interview with the BBC, Dyson said: “I’m enormously optimistic because looking outwards to the rest of the world is very, very important because that’s the fast-growing bit.”

His comments come alongside the release of his company’s annual results for 2016, which saw both a 45 percent rise in sales to £2.5 billion and a 41 percent rise in underlying profit to £631 million.

The company also saw a 244 percent rise in sales in China, and a 33 percent sales hike in UK. Dyson pay WTO tariffs because it their products are manufactured in Singapore then exported around the world, including to Europe.