By Fiona Czerniawska and Edward Haigh.

Like 48.1% of the people who voted in the UK last Thursday, we were profoundly shocked by the result. Living in the London bubble, as most of us do, we’d catastrophically and unforgivably underestimated the fears and frustrations felt by other parts of the country. There should have been–and now needs to be–a far more serious engagement around the question of how a small island in north western Europe adapts to the consequences of globalisation. 

We believe that the water that surrounds us shouldn’t become a barrier we hide behind. We’ve always been a sea-faring nation: our prosperity comes from trade and tolerance.

This means that, as the directors of this company, we’re going to do three things. First, we’re going to join the growing campaign that argues that we need to understand the terms and details of Brexit before we trigger the formal process of leaving. And even that we have a chance to vote on it. We’re not arguing with the outcome of the first referendum, but we do think that all our votes were cast on speculative waters. This was a protest vote: no one knew, and no one yet knows, what the consequences of leaving the EU will be. So let’s find out, and then decide. That means that, as far as we’re concerned, the campaign to remain hasn’t finished: it’s just getting started.

Second, at the point that Article 50 comes into effect, there will be no turning back. Whether that happens tomorrow or in October, we will do everything we can to protect our small, thriving company. As a winner of an award for exports from the Queen, it will mean finding ways to ensure we can continue to do business just as we always have. And it will certainly mean looking after the interests of our beloved colleagues, both by continuing to pursue profitable growth opportunities, and by doing everything we can to keep those who don’t have UK citizenship and without whom we wouldn’t be as successful as we are.

Finally, for the organisations that we’re honoured to count as customers, we intend to try and embody what we see as the very best of British values: outward-looking, innovative, and focused on high-quality, with a generous and courteous way of working, and an ever-present sense of humour.

If we can’t turn back the tide, then we’re going to build a very sturdy little boat and set sail. As Tennyson wrote: “Though much is taken, much abides… ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.”