London: British companies are preparing for the possibility that the country will vote to leave the European Union with extra funds, pre-written statements and plans for late-night vigils by teams of consultants. In the final week before Britain’s June 23 referendum on EU membership, the prospect of a “Leave” vote has come into sharp focus, prompting a last-minute flurry of preparations in the corridors of “UK PLC”. Much of the focus is on communication — how to assure customers, employees and investors that there will be near-term business continuity in the event of an “Out” vote. Britain would have two years to negotiate its exit, or “Brexit”, from the 28-country bloc. Treasury departments will also be working overtime because a vote for a Brexit would be expected to roil currency markets and have major consequences for trade, the economy and migration in Britain and elsewhere. Many companies have yet to work out detailed plans, as any post-Brexit picture is unclear and opinion polls had until recently suggested the “Remain” camp was comfortably ahead. But some have sprung into action since the momentum in the polls swung toward the “Leave” camp in the latter stages of campaigning, which was suspended on Thursday after a British lawmaker was killed. “The nearness of the vote and sudden increased likelihood of Brexit has definitely sharpened client appetite for draft statements,” said a senior executive at a public relations firm, one of three who said this week there had been an increase in client requests for communications advice. As of February, more than three-quarters of Britain’s FTSE 250 companies had not made any contingency plans for a possible exit, according to a survey published in April by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors. More than 60 percent said they planned to do so, but the uncertainty at that time made it impossible. For many export-orientated multinationals in the FTSE 100 index, violent currency swings on the morning of June 24 are the top concern. “The biggest short-term impact and the biggest headache for us is going to be sterling,” said the head of strategy at one top-10 FTSE company. While chief executives generally back “Remain” on the grounds that unfettered access to Europe’s market of about 500 million consumers is good for business, a short-term fall in sterling on a “Leave” vote would make exports cheaper and could boost sales, while a “Remain” vote could see the currency jump. Either way, it spells volatility for sterling-denominated earnings at businesses including engineering firms Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems, pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline, drinks group Diageo, and British American Tobacco. Richard De Meo, managing director of Foenix Partners, a foreign exchange specialist for British companies, said many corporate treasury departments were now escalating currency decisions up the chain of command.