The chief executive of one of the world's biggest firms, Royal Dutch Shell, warned on Sunday that the oil and gas company would be negatively impacted were Britons to back leaving the European Union in a referendum.

Prime minister David Cameron is renegotiating his country’s membership and could reach a deal with EU partners at a summit next month, paving the way for a public vote as soon as June.

Chief executive Ben van Beurden said that the Anglo-Dutch firm, which is currently seeking shareholder approval for its bid to acquire Britain’s BG Group, could suffer were Britain to leave the bloc.

“We are a company with a strong heritage in the UK and on the Continent. There would be a real break between the two, which would affect freedom of movement of staff, trade – we would be impacted,” he said.

“There will be a path of divergence, and that will have all sorts of inefficiencies. That’s not good for companies like ours that thrive by there being no barriers.”

– (Reuters)