FLEET managers should adopt a European outlook to protect their long-term job prospects, and start by preparing their IT systems to cope with the Euro by the end of next year. While the UK public is still hostile to the single currency, business pressure is mounting for the Government to take Sterling into EMU.

This is more than a simple currency issue, and involves the creation of a single market with a single interest rate, said David Kemp, EMU director of ABN AMRO Bank at the Fleet Show Pan-European Fleet Forum, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers and in association with Manheim Europe. Kemp warned that in this environment British-headquartered companies may well migrate their offices to the European mainland to reflect the growing significance of continental business.

'Merger and acquisition fever causes corporates to consider pan-European solutions, and the strength of Sterling makes European acquisitions popular for UK companies,' said Kemp. Such moves could also prompt pan-European fleet consolidation, with no guarantee that UK fleet managers will be responsible for a European fleet operation based on the continent. Kemp advised fleets and suppliers to develop Euro-compatible IT and accounting systems by the end of next year in anticipation of the UK joining EMU in 2002.