The Edinburgh-headquartered company, whose laboratories test the safety and performance of products used in industries ranging from aerospace to pharmaceuticals, is beginning to make capital investment decisions for the next 6-12 months and Brexit is a factor, CEO Ian El-Mokadem told Reuters.

"The uncertainty has made the UK a little bit less attractive. If you looking at an international portfolio, as we do, you're likely to want to deploy capital outside the UK right now where there is greater certainty," El-Mokadem said in a telephone interview.

"The risk to the UK overall is there's a lot of businesses are thinking a little bit like we are and lots of small decisions like that add up to something at the end of the day," he added.

Optimism among Britain's services firms has fallen sharply, with investment plans at their leanest in over four years in the three months to August, a survey published by the Confederation of British Industry on Tuesday showed.

British consumers have largely taken the June 23 referendum result in their stride but economists say firms are likely to rein in their spending while the country's future relationship with the EU remains unclear.

Exova, which counts Boeing, Airbus Group and Siemens among its customers, spends about 17 million pounds to 20 million pounds, excluding acquisitions, across its business annually.

The company makes over half of its revenue in Europe, but does not say how much of its revenue comes from Britain. About 1,200 people, more than a quarter of Exova's total workforce, work in Britain.

Exova would also bear in mind Brexit-related risk if it looked at any future British acquisition, El-Mokadem said.

On July 1, the company bought UK-based Jones Environmental Forensics, a business that provides testing and analysis for contaminated water and soil. On the same day, it completed the disposal of 10 laboratories in Britain and Ireland.

Exova earlier reported that its first-half adjusted pre-tax profit rose to 20.1 million pounds from 18.3 million pounds a year earlier on adjusted revenues of 160.9 million.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Adrian Croft)

By Esha Vaish