Unilever has vowed to maintain its current UK sites – and the 7,500 employees based in the country – should Britain decide to cut ties with the European Union.

In an interview with the Guardian, Unilever CEO Paul Polman revealed that he was in favor of remaining in the EU but that any decision to leave would not affect the Anglo-Dutch FMCG manufacturer’s UK operations. “We don’t make a decision on moving research centres around depending on if you are in the EU or not,” Polman told the Guardian. “People need to buy shampoo… If there is a critical mass of population, which you happen to have here, then we invest anyway.”

However, Polman also maintained that it was in the British interests to operate as part of an economic union. “When the world is going towards more and bigger trading blocs, and the world is rapidly moving east and south as well, I think longer term we would be better off as an efficient trading bloc in Europe,” he told the Guardian.