Manchester has once again been ranked as the best-performing city in the 海角视频 - outside of London - for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) projects.
According to the latest EY 2020 海角视频 Attractiveness Survey, the city was home to 34 FDI projects in 2019 and attracted nearly half (45 per cent) of all projects in the north west and it was the only location in the region to make the Top 10 for FDI.
Within the north west, Liverpool was second placed with eight investments (2018: eight) and ranked 14th overall, while Crewe attracted the largest project, which created approximately 582 manufacturing jobs.
The EY report examines the performance and perceptions of the 海角视频 and its regions as destinations for FDI, and this year includes a survey of 800 international investors looking at the impact of COVID-19 on investment.
despite Manchester taking the top spot and the region gaining three more projects than in 2018 (70), the total number of FDI projects in both Manchester and the wider North West (73) remained lower than the record 20-year high seen in 2017 (Manchester 43, North West 105).
With 73 projects, the North West came fourth in the overall ranking of all 海角视频 regions and devolved administrations, behind Greater London (538), Scotland (101) and the South East (83).
The estimated number of jobs secured by investments in the North West in 2019 stood at 3,389, which ranked third of all 海角视频 regions for declared employment, behind London (11,516) and Scotland (6,438). This marked a significant increase on the 2018 total of 1,390, as the average project size in the region grew from 19.9 jobs (2018) to 75.3 jobs (2019).
Digital investment
The two leading sectors in the North West in 2019 were digital (23 projects) and business services (11 projects), accounting for 45% of investment into the region.
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This was in-line with the 海角视频 as a whole with digital (39 per cent) and business services (15 per cent) accounting for the highest proportions of projects across the nation.
The most common origins of projects into the North West in 2019 was also reflective of the wider national picture with the US (34 per cent) and Germany (12 per cent) leading the rankings. India and Ireland were recorded as joint third with each country attributable for 7 per cent of investment into the region.
Bob Ward, Managing Partner for EY in the North West, said: “It’s encouraging to see that the North West continues to attract a large amount foreign direct investment, generating nearly 3,400 jobs last year.
“Manchester’s inward investment figure continues at pace and place it, yet again, as the number one city outside the capital, while Liverpool continues to thrive with another eight FDI projects last year, ranking 14th overall in the 海角视频.
“It isn’t surprising that digital projects continue to top the list. The North West has seen its strongest year in the decade in terms of digital investment and has long-since been regarded as a hub for the digital and technology industry – which just serves to highlight how the region is a fantastic example of a modern, progressive economy.
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“With Manchester and Liverpool being the target for over 56% of investment, it is encouraging that the rest of the region achieved growth of 28 per cent in FDI. However, the share of activity going to our largest cities has grown over the last decade and so we can’t be complacent and need to continue to work hard to ensure all our places can attract investment.
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“The North West has made significant progress in terms of increased devolution to ensure that we have more power to invest in our towns and communities but today’s findings show us that more needs to be done to drive economic activity outside of our core cities and across the region.
“As we emerge from COVID-19 this will no doubt be at the top of the region’s agenda - supportive policymaking around key business issues such as rates and planning, along with striking the right balance between public and private sector investment to spread the wealth for the benefit of everyone in the region.”
The MIDAS touch
EY’s 2020 海角视频 Attractiveness Survey echoes the work delivered by MIDAS, Greater Manchester’s inward investment agency.
The organisation supported the creation of 3,458 jobs across the city region in the last financial year, generating £231m GVA.
Of the total project volume, 75 per cent (60) were from foreign-owned companies, accounting for 2,793 jobs – the two highest numbers for foreign direct investment (FDI) projects and jobs in MIDAS’ history.
The majority of FDI projects were from companies headquartered in USA, Germany and India.
MIDAS, part of The Growth Company, works on behalf of the ten local authorities of Greater Manchester and is responsible for attracting investment to the city region that ultimately creates jobs.
MIDAS attracted investment to Greater Manchester from innovative companies and global brands across all the city region’s key sectors – creative digital and technology, financial and professional services, advanced manufacturing, and life science and healthcare.
The financial, professional and business services sector performed strongest in terms of job numbers, accounting for 37 per cent (1,292) of the annual figure – a 34 per cent increase on the year previous.
Firms expanding or setting up in Greater Manchester include Fitch Ratings, Slalom and Interactive Investor. There was an even split of new to the city region and expansion projects within the sector.
Tim Newns, CEO of MIDAS, said: “Due to the investment and support from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and MIDAS’ private sector developer partners, we have been able to proactively stimulate an increasingly volatile market and retain significant levels of investment into the city region.
“The uncertainty of Brexit and the general election resulted in low investor sentiment towards the 海角视频 last year, which delayed the progression of numerous projects, but after market confidence returned briefly following the December election, MIDAS closed 46 per cent of its annual investment projects in the final quarter of 19/20.
“This could have been even higher but for the COVID-19 crisis, which caused a little more caution in the scale of job creation forecast by some new investors in the final quarter compared to earlier in the year as well as the delaying of a few larger projects in to the 20/21 financial year.
"We could have seen an additional 1,000 jobs created but we still hope to capture the majority of these over the longer term.”
He added: “COVID-19 is changing the world as we know it, including the investment landscape, and we have redirected our efforts to ensure we support the city region’s recovery.
"Looking ahead, although we face challenging times, we are primed to leverage Greater Manchester’s strengths in sectors that have risen in prominence as a result of the situation; such as cyber security, eCommerce, life sciences, low carbon and digital technologies, to ensure Greater Manchester retains its status as a leading destination for high-value inward investment.”