According to new data compiled by Scottish Development International (SDI), the country enjoyed its most successful 12 months to date for inward investment during the 2014/2015 financial year.
The figures show that SDI directly assisted in the process of generating more than £433 million worth of planned inward investment for Scotland during the period, allowing for the creation or safeguarding of 9,659 jobs. Furthermore, the number of inward investment projects soared to 91, a 17 per cent boost when compared to the previous year.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the results of SDI’s report, claiming that Scotland is firmly on the map for the international business community.
She said; “These results demonstrate just how successful Scotland is at doing business. Last year was a record in terms of the jobs and projects that SDI was able to support.
“It is clear that Scotland has now firmly established itself, outside of London, as the most successful part of the UK for attracting international investment.”
Of course, a large percentage of the foreign investment projects launched in Scotland during the financial year fell into the oil and gas sectors, which accounted for 16.48 per cent of investment funding. However, somewhat surprisingly, this figure was topped by investment from the technology and engineering sectors, which contributed 33 per cent of the total sum, and was only narrowly ahead of finance and business services with a 15.38 percentage share.
For the commercial property industry north of the border, this certainly spells good news, as growing business hubs within major cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen can look forward to further investment in the coming years. The report indicated that much of this investment will come from the USA which, during the past year, accounted for 28.6 per cent of new projects launched.
One of the largest projects from the USA concerned business services company Concentrix, which in September of last year established a 22,000 square foot global delivery centre in Glasgow. In part, this may have been due to the revelation earlier in the year that Scotland had been named the most attractive place to invest in the UK outside of London by the Ernst & Young Attractiveness Survey.
Chief executive of Scottish Enterprise (SE), Lena Wilson, believes that a number of factors have contributed to Scotland’s success in attracting investment during the past year.
She says; “Scotland has demonstrated again its strengths as a fantastic place to invest in and grow a business.
“A highly skilled workforce, research capabilities and competitive infrastructure make us extremely attractive to the world’s best companies.”
