First Minister announces record year for inward investment

Scottish Development International (SDI) has directly helped to generate over £433m of planned inward investment for Scotland, creating or safeguarding 9659 planned jobs, the First Minister announced today (Monday 13 July).

The record results were announced during a visit to Prestwick-based UTC Aerospace Systems.

The results showed that inward investment projects increased by almost 17% to 91 projects in 2014/15 while the jobs created or safeguarded rose by almost 30% to 9659, of which 3192 were high value jobs. The figures highlight how Scotland’s outstanding international profile has been a key factor in attracting inward investment across a range of priority sectors including financial and business services, energy, food and drink, and life sciences, and reinforce the findings of the EY Attractiveness Survey published earlier this year, which named Scotland as the most attractive place in the UK to invest outside London.

Highlights from the results include:

• In 2014/15 SDI secured 3192 HVA jobs; an increase of 26.9% on 2013/14
• Intra UK proved to be the biggest source of projects at 30.7%
• After the UK, the US continues to be the largest inward investor with 28.6% of inward investment coming from the region - an increase of six projects from last year
• The top three sectors are technology and engineering (33% of projects), oil and gas (16.48% of projects), and financial and business services (15.38% of projects).

Commenting on the figures, First Minister 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."

Welcoming the results Lena Wilson, chief executive, Scottish Enterprise, said: “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.”

Last year SDI played a pivotal role in attracting international companies. This included Capita, the UK’s leading provider of business support services that will create over 200 jobs in Glasgow with a new £11 million investment. The company is investing almost £5 million in its Capita Customer Management (CCM) and £6 million into its IT services division. Similarly, Synnex-Concentrix, a leader in high-value global business services, will create 500 new jobs in its new 22,000 square foot global delivery centre that will be located in the recently transformed Faulds Building in the Faulds Park business complex, overlooking the River Clyde. The new site will build upon the Concentrix worldwide team of 50,000+. Meanwhile, financial services company, Ceridian UK Limited will create 130 new jobs in its new Technology Centre of Excellence, which will host a R&D Technology and IT Support Centre, at its base in Renfrew.

Steve Callan, general manager of the UTC Aerospace Systems facility in Prestwick, said: "Over the past 19 years, UTC Aerospace System's Prestwick Service Centre, which provides nacelle maintenance, repair and overhaul to airline customers around the globe, has seen tremendous growth, going from 15 to 280 employees and growing revenues to over $80 million.

"Scottish Enterprise has been with us every step of the way, helping us expand our capabilities, capacity and our employment base, which enables us to better serve our customers."

For more comment on the results, click here.