County hails 400 jobs creation through rising foreign investment

Almost 400 new jobs were created by foreign companies investing in Greater Lincolnshire during 2018/19, as it is revealed £456.2m was ploughed into the county by overseas firms.

Figures released by the Department for International Trade (DIT) show that foreign-owned companies invested £456,280,000 into Greater Lincolnshire in 2018/19, an increase of more than 200% on the previous year.

This was across 20 separate investments – 25% rise on the previous year. Through these investments 392 new jobs were created and 37 jobs safeguarded. Investment came from all over the world, including Brazil, Japan and South Africa, while eight were from companies owned in the USA or Germany.

Many of these investments were supported by the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership, which works closely with councils and the DIT to offer local, regional, national and international support to businesses.

While other parts of the Midlands Engine have experienced a reduction in the number of projects and new jobs created, Greater Lincolnshire is one of the few areas to have bucked the UK trend and witnessed a growth in the number of projects.

The area has also been able to maintain a healthy number of new jobs generated by foreign direct investment (FDI) last year, according to the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) latest figures.

Karen Seal, Senior Growth Officer at the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, said:  “This proactive programme of free support to businesses has helped the number of foreign investments to increase by 50% over the last five years,” said

“Almost one-fifth of the new jobs created pay salaries of over £25,000 and 7% of them are in the high salary bracket of over £35,000 a year. We are seeing more companies investing heavily in automation and technology to boost production and create efficiency savings, and therefore, requiring highly skilled engineers and technicians to maintain equipment.”

 Ursula Lidbetter OBE, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, added: “These latest results from DIT represent a huge vote of confidence and optimism in Greater Lincolnshire. They indicate significant progress in Greater Lincolnshire’s own objective of boosting economic performance.

“Innovative, ambitious firms from across the world are choosing to locate and expand here, citing the area’s accessibility, talent pool, affordable space and vibrant business community.

“Through investment into key redevelopment projects, regeneration schemes and Team Lincolnshire, we are building a Greater Lincolnshire where people and businesses can thrive.

“I am particularly pleased to see private-sector investment into agri-food, advanced manufacturing and the clean growth sector from the Humber to the Wash.”

Businesses that have invested in Greater Lincolnshire in the past year are predominately in the agrifood, advanced manufacturing and renewables sectors. They include

• Irish company Annyalla Chicks has invested further in a 14-acre site at Butterwick near Boston, where it has opened a state-of-the-art hatchery.
• American-owned Bright Lite Structures, an innovative company which works predominately in the automotive and aerospace industry, has invested in new premises in Stamford.
• Leonardo, an Italian-owned leader in electronics warfare and education, has invested more than £2 million in a new training academy which will educate the technical specialists in cyber and electromagnetic activities.
• Lincoln’s largest employer Siemens continued it growth by opening its Global Service Operation Centre and creating 19 new jobs.

The number of mergers and acquisitions by foreign-owned firms also rose to its highest level since 2014/15. This includes PepsiCo’s investment into Pipers Crisps, Hewlett Packard acquiring Apogee and Quotient Technology’s purchase of Elevaate.

Three-quarters of the acquisitions were made by parent companies in the USA while a quarter were made by German-owned firms.

Seal added:  “We are currently working with more than 90 foreign-owned businesses and helping companies with their expansion plans. Work is also continuing to attract new inward investments into the area and to promote Greater Lincolnshire as the place to live, work and invest.”