After Brexit is the UK still attracting investment? – words Al Woods

It has now been almost two years since the UK electorate voted to leave the EU, and there has been much talk and debate about how the seismic decision will affect levels of investment in the country.

The UK has traditionally been a powerhouse in terms of attracting investment in a variety of sectors, and it is now in the process of adapting to the new political climate.

While there has been a plethora of pessimistic forecasts for the UK economy after Brexit. the reality is that investors have not been put off by the uncertainty and are actually spending more money on start-ups in the country than before the vote almost two years ago. New research published in January found that there were 69 deals with British tech start-ups every quarter after Brexit, which is a notable increase on the 45 deals per quarter before summer 2016. Start-ups have also had no problems in attracting large investments. The total sum of investment has also soared from £605 million per quarter to £739 million following Brexit.

Tech industry

As evidenced by the data in the previous paragraph, tech remains a thriving sector despite the spectre of Brexit. The UK is actually still the premier destination in Europe for global tech investors and that is not likely to change in the coming years. Overall, venture capital investment hit an all-time high of £3 billion last year, a staggering increase on the £1.63 billion in 2016. That figure means that British tech enterprises attracted more investment from banks, investors and financial institutions than any other country on the continent. While the upheaval of Brexit could eventually have an impact, the data suggests that talk of the UK’s demise is certainly premature.

“London’s tech sector continues to fuel the growth of the UK’s digital economy, with the capital’s tech firms raising a record £2.45 billion and accounting for around 80 per cent of all UK venture capital tech funding in 2017,” a report from London & Partners noted. “Some of the biggest deals last year included a £391 million Series B investment into Improbable, Deliveroo (£364 million) and Truphone (£255 million).”

Sport

In addition to tech, high-level sport in the UK continues to attract investment from abroad. Football clubs in the Premier League and Football League remain lucrative assets, and many now have foreign owners. Greek business magnate Evangelos Marinakis completed a deal to become the majority shareholder at Nottingham Forest in May 2017 and is now making shrewd moves to make the Reds a force to be reckoned with both on and off the pitch in the Championship. Scores of other teams have also concluded deals with owners from abroad post-Brexit, including Wolverhampton Wanderers, who have just won promotion to the Premier League.

Financial services

The financial services industry in the UK has also shrugged off the Brexit vote to remain a primary hub for foreign investment. London feared that it could loses its status as Europe’s number-one banking destination, but 69 financial projects in the country attracted investment from abroad in 2016, compared to just 19 in Paris and 12 in Frankfurt. China and the US still see Britain as a powerhouse in the financial world and are willing to invest heavily in potentially lucrative projects. There are some concerns about corporate taxation and other incentives post-Brexit, but there has not been any hint of a drop off in investment as yet.

Healthcare and science

One area of concern prior to the Brexit vote was that the UK would lose access to funding from the EU for science projects and related tech advances, but the decision to leave has done little to dampen enthusiasm among Asian and US investors from life science companies, who again continue to look to the UK rather than Germany, Ireland and other countries for potential investment opportunities. US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. recently announced plans to build a new life sciences research facility on this side of the Atlantic, which will create 150 new, high-value job roles in the UK. Qiagen is also now partnering with Health Innovation Manchester with the aim of increasing its presence in the city to the tune of another 800 new jobs. Making a smart investment is very important, especially after brexit. investing into something like bio fuel bonds, this is for people that have a smaller budget as you can invest as little as £10,000.

It has been nearly 24 months after Brexit, so its full impact is yet to materialise, but the evidence and case studies during that short period indicate that the future of britain after Brexit might not be so bad and that a major slowdown in funding may never come to pass. Certainly, the investment landscape can change, but the UK is likely to develop strategies to attract investors to fund projects for the foreseeable future.

After Brexit is the UK still attracting investment? – words Al Woods