Locate in Kent assists record number of companies to invest in Kent and Medway
Investment promotion agency Locate in Kent announced its 2009/10 figures last night (15 June) showing, despite the economic climate, it helped 82 companies invest in Kent or Medway, the highest number it has ever recorded.
During an event at Leeds Castle near Maidstone, the agency revealed the 82 investments represented an 8% increase in number compared to last year. A third of companies were in the manufacturing, financial services and public services sectors and the geographic distribution of investments by area was fairly even. They included small to medium-sized business like HKD, a design specialist for museums and exhibitions, which moved from North London to a Grade-II listed former casino in Margate, and ICT company Thintech, which moved to the Innovation Centre Medway in Rochester.
Investments by large national companies included Kingswood Educational Activity Centres, part of Education Travel Group, developing a 50 acre site in Ashford and construction firm Willmott Dixon expanding and creating a further 75 jobs in Dartford. Maidstone, Ashford and Folkestone took 41% of all new jobs, followed by Thames Gateway with 25%. Furthermore, 33% of the investments and 50% of the 1,492 new jobs created in 2009/10 were in knowledge-based industries, reflecting the high quality of projects.
Sir Brandon Gough, Chairman of Locate in Kent, said: "Despite the challenging global financial situation Locate in Kent has still assisted more companies than ever before. We have already had a good start to 2010/11, with almost 500 new jobs created in the county in just two months".
Indicating a healthy level of investor interest in the county, the pipeline showed 302 active projects at the end of the year. There were 20% more new projects generated during the year compared to 2008/9. The two most common sectors among active projects were business services and manufacturing (together 23%) and the most popular areas were Thames Gateway Kent followed closely by West Kent.
Kent County Council Leader Paul Carter said: "Kent is open and always ready to do business. Locate in Kent has delivered excellent results. They have bucked the downturn and created jobs through the increase in the number of companies moving to Kent. The variety and size of these companies also means we can offer a real welcome to most sectors. Never has this been more important if we are to succeed in leading Kent out of the recession earlier and in better shape than our local competitors."
Kent is continuing to attract significant interest from international companies, with a total of 10 foreign investors in 2009/10. France and Germany proved to be the largest international investors in terms of number of companies, with German and New Zealand-owned businesses creating the most new jobs. Encouragingly, 22% of new projects in the pipeline are from foreign-owned companies; testament to Locate in Kent's proactive international investment strategy and close working relationship with SEEDA's overseas representatives and UK Trade and Investment.
Locate in Kent's performance was recently graded ‘world class' in the bi-annual benchmarking of investment promotion agencies worldwide by GDP Global.
Source: Locate in Kent
