The attractiveness of the UK as a place for foreign investors to locate may be waning slightly, according to our latest report, launched today.

By  Mark Gregory | UK Chief Economist | EY

The attractiveness of the UK as a place for foreign investors to locate may be waning slightly, according to our latest report, launched today. View the full report. 

Our recent UK Attractiveness survey of 440 foreign investors, shows positive sentiment towards the UK hasn’t dramatically collapsed, as some commentators feared, but there are early signs that inbound flows are slowing and beyond the three year horizon, the outlook appears significantly more challenging.

The report, Inward investment after Brexit has been released as a preview to our annual UK Attractiveness Survey report which will launch on May 31, and gauges the sentiment of foreign investors towards Brexit.

Our findings include:

• No dramatic collapse in sentiment towards the UK as an attractive destination for foreign investment in the aftermath of the EU Referendum vote.
• Around a fifth of foreign investors have changed their investment plans in the UK since 2016; either increasing, reducing or holding spend.
• After 2020, research by EY across Europe suggests that around 50% of foreign companies might move assets out of the UK.