Region is ‘well-placed’ for more investment

Jul 4 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

FOREIGN investment into Merseyside and Cheshire helped create or safeguard more than 6,000 jobs in the last year – but that amount will slow this year as the credit crunch bites.

New figures from UK Trade and Investment and the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) show Cheshire and Merseyside attracted 64 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the year ending March 31.

The NWDA says it expects those figures will be lower next year, but says the region is well-placed to win more long-term investment.

Some 4,167 jobs were created in 30 Cheshire FDI projects.

Those included the 2,200 jobs safeguarded at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port factory when US owner General Motors confirmed the plant would build the next generation Astra.

Some 1,950 jobs were created or safeguarded in 34 projects in Merseyside,

Those projects included Pilkington’s £40m investment in its Greengate site, in St Helens, which safeguarded more than 230 jobs and created 20 more. Pilkington is owned by Japanese group Nippon Sheet Glass.

A £2m expansion at Prescot call centre Vertex, which is owned by US private equity firm Oak Hill Capital, created 100 new jobs.

NWDA chief executive Steven Broomhead said: “These figures are a real lift from recent stories surrounding the slowdown of the global economy.

“FDI has been a fierce competition for some years now and we should take a great deal of encouragement in our region’s achievements in the past year.”

“This current year will see the toughest economic climate the UK has faced since the regional development agencies were established nine years ago, and we should be prepared for a drop in the UK’s FDI performance next year, but I am confident that our diverse economy, particularly here in the North West, can ride out this storm in the longer term.”

Lord Digby Jones, Minister for Trade and Investment, has been touring the UK visiting FDI projects, and last October visited flu vaccine manufacturer Novartis’s Speke plant. Some 150 jobs at the plant were safeguarded when Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca acquired Medimmune UK.

He said: “These figures reflect our continued ability to punch above our weight on the global stage. In a year of international financial uncertainty this impressive performance exemplifies that now, more than ever, the UK economy is synonymous with opportunity and global potential.”

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