The UK’s future relationship with the EU does not appearing to be deterring investors.
This is the conclusion of a new study from PwC after it collected data and opinions from over 550 global investment professionals and over 1,300 CEOs.
The main conclusion of the research is that the UK is seen as a more important country for growth by investment professionals, moving up from fourth place last year to equal third with Germany this year, behind only the USA and China.
The reason for this appears to be that investors are focused particularly on tech and financial industries, putting the UK among the top three countries important for growth.
What’s more, London is considered the second most important city for growth prospects over the next 12 months, behind New York and followed by Beijing, Shanghai and San Francisco.
Head of Global Investor Engagement at PwC Hiliary Eastman said: “It’s striking that the UK is now seen as more important for growth, particularly by investment professionals, moving up from fourth place last year to joint third place with Germany this year. Those focused on the technology and financials industries in particular put the UK among the top three.
“But ‘importance’ may or may not equate to ‘positive growth’ and therefore optimism. Importance could be interpreted in a positive light – that the countries selected would be those expected to grow most or fastest. On that basis, the Brexit vote and all the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s future relationship with the EU appear not to be deterring investors. However, some investment professionals we spoke to saw that ‘importance’ could also be interpreted in a negative sense – that problems and greater volatility in the UK, for example, could have an important effect on slowing down companies’ growth.”
