More from the Think London FDI Barometer

Good news - we have the results of the second Think London FDI Barometer.The barometric pressure is easing. 95% of overseas companies are satisfied with London as a location for their business; an increase of 5 percentage points since the first survey was undertaken in January.

The real pressure on businesses comes from elsewhere. Using a location to optimise operational efficiencies has increased in importance amongst our 280 survey respondents, particularly for those companies that have set up in London in the last two years. This is spot on with earlier research we have done on foreign direct investment in the post-recession era. It demonstrated that companies are predicted to focus on consolidation and optimisation as they reconfigure their global footprints to take advantage of lower operating costs. This is good news for businesses who play with the thought of setting up business in London or who are already expanding business in London. Just find a multi-sector, multi-cultural, well connected, top talent and innovative hub that pulls together all your key success drivers in a better way than London does.

The FDI Barometer has also shown that the importance of London’s availability of talent has risen sharply up the rankings, with almost a third of large companies ranking it as the most unique factor of differentiation when compared with other major international cities. It has long been a fact that London pools top talent from all over the world, offering the largest regional workforce in Europe and a labour pool of over nine million people. But now, more and more businesses realise how much London scores in this field. London’s resilience as a business location is now more certain than ever, with its reputation as a safe hub underlining the steady rise in confidence seen in Wave 2 of the Barometer.

This is a trend our London consultants at Think London expect to see continuing and very much looking forward to the findings of Wave 3, which we will complete towards the end of the year.