Net new investment from overseas, £ billion

Investment projects by type

What it means: the pound figures, from the ONS, are money put into UK businesses by companies based abroad that own at least 10% of them, including profits they leave in the business, minus money they take out; they swing a lot because a few very large takeovers can add over £100 billion in a single year, as in 2016. The total held, 2.13 trillion pounds in 2024, is the value of everything overseas companies have built up in the UK. The project counts, from the Department for Business and Trade, are projects in which a company based abroad sets up a new business in the UK, expands one it already has here, or buys a stake of at least 10% in a UK company, as recorded by the Department for Business and Trade. It counts projects and the jobs they are expected to create or keep, not the money invested, so a very large project counts the same as a small one. New businesses made up 67% of projects in the latest year. Each year is taken from the most recent edition that covers it. Shown for context.

Source: ONS, foreign direct investment involving UK companies, 2024, inward tables 1.1 and 1.2; Department for Business and Trade, inward investment results, table 1.1 (editions for 2016-17, 2019-20, 2022-23 and 2025-26).