Leeds has been ranked as the fifth best performing city in the UK for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), according to a survey from EY.
The firm's 2018 UK Attractiveness Survey found 19 FDI projects locating in the city in 2017, a 23 per cent share of all projects locating in Yorkshire and Humber last year.
Five Yorkshire towns or cities make the top 20 ranking by volume of investments, with Leeds, Barnsley, Sheffield, Hull and Doncaster all making the cut.
In total, Yorkshire and Humber recorded 80 inward investment projects, a slight decrease on 2016 (82).
The number of jobs created by overseas investors in the region increased by 14 per cent on the previous year (from 4,988 in 2016 to 5,665 in 2017) and marks the highest number of jobs secured in the region over the last decade.
Suzanne Robinson, managing partner at EY in Yorkshire, said: "These figures are great news for Yorkshire – not only is Leeds one of the top five cities for inward investment in the UK, but the region has a total of five towns and cities in the top 20. Furthermore, while Knottingley and Rossington did not make the ranking in terms of volume of investment deals, they too have seen sizeable and significant investment, winning projects that have resulted in nearly 2,000 jobs for the local area.
"The fact that 46 per cent of investments came from manufacturing related industries does not surprise me given it is a particular strength for this region and a sector where we already have a solid footprint. However, I'm also heartened by the breadth of activity type across the investments – from sales and marketing to logistics to digital – a sector which in particular saw an increase in activity on last year."
Kersten England chief executive of Bradford MDC and Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) lead chief executive for business, innovation and growth, added: "This year's results reflect the continued confidence of Yorkshire and the Humber region. In particular it's fantastic to see one or our traditional strengths – manufacturing – performing well with an increase of foreign direct investment projects which are driving significant growth.
"I'm also pleased that the City Region is building on these investment figures which represent January to December 2017 and has already seen a strong start to the year. To date we have seen a number of global firms announce investments in the region including Perform Group, Hudl, Sandstone Technology and Reed Smith. In addition the region has a strong pipeline of projects coming forward."