A golden age for the North?

As we launch our first Northern Investment Index, our head of corporate (Liverpool) Mark Rathbone outlines what increased institutional investment could mean for the North of England.

The past few years have been defined by uncertainty – from the unprecedented disruption of the pandemic to post-Brexit trade relations and now persistent inflation and the cost-of-living crisis. For business investment in the UK, it has contributed to a sense of near permanent volatility.

Given our standing as a purpose-led firm that seeks to play its part in bringing about positive change, we wanted to take a closer look at the topic, with a particular focus on the regional economy in the North of England.

To that end, we commissioned a study of more than 400 institutional investors based in the UK and US, to understand their intentions for the future. Notably, Manchester ranked as the number one city for investment over the next 12 months, ahead of London, with Liverpool and Leeds ranked joint 6^th overall.

Power to the regions

More broadly, and positively, half of the investors we spoke to intended to increase their investment in the region over the next 12 months, with similar numbers (52%) having already done so last year.

It would of course be remiss not to acknowledge the wider picture. The data developed for our Northern Investment Index is private sector-oriented and, though it points to increased funding for businesses in the North, it does not focus on the support the region needs to ‘level up’ in other ways.

Indeed, recent findings by the IPPR North think tank highlighted that the North receives some of the lowest levels of investment among the world’s advanced economies. However, more than half (54%) of the investment managers surveyed had a positive view of the North as a place for business growth.

While businesses may not be able to directly address regional challenges such as transport infrastructure, we can play our part in contributing to addressing other long-standing issues. This includes professional education and social mobility, which have the potential to significantly enhance productivity and contribute to building a more innovative, diverse and sustainable future.

Speaking on behalf of a purpose-led business that believes in bringing about positive change, it is clear that the investment highlighted in this report provides a major opportunity to deliver such change. Our responsibility as business leaders is to harness that investment and to make sure that it drives meaningful progress.