INVESTORS IN MSK

Traces of Britain in Czechia

The British economy is second only to Germany in Europe, and ranks fifth

globally. Great Britain is among the top countries in innovation as well. According

to the World Intellectual Property Organization, which annually ranks the most

innovative countries around the world, Britain ranks fourth in their latest edition

of the bracket, right behind Switzerland, the USA and Sweden.

For Czechia, Great Britain is an important

business partner. Last year, the UK was

Czechia’s 7th largest export market and

16th in regards to import. While in 2020,

both export and import between Czechia

and the UK declined, last year, this trend

was once again reversed and is now

on the upswing. As far as direct foreign

investment, Great Britain ranks as our

11th most significant investor. Since 1990,

British companies have invested over

70 billion Czech crowns into the Czech

market. Overall, there are around 300 British

companies operating here, employing up

to 65 thousand people. These companies

operate mostly in shared services, IT and

software development, the automotive

industry and high-tech engineering. Some

of the most well-known British companies

in our market are international giants such

as Tesco, Vodafone, Marks & Spencer or

HSBC. The UK also has a presence in the

Moravian-Silesian region. In addition to

the aforementioned corporations, smaller

British companies conduct business here

as well. These include Vesuvius, dealing in

refractory metallurgical ceramics, Pickering

Interfaces, which designs, develops and

manufactures switching systems and

accessories like cables and connectors,

or the logistics company NNR Global

Logistics, operating out of the airport in

Mošnov. These companies cover a wide

range of fields, from manufacturing to

development and services, and can

therefore draw from the benefits our

region can offer them. These benefits

include a strategic location in the heart

of Europe, a qualified workforce, and

a dynamic technological environment for

internationally successful projects.

Innovative Czech companies also

prosper on the British market, most of

which operate in the field of information

technologies. As far as Czech direct

foreign investment is concerned, Great

Britain ranks 6th, with a 6.5% share. By

far the biggest success story of a Czech

company in the British market is not an IT

firm, however, but a small business based

in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm, producing

electrical baking trays. The company is

Remoska, which has been in the British

market since 2001, and managed to build

a great reputation for Czechia in the UK.

Since entering the market, they have sold

over 175 thousand Remoska products,

and the current king of England, Charles

III., received one for his 60th birthday.

Even though it may seem that Britain

leaving the EU might have endangered

their relations with the Czech Republic,

this island country remains an important

business partner for us.

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