Traces of Britain in Czechia
POSITIV 4/2022 ǀ 39
INVESTORS IN MSK
For Czechia, Great Britain is an important
business partner. Last year, the UK was
Czechia’s 7
th
largest export market and
16
th
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
11
th
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 6
th
, 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 60
th
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.
Traces of Britain in Czechia
The Brish economy is second only to Germany in Europe, and ranks h
globally. Great Britain is among the top countries in innovaon as well. According
to the World Intellectual Property Organizaon, which annually ranks the most
innovave countries around the world, Britain ranks fourth in their latest edion
of the bracket, right behind Switzerland, the USA and Sweden.