Argyll chocolate firm expands to meet growing demand
Fetcha Chocolates Limited is investing in new equipment to quadruple its capacity, increase turnover and create employment.
Scottish Development International (SDI) statistics revealed that more than 7,500 planned real living wage jobs had been generated by inward investment in FY21/22, with 113 investment projects in Scotland supported, 39 of which were investors locating in the country for the first time.
The figures, which combine inward investment projects supported by SDI, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise, were announced by Scottish Government Business Minister Ivan McKee at the 2022 World Forum for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) this morning.
Among the Highlands and Islands examples are German based APCOA Parking, which established a new processing centre in Dingwall, its first office in Scotland, creating more than 30 new jobs in customer service, supervisory and managerial positions.
Another is new contracts secured by Capgemini, which has continued to create new jobs in its Highland delivery centres, which now employ more than 800 people providing first line call handling to secure operations centres, and cyber security services.
Vicky Grant, HIE’s head of international trade and investment, said:
“Investment over the years in communication, infrastructure and connectivity has enhanced the status of the Highlands and Islands as a globally competitive region, attractive to inward investors from around the world.
“Some of the most recent projects we have been involved in clearly demonstrate the region’s increasing appeal as a place to live, work, study and invest, which in turn helps Scotland to attract more foreign direct investment.”
Announcing the total figures for Scotland, Mr McKee said:
“Inward investors constitute 3% of Scotland’s businesses, but they are responsible for over a third of employment and around half of turnover. They also bring wider spillover benefits to the Scottish economy including strengthening local supply chains, increasing productivity, and building expertise. Given the challenges of the past two years, it is encouraging that Scotland has continued its strong performance in attracting Foreign Direct Investment.
“Over 90% of the projects sit within the nine opportunity areas identified in our Inward Investment Plan – which include energy transition, software and IT, the space sector, healthtech and digital business services.
“This reaffirms our evidence-based focus to attracting inward investment, and demonstrates the value of our strategic Team Scotland approach, which mobilises our international network and our Scottish Government overseas hubs.”
The full announcement is available on the SDI website
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