Business France, France’s national agency supporting international development of the French economy, released its 2015 annual foreign investment report finding that foreign investment decisions in 2015 created or maintained 33,682 jobs, the highest figure in the past five years. The past year also saw a 27% increase in jobs generated by foreign investment, compared with 2014.

The report finds that the UK “contributed actively” to this growth, creating or maintaining 2833 French jobs. Of these investments, 20% were in the retail and business sector. Nearly half of all jobs created or maintained by foreign companies – 48% – were in production or manufacturing operations. The year also saw an increase in headquarters projects, with global or European headquarters in France climbing to 27 from 16 in 2014. Engineering, research and design, and design projects also remained high, comprising 9% of all foreign investments for 2015.

“Foreign investments from European countries remained predominant (60% of all foreign investment decisions), followed by North America (22%) and Asia (13%), in very similar proportions to 2014,” the report said.