Greenfield investment monitor fDi Markets shows that between 2012 and November 2014 total investment in the business services sector in western Europe has continued to decline. The number of business services projects into western Europe has decreased significantly from 526 in 2012 to 408 in 2013 and 256 in 2014, the lowest recorded number of projects since 2005.

The number of jobs created and capital expenditure also dropped between 2012 and 2014. Data shows that 20,150 new jobs were created in 2012, with capital expenditure of $4.3bn, which declined in 2013 to 14,731 new jobs and $3.2bn in capital expenditure. This decreased further in 2014 to 13,795 new jobs and $2bn capital expenditure.

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The UK received the highest number of FDI projects in the region in the period, attracting 337 projects between 2012 and 2014. The country also followed the trend of declining FDI, with the number of projects falling from 132 in 2012 to 110 in 2013 and reaching a low of 95 in 2014.

The number of individual companies investing in the region has also decreased from 436 in 2012, to 350 in 2013 and 220 during 2014. The largest investor was France-based Teleperformance, which accounted for 13 projects and created a total of 2792 new jobs. Despite being largest investor between 2012 and 2014, the company did not make any investments in 2014.

Data recorded for 2014 showed a decline in investment in the fourth quarter. November saw 16 projects, which is 30% below the monthly average for 2014. This suggests that the overall decline from 2012 looks set to continue.

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