INSIDE HQ UKTI SUPPORT Nestlé is investing

Nestlé has 19 sites in the UK and Ireland,

employing 7,000 people

£500m in the UK over the next three years

Nestlé UK and Ireland will move its HQ to

1 City Place, Gatwick relocating 840 employees by the end of 2012

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

The company unveiled plans for a new, highly sustainable and energy-effi cient £35m bottling plant in Buxton. It is spending £7m expanding its global research HQ on the York site, due to commence in April 2012. It has recently announced its selection of the Gatwick area on the Surrey/ Sussex border for its new UK and Ireland headquarters which will signifi cantly boost an already burgeoning business cluster, says Rosemary French, executive director of the Gatwick Diamond Initiative. “Nestlé is joining a global group of companies in the Gatwick Diamond which have chosen to locate their UK, European and world HQs here, such as Thales, Unilever, Exxon and Virgin. Nestlé’s arrival will build on the R&D food cluster here, led by Leatherhead Food International and the area’s aviation food suppliers.” Nestlé is also investing in its workforce. In 2011, it launched the Nestlé Academy and this year will double its graduate, apprentices and intern intake. Grimwood believes this is key to an invigorated workforce: “The Nestlé Academy is an investment in a lifetime of learning, so whether people are joining us at 16 as part of an apprenticeship scheme, at 18 after A levels, after their degree or at other stages in their career, Nestlé will

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help ensure our people evolve a skill set for business and that they are learning both professionally and personally.”

SMOOTHING THE WAY Along the way, UK Trade & Investment has helped smooth the company’s path in making these investments in its future UK operations, says Rayson. “UK Trade & Investment has been very proactive. We welcome the fact it has reached out to industry generally and Nestlé in particular. “It has taken great efforts to understand our business and fi nd out how it can help us. It has been active in contacting and working with our head offi ce in Switzerland, a good source of helping join up the various government departments we work with, and making the case for investing in the UK. There is a new recognition of the importance of the food industry and the fact that it is the biggest manufacturing sector in the UK.” Grimwood concurs, foreseeing a bright future for Nestlé in the UK: “We’re creating brand new, world class factories and investing in our people too. The economic marketplace is challenging, but we’re doing the right things during the downturn so that when the upturn follows, we’ll be in a better position to move forwards.”

THE PRIME MINISTER’S visit to Nestlé’s Tutbury plant in November 2011, as it announced a £110m expansion creating 300 jobs, underlined the importance of Nestlé to the UK economy. Its investment in the UK in recent years and its status as a leading employer and manufacturer further enhanced the company’s standing here. Job creation and inward investment are not the only way the company contributes to the UK either, says Gerry Moran, Nestlé’s relationship manager at UK Trade & Investment. Also valued are Nestlé’s investments in skills, innovation, manufacturing excellence and its contributions to promoting health and wellness – a priority for governments worldwide. “Nestlé is a key stakeholder in the success of the UK,” says Moran. “It makes a difference and adds value on so many levels. UK Trade & Investment is fully committed to Nestlé and its continued success in the UK. “We have a strong and open

relationship with Nestlé both in the UK and at its global headquarters in Switzerland. It is a relationship which recognises the mutual benefi ts of working together. “This can be UK Trade & Investment supporting individual investment projects, helping the company exploit R&D capability in the UK, or it can be Nestlé playing a leading role in formulating a UK export strategy for the food and drink sector working with UK Trade & Investment and The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.”

LET’S DO BUSINESS TO BENEFIT from the outstanding opportunities in the UK, call the UKTI Investment Hub on 020 7333 5442, visit www.ukti.gov.uk/invest or email enquiries@ukti-invest.com