London has always been in the epicenter of international trade, finances and business overall. Although real estate prices have bubbled out of proportion due to the huge number of wealthy people moving into this bustling city, it’s still easy to say that the location remains as one of the most desirable places for any company to set up shop in.
However, this doesn’t mean that any business is viable in London or in the United Kingdom in general. The impending Brexit has taken a serious toll on multiple industries that are generally focused on the export of their products.
However, firms that usually deal with extremely in-demand commodities or services have remained strong throughout the years of Brexit misunderstandings.
In this article, we will try and see what sectors have remained strong and why is that particularly the case.
Technology & Software
The United Kingdom is home to some of the most skilled engineers and software developers, which is why some of the world’s largest tech companies like to keep an office there. Furthermore, the UK population is slowly but surely starting to move towards the digital economy, buying a lot more household electronics, using a lot more online software and etc.
The idea is that the demand is growing exponentially and people are starting to have enough funds to cover their tech needs. In most cases, it’s due to the relative price arrangements of these products and services that nearly every single family can afford.
However, the growth is also being derived from the billions of pounds being invested in this sector almost every single year.
In fact, according to research, the tech industry in London specifically, has received more than £28 billion in direct investments, thus exploding the industry to unimaginable proportions.
Another thing to consider is the addition of a new labor force which is very tech-literate or have gone through formal tech education. The surplus of such employees has caused a relative reduction in demand, thus decreasing labor costs for the latecomers. Overall, firms are now able to hire skilled workers for slightly smaller salaries but gain a better advantage in terms of profits.
Many would argue that this is unfair, but the fact that it has helped balloon the industry even further cannot be denied.
Creative Industries
Next, we have creative industries. This incorporates things such as ad agencies, art galleries, marketing companies, sales outsourcing and etc. Quite a lot of things can be classified under this specific sector, but the biggest income comes from mostly ad agencies.
The reason behind this is the notoriety that UK ad agencies have especially across Europe and North America. There have been many a European or US company that ordered a complete ad campaign to a UK company and paid quite the buck for it.
Just in 2018, the creative industries had an amazing 11% growth rate and are continuing to do so still.
One very important detail about UK creative industries is the industries that they target themselves.
One of the largest of these sectors is online gaming. Many are aware that there are quite a lot of software providing companies in the United Kingdom who service not only local online platforms but also foreign ones as well.
One such example is Canada. Almost every online blackjack real money Canada has to offer is developed here in London by a couple of software providers.
The reason why they fall under creative industries is due to their primary dedication towards the design and programming of these games.
In most cases, a single company brings in around £3 million in revenue from its activities. Considering that there are hundreds of these companies in London alone, it’s safe to say that it’s a billion-dollar sector of a particular industry in itself.
Fintech and Finance
The next industry is pretty understandable. London has been called the financial capital of the world, and it’s not something that was given to it by mistake. The city is home to some of the largest exchanges in the world, some of the largest banks in the world, and some of the largest investment companies in the world as well.
However, that’s just the financial sector, which is pretty obvious that is performing on a top-level. Brexit may have tampered with the revenue a little bit, but there’s nothing that can truly bring this massive industry down.
The surprise is the Fintech industry which has simply exploded in the last 2 years, mostly thanks to the adoption of cryptocurrencies and the immigration of dozens of crypto companies to the United Kingdom.
Currently, the UK is home to one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, Coinbase, whose revenue is directly classified as “London revenue”.
Don’t forget about the smaller crypto firms that develop their own coins, or the ones that simply work on promoting them. Almost all of this is classified under Fintech.
In 2017 alone, the United Kingdom saw $1 billion being invested in the Fintech industry, the majority of which, around 80% went to London, mostly due to the cryptocurrency popularity explosion.
