Investment by Dutch companies not operating in the financial sector breached the €50bn mark for the first time in 2015, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday.

The CBS said new and updated data revealed the corporate sector invested €51bn in 2015, which was the first increase since 2011. Corporate investment declined between 2011 and 2014.

Half of all corporate investment was made by 125 companies and the top 10 spent more than €8.5bn on investments. The CBS said roughly 70% of the sample said they had invested in 2015, slightly down on 2014, but a bit more than in 2011, a crisis year.

The increased investment in 2015 was made during a period of stronger business confidence and was centred on the industrial, transport ad storage sectors. There was also higher investment in the energy and telecommunications sectors and in the leasing of fixed goods.

Companies invested in machinery which accounted for 28% of the €51bn total. Nearly 25% was spent on transport equipment, more than 20% was invested in buildings and housing units while less than 2% went on land.

The 10 largest investors put nearly 60% of their money into machinery and means of transport, and spent heavily (28%) on land, roads and waterways, investing only 1% on buildings and housing units.