The Dutch foreign investment agency NFIA was involved last year in helping 423 foreign companies either set up in business in the Netherlands or expand their current operations, the agency said on Thursday.

The figure is a return to 2019 levels and shows that business investment has stabilised since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the agency said.

In total, the agency expects the projects will create nearly 13,400 jobs and generate investments of €2.3bn over three years.

‘Foreign companies make an important contribution to our economy,’ said economic affairs minister Micky Adriaansens. ‘For example, they account for 30% of the total private expenditure on research and development in the Netherlands.’

Among the companies highlighted by the NFIA are Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) which has started the construction of its first European CAR T-cell therapy facility in Leiden and Scottish company Enough, which is producing alternative proteins from waste from the nearby Cargill facility in Zeeland.

Most projects – 106 – come from the US but 74 of those setting up in the Netherlands were from Britain.

‘This growth is largely due to an increased number of companies impacted by Brexit that decided to establish a presence in the Netherlands last year,’ the NFIA said. ‘Since the referendum in 2016, 316 companies have chosen the Netherlands because of Brexit.’

Amsterdam

In total 133 companies set up shop in the Amsterdam metropolitan area last year and city officials expect them to create 4,000 new jobs in the long term.

Of those companies, 24 said that Brexit was the main reason to set up in Amsterdam, taking the total since the referendum to 169 and 6,139 jobs.

More than 100 companies are still considering moving to the Dutch capital partly because of Brexit, city officials said.