00:00Well, the majority of Chinese firms are optimistic about their future in the UK.
00:05That's according to a survey from the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK.
00:10More than half reported being profitable last year, up three percentage points on 2024.
00:17And around 90% of respondents expect their UK revenue to remain stable or to increase over the next two
00:25years.
00:25There are more than 900 large Chinese companies operating in the UK.
00:32Last year, they generated roughly $134.6 billion in revenue and directly employed more than 56,000 people.
00:42Well, this all reflects stronger bilateral ties between China and the UK.
00:47More than half of senior executives surveyed thought that relations between the countries improved last year.
00:53That's a huge increase from just 7% who held that view back in 2024.
01:00Well, John McLaren is the chairman of China-UK Business Development Centre and a senior advisor to the China Chamber
01:07of Commerce in the UK.
01:08Thank you for joining me to help unpick some of those figures.
01:11Now, this survey shows that a record 56% of Chinese companies operating in the UK were profitable in 2025.
01:21What factors have driven this strong performance, do you think, John?
01:26I think the main area for their profitability has been their consistency in their belief in the UK-China partnership.
01:36Don't forget, a lot of these companies have been here a long time.
01:39But what started to change is because of the improvement in the relationship between our two countries,
01:47investment, whether it be by the way of cash or employees or growth per se, has actually started to generate
01:56a better return.
01:58And that better return has encouraged the offices of their companies based in China to invest more.
02:06But I think, as in life, as you've spoken earlier on the programme, it has been one of confidence.
02:12Confidence and sentiment has changed.
02:15Therefore, if you believe that you can move forward and you have the kind of dialogue in place,
02:21then you are far more comfortable and you're willing to take risks or look at the options for further investment.
02:29Interesting you talk there about sentiment because that's one of the things that struck me from this survey.
02:33It suggests a significant improvement in business sentiment towards China-UK relations, doesn't it?
02:39Why do you think that's happened?
02:41Why do you think perceptions have changed dramatically over the past year?
02:46Well, it's not so much over the last year.
02:49It's probably since July 2024 when the government changed.
02:55They had a more open attitude towards China and they wanted to overtly engage with China.
03:03Since then, we've had a JETCO, we've had an EFD, Economic Financial Dialogue, we've had the visit of the Prime
03:12Minister,
03:12and we've had various kind of bilateral meetings.
03:15All of these are areas for encouragement.
03:18So, especially with the Prime Minister's visit at the end of January,
03:22that has kind of created a signal to all that China and UK are back wanting to be in partnership
03:30and collaborate in terms of business and also, as you mentioned earlier,
03:35with our Foreign Secretary in China on the geopolitical stage.
03:38So, sentiment plays an important part.
03:41Once you've got sentiment, you have the confidence and then you actually start to move forward.
03:46That was not the case in the early years because the messages that were being sent out from our government,
03:53both to the Chinese and to the British companies, was difficult to understand.
03:58And the vibes were, let's say, unusual.
04:02We are no longer in that place.
04:04We have a structured dialogue in place which will encourage others to actually come to the UK.
04:10John McLean, thank you very much indeed for that.
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