Editorial | Foreign firms see the light in moves to Hong Kong

A recent outflow of foreign businesses from Hong Kong has rightly raised concerns among officials on both sides of the border. But as the local economy recovers, there are signs that the flow is being reversed. A good indication may be the decision of UK-based Hanover to set up its Asia-Pacific headquarters in the city.

A specialist in the provision of passenger information display systems, it obviously sees value in using Hong Kong as a base to promote its light emitting diode (LED) products in the region.

Hanover Far East, the Hong Kong unit of the firm, already holds more than a 95 per cent market share of all LED displays and signage on buses in Hong Kong. It is also a big supplier of LED displays for electric buses on the mainland.

But the company is only one of 19 UK-based companies to have either set up operations or expanded their businesses in the city in the first half of the year.

Overall, 322 firms have set up shop or boosted their presence here during that time, according to InvestHK. The United Kingdom was the third-largest source of cross-border investment after the mainland and the United States.

Thanks to 48 UK companies, Britain was the second-largest foreign investment contributor to Hong Kong last year.