Member Article

ASDA named in top 3 of UK’s largest multinational employers

Two Yorkshire-based multinational companies with overseas headquarters including ASDA will be featured in The Sunday Times league table, listed because they employ more than 134,000 people in the UK.

The 50 largest foreign employers in the UK will be revealed in the inaugural Sunday Times PA Consulting Inward Investment Track 50.

Published this weekend, the league table will rank overseas-headquartered multinationals by their UK staff number to shine a light on this important part of the economy.

Leeds-headquartered supermarket Asda, which is in the top 3, employs 115,000 staff in full-time positions in the UK. Overseen by US-based Walmart, in April Asda announced a five-year expansion plan to create a further 12,000 jobs here.

French-parented GDF Suez, ranked number 9, has 19,000 staff throughout the UK and operates one of its main UK subsidiaries, GDF Suez Energy UK, from Leeds.

German engineering firm Siemens currently employs 14,000 people here, and its new wind turbine project in Hull will create a further 1,000 jobs.

These companies feature alongside a number of high-profile global brands, including the bank Santander, car manufacturer Ford and the construction equipment maker Caterpillar.

The Inward Investment Track 50 is sponsored by PA Consulting Group and supported by UK Trade & Investment. It is compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events company.

Colm Reilly, who leads PA Consulting Group’s economic development unit and is managing director of UKTI’s investment services said: “These are exciting times for UK inward investment and companies operating in Yorkshire & Humberside show what can be achieved.

“Britain is making good progress, but there is more to be done. Companies must learn to focus on developing technology that can help a variety of sectors, rather than serving the industries they have typically worked with.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .