Strong economic fundamentals and a qualified talent pool are factors that sway manufacturing companies’ decisions in favour of investing in Poland. Such conclusions can be drawn from the Made in Poland. An Investment Guide for Manufacturing Sector Companies report, prepared jointly by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), JLL, EY and Hays Poland.
Made in Poland. An Investment Guide for Manufacturing Sector Companies report is a source of information for international manufacturing companies planning to launch their business in Poland. It describes key elements of the investment process and presents a thorough analysis on the sector, labour market, industrial real estate market, public aid programs as well as procedures for establishing business operations.
“Since Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004, its economy has been growing at an average rate of 3.9 percent per annum. During this time, Poland has consistently been one of the most attractive investment locations in Europe for manufacturing companies, as well as the business services sector, and we believe this trend will continue long into the future,” said Tomasz Trzósło, Managing Director at JLL Poland.
As many as 98 percent of foreign investors are satisfied with their investments in Poland and would invest here again, according to the survey conducted by PAIiIZ (in cooperation with Grant Thornton and HSBC) in September and October 2015. Investors who took part in the survey were asked to assess Poland as a place to do business. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 means “very bad” and 5 is” very good”, investors gave Poland an average of 3.7. This is the best result since 2007, when the first edition of the research was conducted.
According to Sławomir Majman, the President of PAIiIZ, Poland is a stable, developed and predictable market. The head of PAIiIZ believes that investments related to highly-qualified talent pool and technologies are the future.
“For years now, the key factors that have encouraged investment in Poland have been the country’s stability and the quality of its talent pool. We focus on intellectual business. Business services centres, research and development projects, and modern manufacturing facilities are now the rule rather than the exception for investment in Poland,” underlined President Sławomir Majman.
As the Made in Poland. An Investment Guide for Manufacturing Sector Companies report indicates, human capital is one of the key elements to consider when undertaking any serious investment, with three main areas to assess in relation to the location’s potential: employment costs, the size of experienced talent pool and availability of candidates for manufacturing roles.
Paula Rejmer, Expert Perm Managing Director at Hays Poland, commented: “From the manufacturing industry’s perspective, the quality of the Polish labour market is the key element in attracting investors to Poland. Investors with establishments already ‘on the ground’ underline the excellent access to highly skilled staff as well as one of the lowest employment costs in Europe. Poland is characterized by an advanced level of higher technical and vocational education which, coupled with the growing popularity of technical and engineering studies, has resulted in a large supply of qualified specialists. It can be said that availability of unique competences and excellent linguistic proficiency combined with activities supporting innovations, will jointly contribute to the further development of the manufacturing sector in Poland.”
One of the main aspects influencing the decision to select a location for an investment is the access to public aid programs comprising help offered by European Union funds as well as various forms of government support. Different types of state aid in Poland include – among other incentives -corporate income tax exemptions in Special Economic Zones, governmental cash grants (formerly known as the Multi-Annual Support Programme), and real estate tax exemptions.
“According to foreign investors, including major global companies, Poland remains the most attractive investment location in this part of Europe. This is supported by hard data and results from the “European Attractiveness Survey” regularly conducted by EY. Each year, investors’ increasingly positive assessments of the Polish market translate into establishing or expanding their presence here, resulting in thousands of new jobs. Nevertheless, we still have to work on inducements to attract further investments as there is stiff competition for such projects. Of crucial importance here is matching and exceeding investors’ expectations as well as introducing the solutions already offered by other countries. Furthermore, we must underline that Polish companies, both big and small, can also benefit from such incentives. In addition, it is worth enhancing the support in the field of research and development in order to have a real influence on decisions regarding the establishment of R&D centres and research conducting,” added Paweł Tynel, Partner, Head of Grants and Incentives Advisory Services at EY.
Poland is an excellent location for companies searching for high class industrial space. Developers active in Poland specialize in projects adjusted to a client’s concrete specifications. Poland’s main advantages that are having an influence on investor decisions include the country’s strategic location in the heart of Europe, its developing economy, the excellent access to a qualified staff and improving transport infrastructure (roads, seaports, flight connections). By the end of 2015, total industrial stock in Poland amounted to 9.77 million sqm. The biggest markets are: Warsaw (approx. 2. 9 million sqm in Warsaw Inner City and Warsaw Suburbs), Upper Silesia region (1.7 million sqm), Poznań (1.6 million sqm), Central Poland (1.3 million sqm) and Wrocław (1.3 million sqm).
Tomasz Olszewski, Head of Industrial CEE at JLL explained: “Our market is characterized by the high standard and quality of industrial schemes as well as attractive rents which, along with the above mentioned factors, undoubtedly work in favour of improving Poland’s attractiveness for manufacturing companies. Key industrial developers include large, international groups such as Panattoni, Prologis, SEGRO, Goodman, Valad and P3 as well as Polish players – MLP and BIK with a long-term tradition in developing manufacturing facilities.”
