The UK continues to be the most attractive destination for international investment in Europe, according to a survey.
Despite the economic downturn, Britain retained the top spot as most popular European location for foreign direct investment in 2009 - although the level of investment was down on the previous year.
The European Attractiveness Survey, published by Ernst & Young, also showed that overall Europe was still open for business last year, attracting more than 3,000 investments across the region.
James Close, partner at Ernst & Young, said: "When seen in the context of 12 months during which the European economy suffered a deep recession, the resilience of the UK in securing FDI is a remarkable economic success story."
The eighth annual report revealed the UK attracted 678 investment projects in 2009, which created 20,017 jobs.
The largest investor in the UK was the United States with 243 projects, followed by France with 50 and Germany with 49.
London also came out top, retaining its position as the most attractive city for inward investment in Europe in 2009 for the eighth consecutive year.
The city secured 263 projects, two more than in 2008. Paris was next in the rankings with 99 projects.
Mr Close added: "The reason for the strong performance is not, however, the emergence of exciting new origins for investment or previously unforeseen sectors.
"The UK continues to achieve because of the strengths of London as a business and financial services centre, the underlying strengths of the UK in securing service sector investment and, crucially, our close corporate relationship with the US.
"The principal reason why the UK is the leader in the attraction of FDI is that the UK is the location of choice in securing US investment, and the US is the main origin of FDI into Europe."
Despite retaining the highest ranking, FDI secured in 2009 was down one per cent on 2008.
Investments in many of the largest European economies increased in 2009, including France, Italy and Germany, up one, four and seven per cent respectively.
The survey revealed the impact of the recession was most dramatic in countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic, where project numbers fell collectively by 40 per cent.
As well as analysing 2009 data, the survey also provides an investment outlook, and predicted a modest improvement for 2010.
Mr Close said: "We saw a definite acceleration in the fourth quarter of 2009 in project announcements as investors became more confident. The current problems around the euro notwithstanding, we expect that 2010 overall will show a modest pick-up in project numbers and at least a flatlining in job creation numbers."