Paris beat London as the most attractive European city for investors in more than ten years, Bloomberg reports with the reference to Ernst & Young’s report.

About 37% of companies put French city at first place for foreign direct investments. Among reasons, why Paris won London first time since 2003 when Ernst & Young made first survey, were Brexit and election of Emmanuel Macron as President of France. London took second place followed by Berlin and Frankfurt.

Report was made after survey of 502 companies. Foreign direct investments in Europe grew last year by 10%. It is the lowest growth since 2013. Investments in the UK grew by just 6%, while in France by 31%.

Brexit was one of four main risks for investments in Europe in 2017. Another major risks was geopolitical instability, including US tariffs on steel and aluminum.

It was observed that the number of companies willing to place its headquarters in the UK dropped significantly in 2017. In 2016 out of all new headquarters in Europe 51% was placed in the UK. Last years that quantity dropped to 26%.

Despite of the fact that a whole row of companies chose Netherlands for move from London after Brexit, investments in this country dropped by 17%. One of the main factors is growing wages. In 2017 the average hourly wage was 34,80 euro. While wages are growing in Eastern Europe as well, it is still much lower there. For example, average hourly wage in Poland is 9,40 euro, in Czech Republic 11,30 euro. Average wage in the UK was 25,70 euro per hour in 2017.