Speaking at Prestwick-based UTC Aerospace Systems earlier this month, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that Scottish Development International (SDI) helped to generate more than £433 million of planned inward investment for Scotland in the 2014-15 financial year, creating or safeguarding 9,659 jobs.

She said: “The figures highlight how Scotland’s outstanding international profile has been a key factor in attracting inward investment across a range of priority sectors and reinforce the findings of the Ernst & Young Attractiveness Survey published earlier this year, which named Scotland as the best place in the UK to invest outside London.

"These results demonstrate just how successful Scotland is at doing business. Last year was a record in terms of the jobs and projects that SDI was able to support. It is clear that Scotland has now firmly established itself as the most successful part of the UK — apart from London — for attracting international investment.”

Welcoming the results, Lena Wilson, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, said: “Scotland has demonstrated again its strengths as a fantastic place to invest in and grow a business. A highly skilled workforce, research capabilities and competitive infrastructure make us extremely attractive to the world’s best companies.”

Steve Callan, general manager of the UTC Aerospace Systems facility, said: “Over the past 19 years, our service centre, which provides nacelle maintenance, repair and overhaul to airline customers around the globe, has gone from 15 to 280 employees and seen its revenues grow over $80 million. Scottish Enterprise has been with us every step of the way, helping us expand our capabilities, our capacity and our employment base.”