A ship-naming ceremony is on the docket for Friday at the Port of Los Angeles. Santa Clarita-based Princess Cruise Lines will inaugurate Discovery Princess, the latest addition to its 15-vessel fleet. The 1,830-room cruise ship was manufactured in Italy and embarked on its maiden, three-day voyage to Mexico on March 27.
“Cruising is back, and the elegant Discovery Princess showcases the many reasons why travelers should take a cruise now,” President John Padgett said at the time.
Princess Cruises — a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. & PLC that’s listed on both the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange — is one of nearly 600 firms in Los Angeles County that are considered as foreign-owned enterprises, or FOEs, with ties to the United Kingdom, according to a recent report from World Trade Center Los Angeles.
Princess Cruises employed more than 3,100 workers in 2021, out of 25,615 jobs provided locally by U.K. FOEs. Other big U.K. employers here include Chicago-based HSBC Finance Corp., whose parent company is HSBC Holdings plc in London, which has some 1,245 employees in L.A. County, and Deloitte & Touche, another London-based firm, which has about 1,000 workers here.
Statewide, 2,380 U.K. FOEs accounted for 100,231 jobs across a wide range of industries that paid about $8.8 billion in wages last year. Nearly a third of those positions were in professional and business services sector, followed by manufacturing and retail trade.
Japan was ahead of U.K. with 3,672 firms in California, employing more than 115,000 workers and contributing $10.6 billion in wages. France came in third, with 67,705 jobs, 1,912 companies and $5.8 billion in wages.
Los Angeles County followed a similar pattern, with Japan leading the pack with 1,164 firms and 38,859 jobs here. France was in close contention with U.K., with 23,674 local employees and 502 companies.
When it comes to jobs supported by U.K. FOEs in the county, the highest concentrations — 33% of the total — were in professional and business services, provided by some 175 companies, including Nielsen Co. US in Hollywood.
Retail trade came in second, with 91 firms providing 10% of U.K. FOE jobs. Companies that are part of the retail group include Goop Inc. in Santa Monica, Rolls-Royce North America Holdings Inc. in Pasadena, and downtown-based Nasty Gal Inc..
The local manufacturing sector saw 48 U.K. FOEs contributing 2,568 jobs last year, or about 10% of the total. The prominent players include Marina del Rey-based Dollar Shave Club Inc., which U.K. conglomerate Unilever PLC picked up for $1 billion in 2016. Unilever also snapped up El Segundo-based skincare brand Murad, and Dermalogica Inc. in Carson. Other local manufacturers with U.K. roots are Bodycote PLC, which has facilities in Vernon, Rancho Dominguez, Santa Fe Springs and Huntington Park, and Nasco Aircraft Brake Inc. in Gardena, a subsidiary of Meggitt PLC, a British company. There are nearly three dozen U.K. FOEs in the transportation, warehousing and utilities sector, including Durham School Services. The Illinois-based company, with offices in Carson and Rosemead, is a subsidiary of National Express Group PLC, one of the largest transportation firms in the U.K.
