(Bloomberg) -- More than a quarter of UK technology businesses favor a sale of their company to overseas investors or selling shares abroad amid concerns about domestic infrastructure and skills shortages, according to a Barclays Plc survey.

Almost 16% of respondents said their preferred exit strategy would be to sell the company to a foreign buyer, while 10% said they’d opt to sell shares abroad, according to the study, published on Wednesday. Some 2,500 people in the tech industry were surveyed, of whom more than 12% were founders and 35% were executives.

The data suggests Prime Minister Rishi Sunak still has work to do to persuade UK companies to stay as they seek to scale up, after high profile British-built firms such as Arm Holdings Ltd. and DeepMind in recent years sought investment abroad to pursue their global potential. Sunak has repeatedly stated his ambition to make the UK a global leader in technologies of the future, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt last year said “we want the UK to be the best place in the world to start, grow and invest in a business.” 

Despite the survey data, Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy Saqib Bhatti said in an interview he’s “optimistic” the picture is changing. “What you will see is more companies choosing to stay here,” Bhatti said. “We want to make sure that funding is available, that people have access to talent and skills, and we have a regulatory system and a landscape that enables growth.”

Arm last year opted to pursue an initial public offering listing solely in the US, rejecting government overtures for it to pursue a dual listing in its home market also. Artificial Intelligence startup DeepMind was bought a decade ago by Google.

In an effort to improve the domestic environment for growing companies, the government has boosted investment tax breaks and introduced new visas as it seeks to attract and retain workers in key industries.

Bhatti said in a statement published alongside the report that the country needs “investors to match the ambition of UK founders, and back British innovation before our best investment opportunities travel abroad for the funding they need to grow.” 

Wednesday’s survey found that 14% of respondents would prefer to sell their firm to a domestic buyer, with another 13% considering a domestic initial share sale. 

While the UK remains the top destination for capital investment in technology companies in Europe, it’s lost the most ground over the past three years as countries such as France, the Netherlands and Norway gain, according to a separate report on the state of the European industry by Atomico. It found that Britain lost almost 3 percentage points of its share of European capital investment when comparing the 2021-2023 period with 2018-2020.

More than half of founders surveyed by Barclays said the availability of funding is holding back their company’s growth. Some 73% said they’d consider relocating their company either within Britain or abroad because of concerns about the infrastructure in their area, while 63% said there is a shortage of suitable talent in the sector. Some 62% said improvements in the UK planning system could unlock growth for the technology industry.

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