NEARLY 1,900 jobs were brought to the county by inward investment agency Locate in Kent last year.

The agency smashed its jobs created target and also averted the possible loss of 1,200 jobs by persuading firms to stay.

But agency chiefs admit that the jobs target has been achieved against a background of "challenging" conditions.

Sir Graeme Odgers, LiK chairman, said: "It's been a difficult year in many ways because the general economic climate has not been conducive to major international investment and investment generally. And competition in Europe and the UK for inward investment is as fierce as ever."

Many companies thought UK labour costs were too high for some activities and had switched jobs to countries with cheaper labour such as India, China and Eastern Europe.

This has been most clearly seen in the national loss of call centre and back office jobs, although Sir Graeme said that while "bog-standard" operations could well move out of the UK, there was still a good future for "well-managed, high-quality" call centres in Kent.

Paul Wookey, chief executive, said the agency was improving its "conversion" rate - the number of firms expressing initial interest in the county finally deciding to move in.

More inquiries were being received and there was a good "pipeline" of prospects, some with the potential to generate between 50 and 100 jobs. "We should get a good third quarter of the year," he said.

LiK's successes in 2003/4 included 125 manufacturing jobs created by Abbot Laboratories in Dartford, and 60 office jobs by investment services firm RMB International - with the promise of 40 more - in Sevenoaks.

East Kent manufacturer Sharp Interpak has created 67 new jobs and kept the existing workforce of 234.

Sir Graeme said he did not worry about the shortage of "big" inward investors because they were often most vulnerable to economic change.

He was pleased that job creation had been spread around the county. It was important not to concentrate all the inward investment in the "hot spots" of North Kent, West Kent and Ashford.

But despite the county's attractiveness as a prime location between London and Continental Europe, the agency has cautioned against high expectations next year.

Its target remains much the same as this year - around 2,000 - with the number of projects scaled down to 45.

Its £1.2m budget is likely to stay the same too. The agency has found it hard to attract extra cash backing, and recently lost £30,000 a year from cash-strapped Medway council.

Kent County Council pumps around £700,000 into the agency, and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) has agreed to inject £250,000 a year in a five-year deal.