Britain's total business investment amounted to 28.7 billion pounds (45.35 billion U.S. dollars) in the last quarter of 2011, dropping by 1.7 billion pounds (2.69 billion dollars), or 5.6 percent from the previous quarter, showed official figures on Friday.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the business investment in seasonally adjusted term decreased by 0.6 billion pounds (0.95 billion dollars), or 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter 2011 when compared with the same period of 2010.

Of this, the total investment of manufacturing sector was down 0.1 billion pounds (158 million dollars), or 2.4 percent to 3.5 billion pounds (5.53 billion dollars) when compared with the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, total non-manufacturing investment decreased by 1.6 billion pounds (2.53 billion dollars), or 6 percent from the previous quarter to 25.2 billion pounds (39.82 billion dollars).

A latest survey over 1,000 business directors conducted by the Institute of Directors (IoD) indicated that the companies appear to be cautious about increasing business investment and employment.

According to the survey, one in two directors thought there was a high or very high risk of a euro break-up this year.