Braveheart's losses surge but it is confident of 'rising appetite'

BRAVEHEART, the Perth-based investment management group, saw half-year losses rise but said it was seeing some signs of improvement in investors' appetite to back high tech companies.

The AIM-quoted company, which recently acquired London-based Envestors, matching high net worth investors with growth companies, saw losses before tax increase to 581,000 in the six months to 30 September from 415,000 in 2009. Chief executive Geoffrey Thomson said there had been "some cautious improvement" in clients' interest in investing in high-tech companies.

"All but one of our investment offerings were in companies that were already in the Braveheart portfolio, companies that had weathered the recession and demonstrated that they had the capacity to develop sales traction on the way to an exit," he said.

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Although fee-based income grew by 35 per cent to 329,000 with gains of 168,000 on the sale of portfolio investments, insolvency of one company contributed to unrealised losses on investments of 324,000. Operating costs fell by 9 per cent to 761,000.

Thomson said the acquisition of Envestors, which has offices in Manchester, Jersey and Dubai as well as London, represented a major step in Braveheart's strategy to increase its geographic reach.

"We are now well positioned to expand these operations and securing an international bridgehead is an important milestone for us."

Shares in Braveheart closed down 1p at 21.5p