VCTs invest £1bn in small companies - AIC

VCTs have invested almost £1bn in small companies between April 2004 and April 2009, according to a new survey from the AIC.

The £973m of funding has been invested in 384 unquoted UK companies at an average size of £2.5m. Leisure and hospitality has been the main industry to benefit from VCT investment at just under 20%, followed by business services at 13% and industrial services on 12%. Other investment areas include IT, media, environmental and healthcare. In a single year, VCTs return 67% of the estimated tax cost of any investment, according to the research. Over a five year period, this equates to repaying the estimate cost to the public purse three times through tax returns generated by VCT-backed co...