We spoke to FT Adviser this morning following the Mini-Budget announcement.

The Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trusts have been enormously successful in supporting equity investment into British small businesses - helping them achieve their ambitions and fuelling the economy.

Too much support during COVID was in the form of debt - through bounce back loans, CBILs and other loan schemes. These schemes allowed businesses to survive but they are going to be weighed down by loan repayments in the future. Companies need access to equity to help them make long term investments to boost productivity.

EIS and VCT enables businesses to secure equity investment and grow rapidly, with the tax reliefs helping reduce investors risk. We are delighted that this government has extended these schemes. It will allow businesses to continue to benefit from access to over £2 billion of annual funding which could have disappeared overnight.

You can read the article here.