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Join us at a special event to debate:
Supported by leading law firm Moore Blatch, accountants and business advisers James Cowper Kreston and Santander bank, the Solent SME Growth Index lists the top SME companies in the region by turnover growth.
Now fast-growing businesses are being invited to join a select group of companies at a Business Breakfast, with special guest speakers. This will be an opportunity to network with other key companies in the region, and hear from leading opinion formers.
The theme is ’Growing Companies and Southampton’s future: the Perfect Match?’ – and organisers hope to stimulate a debate about the growth of Southampton both as a hub and key commercial centre, and explore the opportunities
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’Growing Companies and Southampton’s future’
Companies that feature in the Solent SME 100 Growth Index are being invited to a special event in Southampton later this month
and challenges that lie ahead for SME companies.
Southampton’s city vision will bring more than 24,000 new jobs, 5,000 new homes and £3 billion of investment into the city by 2030.
What does that mean for the SMEs and entrepreneurial businesses already in the area? Do they anticipate a bright new dawn?
Staged on Wednesday September 30 at Hilton at The Ageas Bowl, speakers include: Dawn Baxendale, chief executive, Southampton City Council, and Dave Lees, managing director, Southampton Airport.
The event is free of charge but places are limited.
To attend, email Linda Morse:
linda@elcot.co.uk
New tax relief rules could hold back tech sector
Accountancy firm Baker Tilly is warning that new rules introduced in this year’s finance bill could jeopardise growth plans for tech businesses in the south.
The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) are government initiatives which offer attractive tax breaks to small businesses in the UK. EIS offers tax breaks to investors purchasing shares in small private companies, whereas SEIS is aimed at those investing in even smaller companies.
Both schemes, along with Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), have raised billions of pounds worth of funding for small businesses, and helped drive investment in many companies – particularly in the technology sector. However, as a result of EU direction, new stricter rules affecting the EIS and VCT schemes were introduced in the recent summer Budget and finance bill, which could harm some businesses’ growth plans.
www.businessmag.co.uk
• A limit in the total lifetime risk finance funds which are raised by a company of £12 million – £20m for knowledge- intensive companies.
• The rule that no VCT or EIS funds are to be used for the acquisition of other companies or trades.
Kirsty Sandwell (pictured), Baker Tilly’s head of corporate finance in the south, said: ”These new rules will only add to the existing complexity of these important and successful schemes, and I’m concerned that high-growth tech businesses such as software companies in the south will inadvertently be the victims of new legislation.
These new rules impose:
• A limit on the age of a company that can apply for EIS or VCT finance. The Government had initially proposed an age limit of 12 years, but this has now been reduced to seven years in the finance bill, albeit with some exceptions.
”The rules could deter acquisitions made to compliment or develop existing technologies or create wider market applications, and yet ironically it is these very companies that George Osborne is keen to help grow in the UK. It’s possible that the Government inadvertently may have switched off the tap to a vital source of funding for many businesses in the south.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – SEPTEMBER 2015
SOLENT SME GROWTH
TM
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