The CBI commented on the publication of a PwC report, which estimates the total tax contribution of the 100 Group (FTSE 100) in 2017 at £82.9 billion.  This represents 13% of total Government tax receipts and represents a record high since this survey began in 2006. 

Business is booming, despite Brexit uncertainty, according to entrepreneurs and scale-up leaders says Smith & Williamson.  Nearly 80% of respondents are planning for growth over the next twelve months, despite the looming March deadline. 

Smith & Williamson has published this special Brexit report examining how UK entrepreneurs and scale-up businesses have been affected by the EU referendum over the past 12 months.

Download report here

It has been a busy second half of the year at Parkwalk: with committments of £78m to portfolio companies in 2017, with those companies raising a total of £250m between them.

Read the full update here.

TravelNest, an advertising optimisation platform for holiday rental owners, has secured a £3m seed round from leading early stage venture firms Pentech, Mangrove Capital Partners and Frontline Ventures. Investors also include Mark Logan, ex-COO at Skyscanner, who has joined the company as a board member. 

Foresight Group LLP announces that it has launched the FP Foresight UK Infrastructure Income Fund. The Fund, which has received FCA regulatory approval, is actively managed and will invest in UK listed renewable energy and infrastructure fund / investment company equities and bonds. 

Deepbridge has launched the new Deepbridge Innovation Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) which will provide seed-stage funding to a diversified portfolio of innovative, technology-focused companies.  

A lot of talk but does this budget really ‘move towards change’ or ‘away from it’ 

“This was a Budget that was long on politics, but short on economics,” said Giles Murphy, head of business interests at Smith & Williamson, the accountancy, investment management and tax group.

Chancellor's new Budget measures show a return to the 'spirit of EIS', says Deepbridge Capital

Lord Leigh of Hurley, co-founder and senior partner at Cavendish Corporate Finance, commented:

"I welcome the fact that the Government intends to double Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) investment limits for knowledge intensive businesses while ensuring that the EIS is not used as a shelter for low risk schemes. This will allow EIS to retain its essential features as a key funding mechanism for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises. This is along the lines of something I called for in a debate in the House of Lords last week.

Initial reaction to announcements in the Budget about EIS, the British Business Bank and venture capital from EIS and venture capital manager, Oxford Capital.

Patrick Reeve, Managing Partner, Albion Capital, says: “The measures announced in today’s Budget recognise the valuable contribution VCTs make to the economy. VCT investments have created thousands of UK jobs and transformed small, innovative businesses into household names.