Braveheart widens loss as it narrows investment focus

Braveheart Investment Group announced its final results for the year to 31 March on Thursday, posting a loss before tax of £1.69m, widening from £0.77m a year earlier.

The AIM-traded firm said it had cash at bank of £1.3m at year-end, up from £0.5m, and reduced its operating costs by £0.57m throughout the year.

During the year, the firm successfully disposed of its interest in WhiteRock Capital Partners and purchased the remaining interest in Ridings Holdings.

It said Viking was awarded a contract extension to invest a further £5.1m to top up the £40m Finance Yorkshire Equity Fund, and a further £3.8m was made available in January.

Braveheart also completed the reorganisation and restructuring efforts, with the remaining exceptional charges now accounted for, and the board said it was now focused on its future with “an emphasis on ensuring positive earnings are achieved in the current year”.

CEO Trevor Brown said the year consisted of identifying which activities the group could best concentrate its resources upon to the most productive effect for the shareholders, leading to the £0.57m cost savings.

“The target that the board has set itself for the current year is to ensure that the operating costs of the group will be less than operating income, allowing us to budget for a surplus for the full year,” he said.

“A key part of the operational review we have undertaken has been to take the difficult decision to scale back, sell or close those parts of the group that the review has identified as unlikely to become profitable in the near future and/or having a requirement for significant capital expenditure.”