Liverpool SME funding specialist Merseyside Special Investment Fund reports annual profits of just over £6m. Tony McDonough reports

Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF) is reporting profits of just over £6m for the 12 months to March 31, 2024, according to accounts just filed on Companies House.

Now in its 30th year of supporting Liverpool city region businesses, the growth in profit reflects the strong performance of MSIF’s investment activities across its debt portfolios.

It also indicates the increased carrying values of its venture and equity holdings, several of which have been realised since the year end.

Liverpool-based MSIF’s investments are managed by its subsidiary company, River Capital, which delivered more than £6m in funding support to 27 businesses during the year to March 31, 2024, with 20 of these based in Liverpool city region.

In November River Capital backed the management buyout of well known Liverpool mechanical and electrical engineering consultancy Steven A Hunt & Associates to the tune of £500,000.

It said new investment activity across the group remained “robust”. It invested in the North West Private Equity Fund, managed by River Capital. This provides investments up to £2m for businesses across the North West.

And MSIF also corner-stoned investment in River Capital’s AI Fund and invested £8m into the North West Business Growth Loan fund, securing a further £10m co-investment from TDC as a result

In addition, MSIF continues to provide support to ambitious local businesses and has expanded its provision and funding for two key pillars of the ecosystem, enabling them to remain free of charge to the end user.  

Neil Ashbridge, chairman of MSIF said: “Despite challenging economic conditions in the year to March 31, including inflationary pressures and higher borrowing costs, the MSIF Group continued to see the positive effects of its long-term growth strategy. 

“Going forward MSIF’s focus will remain on promoting economic growth in the Liverpool City Region by providing essential financial support and advice to SME businesses through our group of businesses.”

Alongside the Growth Platform, MSIF has increased its investment in its LCR Finance Hub offering, which provided financial planning and investment readiness assistance to more than 650 businesses in the year and helped 45 companies secure funding of over £3.5m. 

This is in addition to its investment to support the expansion of its angel network offering following the rebranding of the LCR Angel Network to Gateway Angels. 

The network has now grown to include more than 40 active investors, and successfully facilitated funding rounds for three businesses during the financial year.

READ MORE: Medicash appoints new chief executive 

“There continues to be a strong and diverse business base in the city region and we are delighted that through our fund manager, River Capital, MSIF funds continue to make a difference and support ambitious SMEs to deliver their growth plans,” added Neil.

“In turn, this enables MSIF to support initiatives such as the LCR Finance Hub and Gateway Angels for the next generation of entrepreneurs.”