Here comes the sun | IFAM96/GBI25 | March 2021

For today’s discerning financial and investment professional

A special combined issue with M AGAZINE

Here comes the sun Why building a great team makes a great advice business

Get ready for the rise of the millenials

March 2021

ANALYSIS

REVIEWS

Drivers and developments in sustainable multi-asset investing

IFAM96/GBI25

COMMENT

INSIGHT

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CONTE NTS

CONTRIBUTORS

March 2021

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Welcome

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The importance of protection in financial planning

Faith Liversedge

Adam Higgs, Protection Guru, on how to keep abreast of emerging trends, product developments and key issues in protection

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Get ready for the rise of the millennials Apiramy Jeyarajah, Aviva Investors, highlights why asset managers and advisers should be engaging more with millennial investors

Paul Wilson Chairman, Clifton Media Lab paul.wilson@cliftonmedialab.com

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Planning an exit?

Faith Liversedge urges financial planning firms not to forget your marketing as it is an important driver of the future success of your business

14 Peter Wilson Online Writer, IFA Magazine peter.wilson@ifamagazine.com

Why building a great team makes a great advice business IFA Magazine talks to Stefan Fura, Founder at financial planning firm Furnley House, about why a great team doesn’t happen by accident

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Securing the digital age Origo's Anthony Rafferty highlights why advice firms must have robust cyber security protection in place

21 Sue Whitbread Editor sue.whitbread@ ifamagazine.com

Five tips for productive remote performance reviews Steve Cox, IRIS FMP, highlights practical steps to conducting highly effective performance reviews whilst working virtually

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Drivers and developments in sustainable multi-asset investing

Alex Sullivan Publishing Director alex.sullivan @ ifamagazine.com

Kim Wonnacott Technical Sales and Marketing kim.wonnacott@ifamagazine.com

Maria Municchi of M&G Investments discusses how a robust multi-asset approach to sustainable investing can support advisers in delivering effective solutions

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The irresistible growth of ESG investing IFA Magazine talks to Wayne Bishop, CEO of King and Shaxson Asset Management about why ESG matters and how to approach it within client discussions

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Legal lens: what’s mine is yours, or is it?

Sarah Hutchinson, family partner at Farrer and Co LLP looks at advising clients in divorce

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GBI Magazine Issue 25 Ready to deploy

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Should we prepare for the roaring twenties?

EISA's Mark Brownridge highlights some of the dynamic businesses which are the cornerstone of EIS and SEIS

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Thrifty Business We talk to Mark O' Hara, founder of Thrift, about the success of the business

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Creating a positive circle Sanjeev Gordhan, Director, Newable Ventures, talks to Peter Wilson about why he is passionate about EIS and SEIS.

Designed by: Becky Oliver IFA Magazine is published by IFA Magazine Publications Ltd, Tel: +44 (0) 1173 258328 3 Worcester Terrace, Clifton, Bristol BS8 3JW © 2021. All rights reserved ‘IFA Magazine’ is a trademark of IFA Magazine Publications Limited.

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IFA Magazine is for professional advisers only. Full details and eligibility at: www.ifamagazine.com

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It’s not too late for EIS Martin Fox looks at the issue of deployment within EIS and highlights some portfolios which are set to deploy by the end of the 2020/21 tax year

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The Nexus Approach Matthew O’Kane, Managing Director of Nexus Investments uses a case study approach to highlight the Nexus approach to EIS “on the way in”

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Open Offers Our listing of what’s currently available for subscription

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Career Opportunities From Heat Recruitment

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WE LCOM E

March 2021

HERE COMES THE SUN

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s the words which George Harrison (or Steve Harley if you’re of my generation) sang all those years ago resonate with us, it’s certainly been a long, cold lonely winter across the UK this year.

The impact of lockdown has kept us only leaving home for essential purposes and we’re all feeling the effects from being largely cut off from face to face human contact other than with our immediate families and bubbles. So should we be getting our hopes up? Is the end in sight?

AND I SAY IT’S ALRIGHT At least meteorological spring is finally here and days are getting longer. With some welcome sunshine to lift our spirits, news of the stunning success of the NHS’ vaccine roll-out and optimism from news that lockdown restrictions should shortly start to ease, things are starting to look up across the UK. IS THE ICE SLOWLY MELTING?

Business optimism is rising too - albeit slowly - as leaders look ahead to the post-lockdown period and the expectation that the worst days are behind us. Stockmarkets have been in optimistic mood for most of the last 10 months as they anticipate the post-covid landscape and the boost to activity which is expected as the world slowly emerges from lockdown. The recovery in share prices from the March 2020 trough has been nothing short of dramatic.

But what can we expect now? Are we set for a correction?

The world of financial planning is also looking ahead – although there’s the ‘small’ matter of the tax year-end to deal with first. This year it will be a tax year-end like no other, with advisers and paraplanners working from home and connecting with clients virtually across one of the

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busiest times of the year. As this month’s GBI Magazine highlights, EIS portfolios look set for an exciting season as we look at the growth possibilities and tax opportunities offered by this exciting asset class and why they remain an attractive and effective financial planning tool.

BACK TO BUSINESS It’s impossible to know how many of us will return to our offices when restrictions allow. For us at IFA/GBI Magazine the switch to working from home has been a big success and we’re set to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. But, despite its advantages, working from home is just not the same as office life. I was interested to talk to Stefan Fura of Financial Planning firm Furnley House recently, to find out all the ways in which they’ve been supporting the needs of their team as they switch to working from home throughout the Covid pandemic. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about our discussion later in this magazine.

There’s also plenty more to get your business thinking cap on across the following pages. Whether it’s conducting productive remote performance reviews, securing the digital age by taking a stance on cybercrime, planning for exit of helping clients going through divorce, we hope you find practical ideas which you can utilise.

We also take a broader perspective to look at how you can get ready for the rise of millennial investors, at the importance of ESG investing and also sustainable multiasset investment.

As always, we’ll sign off for now with a big thank you to all our contributors this month.

Sue Whitbread Editor IFA Magazine

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PROTECTION GU RU

March 2021

THE IMPORTANCE OF

PROTECTION IN FINANCIAL PLANNING

Adam Higgs, Head of Research at Protection Guru, takes a practical look at some of the resources which advisers can use to help them understand and select the most appropriate protection product for their clients’ needs

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ovid-19 has prompted a significant increase in consumer interest in protection products.

The industry needs to ensure that this opportunity is not lost and continue to spread the word that for most, protection is the foundation of any financial plan.

In recent times, the protection industry has focused on the personalisation of products and added some fantastic features to their policies to meet the needs of different demographics of clients. Whilst some insurers have created specific plans for certain types of clients, others have added features to their existing plans both of which are of huge benefit for clients. The impact on advisers, however, is a wider range of products of increasing sophistication that can be hard to keep track of.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PRODUCT When giving protection advice, it is imperative that advisers are able to identify the right protection product for their client’s specific needs and that providers are

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developing and improving products that are truly reflective of the consumers’ needs.

In 18 months, Protection Guru has become the go-to technical resource in the protection market, delivering detailed, technical analysis and research on protection products for advisers, providers’ and reinsurers in the protection market.

Powered by FTRC - which has been combining financial analysis and the power of technology to deliver analysis on products and services for 25 years – Protection Guru is an independent, data-driven consultancy, dedicated to providing clarity, based on facts for those within the industry.

Our purpose is to educate and inform advisers on protection products, providing product analysis, comparisons, policy condition changes, and policy upgrades across a full range of protection contracts.

We aim to equip advisers with the knowledge and resources to feel confident when talking to clients about their protection plans, to empower them to make better, more informed decisions to deliver the best possible advice to the consumer, whilst simultaneously supporting providers to improve their products for the benefit of the consumer.

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PROTECTION GU RU

THE POWER OF INFORMATION Information powers everything we do. From the various benchmarking systems that we provide to advisers and our daily technical analyses, through to our adviser forums which bring together advisers and providers, we look to facilitate better communication and make the market a more transparent place.

BENCHMARKING AND COMPARISON TOOL Protection Guru has been conducting analysis on product features in an unparalleled level of granular detail for over 5 years.

Powered by our unique benchmarking and comparison engine we compare protection products based on quality, and specifically look at the various features which advisers deem important to their client. We currently benchmark in excess of 50 products and their features on a data set in excess of 5,000 questions. This benchmarking can be accessed via our own Quality Analyser system, through our partnership with iPipeline to support their SolutionBuilder Product Features report and our product ratings.

Not only does this help advisers to identify the right product for their client and lend clarity on each provider propositions and what it provides, but it seeks to drive quality in the market by highlighting areas where insurers are strongest, or where they could improve.

Our technical analysis on critical illness policies is unique to the market. Every CI proposition is analysed by our independent panel of medical practitioners, ensuring that every word of a CI policy is rigorously verified.

RESPONDING TO THE ADVISER COMMUNITY As more and more advisers came to us for insights from our benchmarking, we saw a growing demand for an even deeper understanding of protection products and their features.

To enhance our information service, we produce daily technical summaries and insights of a granular level of detail on complex issues, products and their features – detailing how products work in practice; the difference between insurers’ offerings, and importantly, how they benefit clients.

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March 2021

THE FUTURE OF THE PROTECTION MARKET IN 2021 Covid-19 has prompted a significant increase in consumer interest in protection products. The industry needs to ensure that this opportunity is not lost and continue to spread the word that for most, protection is the foundation of any financial plan.

Protection Guru has sought to help in this mission. In a year of unprecedented change, we kept our finger on the pulse of the protection industry – keeping advisers and providers abreast of emerging trends; product developments and key issues impacting the consumer, to keep the industry future fit.

This year, the protection industry will undoubtedly be judged by how it responds to these such key issues:

Underwriting challenges: The pandemic exacerbated challenges which have always existed for insurers and advisers. Whilst the industry is still in a period of uncertainty, how can insurers do more to get cases underwritten? How can advisers ensure clients are getting the cover they need?

Income protection: Whilst income protection has always been important, more consumers are now experiencing a changing income. How can providers adapt their products to provide greater flexibility for people who have changing incomes?

Demystifying the market: Our mission is to combat the misinformation of protection products which has made the market difficult for advisers and consumers to navigate. How can providers better communicate product changes to advisers, and where can the industry change its terminology to improve understanding?

Using our wealth of product information, technical knowledge, and practical tools, Protection Guru will continue to deliver on its purpose to work with providers and advisers to ensure the industry can rise to the challenge to meet the needs of the consumer.

Advisers can access any of Protection Guru’s information services, reports and tools for free via ProtectionGuru.co.uk

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March 2021

AVIVA I NVESTORS

GET READY FOR THE RISE OF THE

MILLENNIALS The millennial generation is set to inherit trillions over the coming decade. Asset managers and advisers must engage with these younger investors to understand their requirements, says Aviva Investors’ Apiramy Jeyarajah

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eople try to put us down,” sang Roger Daltrey on The Who’s hit My Generation in 1965. Today’s youngsters know the feeling. Millennials are often depicted in the media as Instagram-addicted narcissists or footloose job-hoppers. It is said they would rather fritter away their money on smashed avocado brunches than save for the future.

But as millennials enter their peak earning years, they are starting to wield significant financial clout. According to consulting firm Deloitte, US millennials are in the process of inheriting $24 trillion from their elders, and a similar wealth transfer is underway in the UK.1 Asset managers and financial advisers hoping to win a slice of this potential business need to look past the clichés and learn what makes millennials tick.

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MILLENNIAL INVESTORS Anyone born between 1981 and 1996 is considered a millennial. For the older members of the group, the defining event of their early careers was the global financial crisis of 2007-’09, which damaged their job prospects and eroded their earnings potential. The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 is the second major economic crisis they have faced in their working lives.

RESEARCH SUGGESTS MILLENNIALS ARE FINANCIALLY CONSERVATIVE The experience of recession has shaped the generational outlook. Research suggests millennials are financially

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March 2021

conservative, belying their spendthrift reputation. Asked what they would do with a tax refund, nearly 40 per cent said they would save it, compared with 33 per cent of baby boomers and 23 per cent of Generation Xers.2

MILLENNIALS SAY ESG CONSIDERATIONS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS WHEN WEIGHING UP AN INVESTMENT

Millennials tend to be cautious investors, too; on average, they hold around 47 per cent of their assets in cash, with 41 per cent in equities and bonds and a small amount in illiquid assets.3 But they should be able to take on more risk as they start to inherit wealth and rise up the career ladder. According to research from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, millennials’ earnings potential is set to grow as much as three-quarters between now and 2030.4

Eight in ten millennials say environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are the most important factors when weighing up an investment.5 Other studies have found 90 per cent of millennials want to ensure investments made on their behalf are tailored to their values,6 while 92 per cent want their entire portfolio to be responsibly invested.7 Most are optimistic that allocating their assets sustainably will help arrest climate change.8

Importantly, millennials will have more control over their assets than their parents’ generation. While the ongoing shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes is transferring risk from employers to employees, it has also given savers more say in how their pension is invested – and by whom.

Asset managers seeking to win their custom will require expertise in ESG, including a demonstrable track record on engagement and impact. Responsiveness will be important, not just in communicating investment performance but also in providing timely updates on responsible investment objectives and outcomes.

SUSTAINABILITY AND TECHNOLOGY Asset managers and advisers seeking to work with millennial clients should be mindful that returns are not always their chief objective. Having come of age with the climate crisis looming, this millennial cohort is profoundly concerned about the human impact on the planet.

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User-friendly online platforms are another prerequisite for investment businesses seeking millennial custom. Having grown up with access to the internet, millennials tend to be discerningly tech-savvy, gravitating towards companies that offer slick and convenient online services and shunning those that don’t.

This can be seen in the emergence of robo-advisers that enable investments in low-cost index funds at the tap of a

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March 2021

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smartphone button. The Big Tech firms of Silicon Valley are also fast developing their capabilities in financial services to lure millennial customers. In this context, traditional asset managers and advisers will need to ensure they offer smart, personalised digital services to win business and stay resilient in the face of further industry disruption.

About Apiramy Jeyarajah Apiramy Jeyarajah is Head of UK Wholesale at Aviva Investors, where she joined in January 2020. She is responsible for driving the sales strategy across the wealth, savings and retirement market for domestic and border relationships in the UK. Apiramy joined Aviva Investors from HSBC Global Asset management, where she established and led the Financial Institutions sales team, focusing on deepening relationships with asset owners in the UK and Israel. She joined the asset management industry in 2013.

CULTURE SHIFT While millennials display certain common attitudes and traits, they are not a monolithic group. For example, despite progress in recent years, pension coverage among female millennials is far lower than among men, and they feel less financially confident as a result.9

Between 2007- 2013, Apiramy worked for RBS Global Banking and Markets and ABN AMRO, where she was responsible for institutional sales’ strategy and business development for bespoke solutions and quantitative systematic strategies across all asset classes. She has also held various structuring roles within the organisation including Equity Derivatives, FICC and Real Estate.

She began her career at SEI investments in the multi manager investment business.

A recent survey conducted by The Wisdom Council found older millennials in the UK are often seeking advice on financial matters as they begin to settle down, buy homes and start families. But financial professionals tend to confront them with confusing spreadsheets or technical jargon rather than empathy and guidance, which can make them feel helpless.10

Apiramy holds a BSc Economics and Statistics from University College London.

References

BUILDING A PARTNERSHIP WITH CLIENTS BASED ON TRUST AND UNDERSTANDING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER

1. Val Srinivas and Urval Goradia, ‘The future of wealth in the United States’, Deloitte, November 10, 2015 2. Nicole Spector, ‘Famously frugal: nearly 40 per cent of millennials will stash their tax refund’, NBC News, March 9, 2017

In the aftermath of the personal and professional difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, building a partnership with clients based on trust and understanding is more important than ever. To appeal to millennials, the investment industry must accelerate its shift from a backwards-looking, product-focused model to a genuinely forward-thinking approach based on meeting clients’ needs.

3. ‘Generations collide as millennials redefine work, wealth, family and influence’, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, June 13, 2017

To foster longer-lasting relationships, managers and advisers should go further, and create an organisational culture that ensures clients feel listened to and represented.

Millennials in the UK hail from a much wider range of backgrounds than the baby boomers or Generation X. Sales teams that lack diversity of race, gender and social background will look increasingly out of touch.

7. Nuveen responsible investment survey, 2018. See commentary at: ‘Millennials are driving a huge shift in the way we shop and invest’, Business Insider, May 2018

4. ‘The generation game: Wall Street will soon have to take millennial investors seriously’, The Economist, October 24, 2020 5.

Nuveen responsible investment survey, 2018. See commentary at: Kara Chin, Jacqui Frank, and Sara Silverstein, ‘Millennials are leading an investment revolution - here's what makes their generation different’, Business Insider, May 29, 2018

6. ‘Swipe to invest: the story behind millennials and ESG investing’, MSCI, March 2020

8. ‘Millennials are driving one of the biggest trends in wealth tech’, March 14, 2018, CB Insights 9. ‘Millennial women less financially confident than millennial men’, Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, May 02, 2017 10. ‘Insights - Retirement study: News release’, Wisdom Council, June 25, 2018

If they can modernise their approach, asset managers and their partners have an opportunity to work with younger investors to achieve their goals. These relationships can be mutually beneficial, but first the financial world needs to stop putting millennials down – and start lifting them up.

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BETTE R BUSI N ESS

March 2021

PLANNING AN EXIT?

DON'T FORGET YOUR MARKETING

Many financial planning firms will admit that marketing is one area that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves.

Faith Liversedge highlights why marketing is not just a client acquisition tool and new business driver but an important driver of the future success of your business

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hen you think of marketing (if you ever think of marketing) and you’re not thinking of Mad Men, well, you probably think of new business.

Lead generation, referral generation, content marketing, digital marketing; at the end of the day when it’s all said and done, the aim of successful marketing is to bring in new clients, is it not?

No, not always.

Every day I speak to advisers and adviser firms who are actually fairly comfortable with the size of their existing client banks. I would say they’re in a ‘maintenance phase’ not a ‘growth phase’. Perhaps they’d like a handful of new clients a year, but they’re not looking for performance marketing that’s driving any real, consistent growth.

Typically, these are lifestyle businesses, and the directors are eyeing a potential exit in the not-too-distant future.

There is nothing wrong with that. Everyone with a lifestyle business fancies a nice exit to sip Kir Royales on the French riviera at some point, myself included.

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And If you’re in that enviable position, it’s easy to think that you don’t need to have your marketing in tip-top order, or perhaps engage in any marketing activities at all.

I’d encourage you to think again…

ACQUIRERS ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE SELECTIVE In my recent guide to intergenerational wealth transfer, I wrote about how acquirers are increasingly scrutinizing client banks, taking into account the average age, the likelihood of the firm retaining family wealth etc.

Overall, however, the key thing they’re looking for is engaged clients.

How much contact do these clients have with their adviser?

How much consistent value is being provided? Does that justify ongoing fees and are they likely to jump ship?

When an adviser or firm has consistent, high-quality communication with their clients, this takes away so many worries at the point of an exit.

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March 2021

All of the available evidence tells us that engaged clients are far more likely to refer, to stay, and to come back for additional advice.

Now I just need to check-in if I want a report to see who opened, who clicked, who engaged etc. That’s lifestyle business compatible if you ask me.

Not to mention, ensuring that you communicate effectively, early and well with existing clients (and their wider families) it’s the best method most advisers have of ensuring that they will retain clients into the looming intergenerational wealth transfer.

The aim of marketing to engage clients is to take your unique approach, your personality and to be able to broadcast it at scale.

When an adviser or firm has consistent, high-quality communication with their clients, this takes away so many worries at the point of an exit All of these are crucial points for a successful exit strategy.

And... this is where the right sort of marketing comes into play.

While I’m sure every adviser reading this goes out of their way to communicate with their clients as much as possible, the truth is that with the size of individual client banks today, even in a remote-first operating environment, it’s simply impossible to communicate 1-to-1 with clients half as much as you’d like.

IT’S YOU, BUT YOU AT SCALE Smart marketing is about replicating the adviser/client relationship at scale. It’s not about broadcasting bland syndicated market updates with no personality, no segmentation, no humanity. It’s about capturing the reasons why clients put their trust in you and making sure you prolong that trust by being there, at scale.

To give you an example from my own lifestyle business: • Today I landed in hundreds of advisers’ inboxes, many of whom I’ve never met and some are as far-flung away as Bermuda.

• As I was writing this article, I noticed someone downloaded a replay of one of my webinars, chances are my voice is in his or her ears right now.

A bit creepy, yes, but I say it to illustrate a point. I didn’t have to write hundreds of emails, I didn’t even have to push send.

I scheduled it the night before in my woolly socks by the fire and my email marketing system handled it all for me.

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Clients want to hear from you, and regularly, I cannot emphasize this enough.

Sometimes they want reassurance, sometimes it’s a trusted voice with market commentary and updates, or sometimes it’s just nice to see you in their inbox or social media feed.

I’ve seen it time and time again. Advisers start a regular, personal communication – say a weekly email newsletter – and have found their clients are far more engaged straight away, and that their clients continually reach back for them for more advice, and referrals have gone through the roof.

Very often also, there’s less pressure on ongoing fees from these clients because they know you’re there, they know they can reach out to you and there’s less of a question of what they’re paying for.

Smart marketing is about replicating the adviser/client relationship at scale

And of course, having this in place – the process, the database, the consistent communication – makes the engaged client bank invaluable in the event of an exit.

Because at the end of the day, what an acquirer really wants to know, is how long will your client bank stick around – and that’s where your marketing comes into play.

About Faith Liversedge Faith Liversedge is an experienced communicator with a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the adviser profession. She was Marketing Manager at Nucleus for 5 years, creating innovative and award-winning campaigns.

Before that she worked for Standard Life, Prudential and Royal London. In 2017 she set up her own consultancy to help forward-thinking financial advisers and planners to become more profitable through websites, communications and other laser-focused marketing techniques.

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March 2021

I FA SPOTLIGHT

WHY BUILDING A GREAT TEAM MAKES A

GREAT ADVICE BUSINESS

For your financial planning firm, having a great team doesn’t just happen by accident. It needs work and attention just like every other aspect of business – especially given the huge changes to working routines as a result of Covid-19. IFA Magazine talks to Stefan Fura, Founder at Financial Planning firm Furnley House, about why putting people at the heart of the business is a solid driver for success

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aving an active staff engagement and retention strategy in place is one area which is often overlooked by busy advice firms which are keen to focus efforts on the client proposition and maximising client engagement. Over the past year, with most financial planning professionals working from home, it’s been the loss of direct connection and engagement with colleagues that has been most sorely missed. But does it need to be like that? Stefan Fura and his team at Furnley House have seized the opportunity presented by the Covid-19 pandemic to focus on their values and put the needs of their staff front and centre.

Here we talk to Stefan about what they’ve been doing and how they do it, in what is clearly an inspirational effort

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to support the needs of their busy team working hard to maintain business success.

SW: STEFAN, TO KICK OFF, CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT FURNLEY HOUSE AS A BUSINESS, WHAT DO YOU DO AND – IMPORTANTLY – WHAT MAKES YOU TICK? SF: We’re a financial planning business based in Leicestershire although we now have a presence across the Midlands and the UK. Of course, we always say that we’re really good at looking after people’s money, but what we really care most about is people. We’re a people business, whether that’s looking after our clients, our staff or indeed the wider community within which

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we operate. The common point that makes us tick is definitely people.

SW: HOW MANY STAFF DO YOU HAVE IN THE TEAM AND WHERE ARE THEY BASED – USUALLY – AND NOW IN COVID TIMES? SF: It’s certainly been interesting over the last year. Furnley House is part of a wider group of businesses – Superbia Group – and we very much try to work as one big team wherever possible. Across the group we have just over 50 people working with us and around 50% of these are Furnley House employees. We are quite widely spread geographically, although there is a big link to Leicestershire with many of the team within easy travelling distance of the office. We also have people who have joined us over the last year based in the West Midlands and the South West and, of course, we have our administration team based in Chennai, India. In fact, one of our team who works on the investment side is currently stuck in Italy and has been working from there since Christmas. I guess like most firms, we’re more spread out than we would have been before Covid struck.

SW: HOW HAS THE COVID PANDEMIC CHANGED THINGS FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND HOW YOU OPERATE AS A TEAM? SF: Every business has been affected by the pandemic in some way or another. Whether or not it’s in respect of those sectors which have been winning as a result of Covid, everyone has had to change the way that they work. For us, as a business, it was tough at the beginning. The uncertainty

I think you can talk about what you do, or you can demonstrate what you do. For us, covid-19 has given us the opportunity to show what we can do

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of not knowing what was going to happen was a challenge but the question everyone really wanted to know was how long it was going to go on for. That was the key focus at the beginning.

So, right from the start of lockdown we got together as a leadership team to work out what we were going to do. We’ve always talked about living by our values and about being a family and a close team. We took a view at the time that this was a chance to really live by our values and to demonstrate them in the way that we treated our people. We believed that this was something which would come to define us in the years ahead, because if we looked after our people well then we would have the best chance of keeping them as part of the team for the long term. We felt this would give us an opportunity to continue to attract highly talented people going forward. For me, if I was going to be interviewed for a new role now, I’d be asking the potential employer how they treated their staff and what they did during this period. I think you can talk about what you do, or you can demonstrate what you do. For us, covid-19 has given us the opportunity to show what we can do.

SW: IT’S CLEAR THAT AS A BUSINESS FURNLEY HOUSE REALLY SUPPORTS STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND WELLBEING. YOUR WALK TO CHENNAI IS A GREAT INITIATIVE! COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT IT AND HIGHLIGHT SOME OF THE OTHER INITIATIVES YOU’VE DONE IN THE PAST OR ARE DOING NOW TO SUPPORT STAFF WELLBEING? SF: The walk to Chennai is an evolution of what we’ve been doing over the past year. For us, when Covid hit the immediate challenge was that our team was very remote.

There are a lot of positives for individuals in being able to work from home more than before but we felt there were some potential downsides from being isolated in this way.

We identified that there were three big issues: · Isolation. In the physical sense, we were all more isolated than normal · Diet choices. Because we were all closer to the fridge and not always eating as healthily as you might do if you were in the office

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· Exercise. With all the extra screen time involved in remote working, there is a risk that levels of exercise and fitness will drop off too.

We worked on these three themes and included our staff representation committee, talking to them to gain their thoughts on this. We asked what could we do around those three targeted themes.

Prior to the pandemic, on Friday afternoons our team would always end the week by getting together. We have a bar upstairs in our office where we’d all come together at the end of the week. How could we involve that whilst working virtually? We introduced a regular Zoom team meetings on Friday afternoons – which I know a lot of firms have also done – which was good just to liven things up amongst the team and have a bit of fun. We’ve had competitions, games shows and a range of activities.

Different people across the business were volunteering to take responsibility for it which helped us create variety.

It helped us to create that community feeling remotely wherever we could.

We introduced more calls, including a weekly call on Monday mornings for the whole company to come together. This gives us a focus around what we’re doing as a business and monitoring how we were doing, what’s going on etc. There have been many things which have spun off from that. For example, a couple of our people volunteered to produce a video consisting of a range of montages that we were all asked to create as short videos from home. We did lots of different pieces like this.

On the dieting and exercise piece, this was our way of trying to support the team’s overall health and wellbeing aspects. We invited expert speakers to talk to us, some participating in our Monday morning sessions and others on the Friday sessions. For example, we enjoyed a virtual session with a local chef who is just about to

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launch his own Amazon Prime series. He specialises in Chinese cooking to bring the Chinese takeaway to home on a Friday afternoon – but a healthier version of it. We learned how we could make a few subtle changes to make it healthier but it was still very tasty. Most importantly, we all enjoyed doing it together.

On Friday afternoons we organised some fitness instructors for the team. We had boxercise, pilates, yoga and other activities too.

There is much research done that shows us that good service means happy staff. When they are more engaged and more interested, we definitely see the value through our client satisfaction feedback Also on our Monday sessions, we used a speaker who was in charge of the League Managers’ Association’s fitness and well-being programme for a number of years. We asked him to run a ten week programme for us. This consisted of bite-sized, 45 minute or 1 hour slots over that period to try and get our people to understand some of the things that mattered most and those which didn’t.

The final piece of that was that we provided all of the team with a fitness tracker device. This was to encourage them to get out and do more physical activity. Following on from this, we created a step challenge which was to walk to Las Vegas. Everybody enjoyed it – in fact we all loved doing it. We separated up into teams according to age, so we had those in

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their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties etc. And the fifties ran away with it. There were prizes for that. There was also a bit of fun here as we had a bit of controversy in that some people were cycling rather than walking. So we decided to do it again this year, as the walk to Chennai. The team in Chennai are doing it too and they’ve all got their fitness trackers. There’s a lot less sea on the Chennai walk than there was on the walk to Las Vegas so there’s much more variety this time round!

We also used this to launch our ‘cycle to work’ scheme so for those people that were frustrated by the cyclists getting an advantage last time round, there’s no excuse now. Whether you’re walking or cycling we don’t mind. As long as we’re getting out and getting fit. In summary, it’s a continuation of a theme that’s been with us since the middle of last year.

Our next thought was as all this has been so good for our staff, how do we involve other people? So in February we’ve launched a ‘Wellness Wednesday’ series. We’ve got some of the people who’ve been talking to us as a team so that clients, friends and family can also take part. Our first one was “yogalates” which was very interesting indeed!

Our clients have been so keen to get involved. They really want to be part of it and to be part of what we’re doing.

There is much research done that shows us that good service means happy staff. When they are more engaged and more interested, we definitely see the value through our client satisfaction feedback.

SW: WOULD YOU ENCOURAGE OTHER ADVICE BUSINESSES TO UP THE ANTE WHEN IT COMES TO WORKING MORE PROACTIVELY ON THEIR TEAMS’ DEVELOPMENT? IF SO, WHY? SF: Yes I’d definitely recommend it. For me, this all links into our values and what we stand for. Community is really important to us and we do a lot of charitable work

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at Furnley House. The link between charity and people is very clear. All the same things we’ve talked about in regard to looking after your team’s needs are linked to CSR and the whole theme. The reality is that if you look after your people and people feel valued and can feel like they are part of something that is making a meaningful difference, it brings real benefits to the business. It means that they are more likely to enjoy working for you, they’re more likely to stay working with you and they will be more engaged in the work that they do. It creates a classic shared sense of ownership and sense of purpose amongst the team which I think is what we’ve managed to achieve here.

For me, the Covid-19 pandemic was really tough. But the way the whole team rose to the challenge was driven by the fact that we are very close, we are one team. For us seeing that in action means that we do get the rewards from putting that into practice. From a personal perspective, although I’m a business owner I still work here! With it being a fun place to be and to enjoy our time whilst we’re at work is hugely important. You spend a lot of your life in work so it’s all the better if it’s enjoyable time!

About Stefan Fura Together with Neil Haley and John Woolhouse, Stefan is a founding partner of Furnley House.

He started his career in financial services working in a High Street Bank, but as his knowledge and experience grew, Stefan realised that he could offer his clients a better service if he were not tied to a limited number of specific providers. Then as Furnley House expanded, Stefan stepped away from advising clients to focus on running the business.

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SECURING THE

DIGITAL AGE Balancing adoption of digital processes and protecting against cybercrime are going to be key areas for financial advice businesses in 2021, says Anthony Rafferty, CEO, Origo

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ews that the FCA had suffered over 80,000 unsolicited emails a month in the last quarter of 2020, included phishing emails and malware attacks, should have set alarm bells ringing across the financial services industry – if they weren’t doing so already.

Cybercrime attacks have increased substantially since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, as cybercriminals have been taking advantage of the necessity for firms to implement home working as well as the general increased use of online services, to put out a flood of phishing and scam emails, looking to capture individuals’ personal and financial details as well as penetrate companies’ security systems.

Cybercrime is now big business and criminals know that it is easier to get an individual to make a mistake when reading an email than it is to hack a company’s software.

Furthermore, the odds are stacked in the cybercriminals’ favour, as they only have to get lucky once to access someone's email or a business’s system, whereas individuals

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and companies have to be constantly vigilant against these attacks.

Once a criminal has access to someone’s email they can use it to obtain confidential information and attempt identity fraud. A recent Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) ruling on an identity fraud is a case in point and serves to highlight the need for advice firms to put in place robust cyber security protection.

The FOS ordered the advice firm in question to reimburse a client who had lost money transferred from her SIPP by the firm, following receipt of an email seemingly from the client but in fact from a fraudster impersonating the client.

BE VIGILANT While this case dates back to late 2018, attempts at this type of fraud are now not uncommon in the financial advice market. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of advice firms receiving emails from clients requesting money to be transferred which on investigation are

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discovered to be an attempt at fraud. More often this is enabled by the criminal gaining access to unsecured emails which often gives them all the information they need to perpetrate a fraud attempt.

TAKE ACTION A first, simple and effective way for firms to protect themselves and their clients when communicating on financial transactions and confidential information, is to employ robust email encryption.

In the type of case ruled on by the Ombudsman, as an example, a firm using encrypted email with a challenge question known only to the client, first could have helped prevent hacking of emails between the client and the firm – which provided the criminal with the details they needed to perpetrate the fraud – and second, would have ensured that the person communicating with the firm was the client.

At the same time and against this backdrop, there is a very real need for the industry to move forward with digitisation of its processes if it is to be able to deliver the level and quality of service expected by consumers in the age of Amazon Prime.

As this occurs, advice firms are likely to be amongst the first to benefit, as they will not only be able to deliver a

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There is a very real need for the industry to move forward with digitisation of its processes if it is to be able to deliver the level and quality of service expected by consumers in the age of Amazon Prime

faster more efficient service for clients but also achieve cost savings within their businesses.

Arguably, one of the positive effects of the Coronavirus pandemic for many financial services businesses has been to confirm the viability of remote working. The potential to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, increase profitability and improve the wellbeing of employees, has not been lost on leading companies.

Similarly, reducing time-consuming administration tasks through efficient use of technology, as well as reducing costs for a business also allows staff to be employed in the elements of the business that technology cannot deliver, those that require the human touch. Currently, people buy from people, rather than machines.

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GREATER INTEGRATION OF SYSTEMS Which is why one of the key advances I believe we will definitely see this year is the greater integration between the systems of platforms, asset managers, pension providers, adviser back-offices and software, enabling the more effective processing of data between them. We can expect that pre-population of details, account opening, valuations and remuneration, amongst others, will increasingly be things that happen in the background with little or no human intervention, with audited tracking where appropriate, allowing adviser firm staff to focus on delivering quality service to clients.

REVIEW YOUR PROCESSES Another aspect the pandemic has thrown into sharp relief, is where the industry’s processes are lagging behind the times. This was brought home to me personally in the past year when instructing a new financial adviser and going through the very manual, inconsistent and paper-based Letter of Authority process.

For the industry to develop and better serve its end customers, it has to embrace more openly digital processes – and sooner rather than later. Digital Letters of Authority and digital signatures are easy examples of where things could and are being improved, for instance in the greater adoption of digital signatures by platforms and providers during the pandemic.

There is an imperative here. As an industry and as businesses we need to be using technology more effectively to help improve our efficiencies and profitability, whilst employing sensible precautions to protect against those who seek to exploit our vulnerabilities – human and technological – for criminal gain. The good news is that there are solutions coming to or already in the market that make both readily achievable.

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There are three steps advice firms can take to help mitigate cybercrime: 1. The first step is to understand the risks and where the risks lie in the value chain – is it between providers and advice firms, i.e. are providers and platforms still insisting that advisers send client details in an unsecure manner; or is it between the adviser and the client, such as via unencrypted email?

2. Put in place appropriate controls, particularly for inward and outward communications, which will include technology solutions such as system protection and encrypted emails, formal processes and procedures,staff awareness and training.

3. Finally, think ahead and be prepared. Have a written policy and instructions for staff to follow where fraud is detected or to manage an attack.

About Anthony Rafferty I am Origo’s Chief Executive Officer, which means I get the honour of leading our fantastic team to deliver against our purpose of connecting the financial services industry for the benefit of everyone.

Origo’s team are true industry experts with a passion for delivery and they make my job very easy! Before joining Origo, I held a number of senior roles in the life, pensions and investments industry (and was actually a customer of Origo!) where I developed a passion for wanting consumers in the UK to be more engaged with their financial futures and for the industry to make that much easier for them. That’s why I’m now at Origo, as we are uniquely placed to help the industry achieve that.

I’m married, with three very active daughters and spend most of my home time with them and their various activities, which I love.

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BUSI N ESS PRACTICE

March 2021

FIVE TIPS FOR

PRODUCTIVE REMOTE PERFORMANCE REVIEWS The shift from face-to-face meetings to the use of virtual platforms has led to a fundamental shift in operations for financial planning firms. And that includes performance reviews. Steve Cox of IRIS FMP outlines practical tips you can use to help you conduct highly effective performance reviews regardless of the limitations imposed by working virtually

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erformance reviews are essential to get the most out of your team by drawing out their potential. Performance reviews can seem overwhelming but with a global pandemic and the majority of the population having to work remotely, this daunting task is heightened by the environmental factors. So, when it comes to planning building and executing a remote performance review, we have some useful tips to improve their productivity and help these meetings benefit both the employee and business leaders.

To help business leaders better understand how to navigate the challenges of remote performance reviews, this article provides practical tips on how to prepare, how to track progress and what to do after the review process is complete to encourage employee growth & development during these challenging times.

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COMMUNICATE THE PROCESS Many performance reviews have moved away from the daunting meeting that occurs once a year, with both parties storing topics of conversation to raise for this occasion leaving items often outdated and irrelevant. Changing the approach to performance reviews to regular meetings means you can discuss the employee’s performance, achievements and aims for the future and enables business’ to entwine their business vision based on the individual aims of the people that work there. This leaves your workforce validated, valued and a part of your business’ vision.

It’s important to inform and engage employees on how your performance review process works, what items are discussed and what type of outcomes that may occur as a result of the discussions. The aim here is to put your employee’s mind at ease. Performance reviews are not disciplinaries as they

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Changing the approach to performance reviews to regular meetings means you can discuss the employee’s performance, achievements and aims for the future

are often perceived to be. Instead, they are collaborations between the employee and business managers to air challenges faced and seek potential solutions. Providing visibility of the performance review process is the first step to gaining the employee’s buy-in that is required to make your performance reviews truly productive.

A key aspect to this is communicating the purpose of the performance review. As a bu siness are you using it to evaluate pay or are you using it to understand the overall performance, challenges faced with the disruptions to the business and find a way to overcome them?

Clarity is important.

This form should be filled out by the employee and the line manager to ensure that the employee’s achievements are fully recognised and any feedback from the wider team is shared with the employee.

FAMILIARISE TEAMS WITH PLATFORM With many of us working from home, familiarity with the platform you use for your remote performance review is essential to put your employee at ease to discuss openly all aspects of their work and the business’ performance.

Video conferencing offers an element of personability, if the employee is used to these. Advice firms and those working within them are likely to be very familiar with platforms such as Teams or Zoom but it pays to make sure that the employee feels comfortable using them. If your business doesn’t use video conferencing it can cause the employee to feel uncomfortable so take these cues and be understanding during the meeting. Move more meetings to video calls before the performance review to enable employees to familiarise themselves with this mode of communication.

COLLABORATE TO GAIN SOLUTIONS

INVEST TIME IN PREPARATION Like with most aspects of your business, preparation can make all the difference to the outcome of a performance review and whether or not it is valuable both to the employee and the needs of your business. All parties must put the work in beforehand. Ask your employees to fill out a questionnaire ahead of the meeting and submit it to their line manager. The questions asked should highlight employees’ achievements and challenges enabling a solution to be discussed and achieved as a result of the performance review.

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During the performance review the business will evaluate the performance of the employee using the preparation questionnaire which has been pre-completed by both the employee and the line manager. But it is also key to keep the purpose of this review at the forefront of the assessment. If employees have not been as productive as they may previously have been in the office, can the business aid them in any way such as providing multiple screens for their home set-up? How has the wellbeing of your employee been impacted by the changes to working practice? Are there areas of support the employee can

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benefit from within your business? Remember that the remote performance review should not just centralise around the employee’s work but changes in their work environment that could impact their performance. If they are physically isolated from their team what objectives can be put in place to overcome barriers and challenges that often hold back productivity?

Parents working from home whilst juggling home schooling is a significant challenge and one that businesses need to work with their employees to find a solution

Be empathetic to the adjustment of a blended work-life balance. Parents working from home whilst juggling home schooling is a significant challenge and one that businesses need to work with their employees to find a solution. If performance has dipped, try to understand why so that the business can work with the employee to minimise these disruptions as much as possible.

During these exceptional times, you want to show your employees that they are extremely valuable to you and your business is fully prepared to work with them to help them achieve results.

AGREE OUTCOMES AND TIMEFRAMES Performance reviews should not be something carried out and forgotten about. If they are going to be productive, actions need come from them which will

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need to be worked on by both parties. Make sure that you agree objectives to encourage employees’ growth and development, with regular check-ins to provide updates on progress and next steps. These objectives become a roadmap to progress and grow whilst contributing to the business’ vision. This process becomes a cycle over time with objectives and achievements becoming a part of the performance review process and highlighting the personal development that the employee has achieved as well as their contributions to the business.

Remote performance reviews are certainly not a box ticking exercise. It is a way to show your employees that they are valued, an opportunity help them feel connected.

It is an ideal chance to motivate them to invest in their own personal development as well as contributing to the business to help gain purpose without being overwhelmed. They are a tool to identify and overcome challenges which individuals are facing in the short term and the long term in order to make your business more productive over time.

This article was written by Steve Cox, chief evangelist at IRIS FMP, an international payroll consultancy providing expert, high quality global payroll solutions across 135 countries.

About Steve Cox Steve Cox, the Chief Evangelist for IRIS FMP, an international payroll consultancy providing expert, high quality global payroll solutions across 135 countries. Steve works closely with customers, software companies and the government and is championing the digital transformation of the SMEs and accountants

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March 2021

M&G I NVESTM E NTS

DRIVERS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN SUSTAINABLE MULTI-ASSET

INVESTING

Maria Municchi, fund manager, M&G Investments’ Sustainable Multi Asset Fund Range, discusses how a multi-asset approach to sustainable investing can support advisers with effective solutions to help meet clients’ needs

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ustainable investment approaches look to the future, by investing responsibly and supporting the environment and society.

So, sustainable investment strategies should aim to achieve objectives that include meeting financial goals, as well as preserving our planet’s resources, recovering its climate and making life better, more equal and inclusive.

A multi-asset approach to sustainable investing allows investors to make use of a diverse range of asset types to achieve their objectives

A multi-asset approach to sustainable investing allows investors to make use of a diverse range of asset types to achieve their objectives. Diversification offers investors

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the opportunity to spread their risk, with the intention of avoiding concentration in one or a few themes or assets classes that might introduce unwanted volatility in their returns. These are likely to include traditional asset classes of equities, bonds and cash, but also may now incorporate such things as infrastructure, green bonds, social bonds and speciality funds.

ASSET ALLOCATION Equities within a sustainable strategy provide an ownership stake in businesses that are following a sustainable business model or are transitioning towards one. Bonds, or fixed income securities, represent a way of lending to companies that take a responsible approach, or even directly to fund specific projects or initiatives that aim to make a positive difference, often from supranational entities. We also include buying bonds issued by governments in our sustainable strategies, as governments around the world will typically use the bulk of their income, be they tax revenues or bond proceeds, for the good of their society. This may be in the form of providing education, welfare payments, healthcare or public pensions. Of course any government may undertake practices that some find unpalatable, and we will refrain from holding their bonds where we believe the negatives sufficiently outweigh the positives.

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A GLOBAL APPROACH The pressing challenges facing environments and society know few borders and investors have extended their scope worldwide, so taking a global approach is a necessity in our view. In our sustainable strategies, we aim to find value opportunities that we believe are attractive, wherever they may arise.

ASSESSING SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA The techniques and tools applied in investing sustainably continue to evolve. What may have previously amounted to simply excluding investments in certain sectors has developed into more sophisticated approaches. These approaches may require greater and more detailed analysis on the work companies are doing to meet their sustainability objectives, as well as identifying and measuring their achievements. This may involve extensive resources, which may only be available to the larger organisations.

As the spectrum of sustainable investing has developed, we have incorporated additional features to existing first stage exclusions on such factors as adherence with United Nations Global Compact Principles, as well as sector and industry exclusions. Considerations of how a potential investment may be judged on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) behaviours and contributions have now been integrated into our investment process. We believe that adopting a positive ESG-tilt approach, by looking to focus on investing in entities that have more positive ESG characteristics compared to their peers, should form a core element of how we build portfolios of sustainable assets.

To achieve this, we believe it is appropriate to use the access we typically have, as large-scale investors, to the management and ownership of companies, to engage with them to gain clearer insights into the sustainability of their business plans and processes. Engagement can help clarify investor understanding, encourage greater transparency and identify tools to measure progress towards sustainable objectives.

Beyond that, we also seek to incorporate investments that actively aim and intend to make a positive impact on some of the world’s pressing environmental and social challenges.

Across the investment world demand for sustainable or responsible investment products is growing and even gaining momentum. Individual savers and institutional investors alike have recognised that investing to sustain the planet’s resources, improve its social well-being and

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look to the world’s future, can go hand in hand with seeking to achieve financial security and M&G feels equally strongly about that and have been developing processes and products to help meet those goals.

Individual savers and institutional investors alike have recognised that investing to sustain the planet’s resources, improve its social wellbeing and look to the world’s future, can go hand in hand with seeking to achieve financial security

SUPPORTING CLIENTS’ NEEDS We understand that Sustainable multi asset investing at M&G while investors may have Climate Focus objectives relating to a sustainable future thatare similar, their Positive expectations for financial Impact Positive ESG tilt returns and their tolerance for risk may differ.

To meet that demand, M&G has launched a new range of sustainable multi asset funds, Source: M&G, January 2021 which we believe can satisfy these alternative appetites. Spread across cautious, balanced and growth profiles, these actively-managed, risk-targeted solutions combine strategic and dynamic asset allocation decisions originating from our long-standing Multi Asset team, invested in assets that incorporate positive ESG-tilt and positive impact characteristics. All those decisions are encompassed with an overarching climate focus, which concentrates on carbon intensity and climate adaptability, which we believe is crucial to achieving a more sustainable global economy.

For more information on M&G's approach to sustainability, please click here. (https://www.mandg.com/investments/professionalinvestor/en-gb/solutions/investment-options/ sustainability)

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March 2021

KI NG AN D SHAXSON AM

THE IRRESISTIBLE

GROWTH OF ESG INVESTING

IFA Magazine caught up with ESG veteran, Wayne Bishop, CEO of King and Shaxson Asset Management (KSAM), to discuss the significant rise in popularity of ESG investing and how best advisers can talk to their clients about this powerful driver of investment decisions

2020 saw an explosion in ESG (environmental, social and government) investing. Global sustainable fund assets surpassed $1trn for the first time, and between January and October 2020, 47% of all net money flowing into funds was responsibly invested.

ESG IN THE DNA King and Shaxson have a long history of ethical investments going back 20 years. In 2020 KSAM celebrated the ten year anniversary of their flagship model portfolio service.

Wayne started by discussing where his interest in ESG started, all the way back in 1992. At Wayne’s first job in the

I live in North London and every day I see a new electric charging point, even those most critical opponents to electric cars are now saying they are the future

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City he was upset by an investment involving tobacco, “I didn’t know it at the time, but I’d formed a negative screen.”

Around this time when Wayne was looking for investments one piqued his interest, namely Scottish Hydro Electric, a newly privatised energy company on the London Stock Exchange. Wayne reflected on the state of renewable energy at the time, commenting, “back then, wind energy was something for the future, it was so expensive to develop.” Moving on fifteen years, green energy companies were around but they were high risk investments, they were a fringe investment.”Wayne jovially compared that state of affairs to the present commenting “now these green energy companies are pretty boring mid-caps, to be honest with you.”

Renewable energy is just one ESG sector that has reached a point maturity in recent years. Wayne was quick to highlight another - cars. “I live in North London and every day I see a new electric charging point, even those most critical opponents to electric cars are now saying they are the future.”

In terms of investment opportunities, Wayne continued, “Not only are these sectors maturing, they are becoming some of the most interesting growth areas, especially because there isn’t a lot of growth elsewhere.”

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PERCEPTION MATTERS A key development in ESG over the last few years, and particularly in 2020, was changing perception by the public.

The stunning growth of ESG companies like Tesla, of course, demonstrate the potential for returns, but Wayne shares a more nuanced analysis.

Wayne points to the demographics of people investing in ESG, saying, “there is a perception that this is the world of millennials Whilst millennials are very interested in it and it matters to them, it’s actually the parents of millennials who are shifting the dials.”

Wayne points to his generation, Generation X, those in their 40s and 50s, who have either accumulated, or inherited capital, and are looking to invest it. This demographic, grew up with ethical, environmental and social considerations at the forefront of their culture.

Wayne pointed out that his generation grew up with Sting and an awareness of deforestation, concluding, “it matters to people how companies behave.”

The type of corporate behaviour Wayne is alluding to is not strictly related to things like carbon neutrality.

Wayne continued to say that going forward the sustainable and governance side of ESG will continue to gain interest, suggesting that the COVID crisis looks to be a turning point. He highlights the case of supermarkets returning their business rates relief, something which he says “would not have happened a few years ago. Social considerations have now become so important that these companies were giving money back to the government, money they really could have kept for themselves.”

Wayne suggested this social pressure will stick. “People are going to be asking questions, such as how did companies behave towards their staff and clients, how do they behave in society?” For Wayne this extends into governance too, adding “there will be interesting questions about dividends and taxation in due course.”

Wayne reminds us that the rise of ESG is not wholly because of Generation X’s inclination and the COVID pandemic, but these factors have converged with a far greater flow of information and data. He continued, “information is fast and thorough; if companies are doing something grievous the news will get out there quickly.”

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Investors don’t just rely on an ESG report anymore either, companies are locked into ratings agencies, and as Wayne said, “people are watching.”

For Wayne, information was a key factor in the recent growth of ESG, especially in 2020. What was once considered extra data can now provide helpful insights.

ESG investments have not just outperformed the market in 2020, but they ’ve done so with less volatility

INVESTMENT RETURNS MATTER Areas avoided by ESG investors, like fossil fuels, performed very badly last year, and companies that had fossil fuel exposure suffered. Wayne explained, “So what we’ve seen is not just ESG investment growing as an area of natural interest, but also by looking at performance and volatility data its done better than conventional investing.” ESG investments have not just outperformed the market in 2020, but they’ve done so with less volatility.

In the past, Wayne noted, ESG investments were often spurred on by the strong moral or environmental conviction of the fund managers. Today, he suggests, ESG is not just about doing good, but also avoiding risk; many managers see it in a much more functional light.

Wayne again added nuance to this, “you have to put data into context,” If one considers something like boardroom diversity, that may look different in different contexts and sectors, so comparing construction to tech will yield

No longer are investors taking the view that investing sustainably might mean having to sacrifice investment returns

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different results. Wayne gave a more prescient example, that of animal testing saying “nobody wants to hurt fluffy bunnies to assist the cosmetics industry,” but in the context of medical research in a global pandemic animal testing may be seen a different way. Wayne added, “these are questions that need to be asked and understood, because they have investment outcomes.” No longer are investors taking the view that investing sustainably might mean having to sacrifice investment returns.

HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CLIENTS ABOUT ESG So what are the key points for advisers to broach when discussing ESG matters with clients? Wayne suggests getting to grips with the ‘spectrum of capital,’ a term referencing the degrees of which a clients’ attitude align with ESG investing. He said “some investors might want to just avoid the bad or the worst offenders, some may well want to invest in the best, so as an adviser it is important not to pigeonhole your clients.”

One of the difficulties in the ESG space is certainly the terminology, or rather ‘taxonomy’ as Wayne puts it. He suggests the need to “cut through the soup” and understand how deep a client’s interest in matters of sustainability actually is. He emphasises that often people’s ethical attitudes are not static, and the media plays a role in people’s perception, “it’s important to go back and readdress where your clients stand.” Ethics are personal, and Wayne believes strongly that these discussions can help advisers to build more effective client relationships as attitudes increasingly affect matters of portfolio construction and asset allocation.

THE INFLUENCE OF POLITICS We concluded by talking about the significant political and societal shifts that have taken place in 2020, and how they may shape ESG in the near future. Coronavirus accelerated trends in the use of information technology, home working and home learning. Global education is one particular area in which KSAM will focus on in 2021 through home

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learning technology investments; Wayne said “there is a real feeling of hope in this area.”

That considered, he was keen to highlight how ESG has developed over the last four years, despite figures like former President Donald Trump in the United States promoting the use of coal and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement. He said “something we learnt under Trump is that politicians are very influential, but if people don’t like what government does they get on with it anyway.” Wayne pointed to how corporations in the US carried on with their renewable policies anyway stating “it’s actually been quite a good time for renewable energy despite Trump.” With President Biden’s election, Wayne posits the market and politics will realign, which should have a positive effect, but the last years have shown how much matters to the underlying people.

Wayne concluded, “Politicians, governments, and democracy will remain very important but what we have seen over the last few years is an element of people power that we didn’t understand before, where people will carry on with ESG themes regardless of what governments do.”

The demand for greater sustainability and the growing importance of responsible investing is something which advisers and asset managers need to acknowledge and embed within their processes and practices.

About Wayne Bishop Wayne Bishop leads the Ethical Investing team and is CEO of King and Shaxson Asset Management.

He began his career in financial markets in 1991 working in both London and Frankfurt. Wayne has been managing ethical investments since 2002. Since then, the business has grown from about £3 million to £150 million through organic growth. Wayne has a pan-European equity and fixed income background. He introduced asset and geographical allocation to the ethical fund management division in 2002 and has built the business around the principles of professionalism, common sense, transparency, and genuine ethical values

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LEGAL LE NS

March 2021

W H AT ’ S M I N E I S Y O U R S,

OR IS IT…?

It’s clear that advising clients who are going through a divorce can be a challenge which needs to be treated sensitively.

Grappling with expensive gifts between couples can make the process even more complicated. Sarah Hutchinson, Family Partner at Farrer & Co LLP considers how advisers can ensure the most favourable financial outcome for their clients should they divorce by factoring high-value gifts into the assets equation.

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ou can have the Bentley on weekends!

You might be surprised to hear that sales of specialist sports cars in the UK rose by 7% in 2020, a year which has no doubt been difficult for most people. Perhaps for those able to afford such luxury items, it has been a time to treat others - or oneself - to an expensive gift.

In support of this theory, The New York Times reported in December that despite the pandemic, fine jewellery sales for some retailers had doubled when compared to the previous year. Perhaps the inability to lift spirits with a holiday led to such an increase, or maybe fine jewellery was seen as an alternative investment opportunity in these challenging times.

Regardless of the reasons, 2020 was a year where those financially able to do so spent their money on expensive chattels; items which may also have huge sentimental value.

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Where a gift is made between spouses, it is important that advisers have an understanding of how a client’s item would be treated during any later divorce. The issue of who retains them can become extremely contentious and therefore it is important to bear in mind how the courts will approach the issue, so that clients may be protected from the outset.

THE DIVISION OF ASSETS ON DIVORCE The court can redistribute assets owned by either spouse in whatever manner it sees fit in order to achieve a fair result.

This includes gifts made by one spouse to the other, or gifts made from anyone else to either or both spouses.

Both parties are required to provide an accurate and detailed summary of their assets, which would include any personal belongings with a resale value of more than £500. In the case

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of valuable jewellery or artwork, formal valuations may be required, and these may in themselves be a contentious issue.

The tax consequences of a change in ownership or sale will also need to be considered.

Once the total value of the assets is clear, the court will then decide how they should be divided in order to achieve “fairness”. This will include any previously gifted items. In doing so they must apply two main principles.

The first of these will be meeting the parties’ financial needs, both for housing and income, which is always a priority for the courts. “Needs” are considered in light of the standard of living during the marriage, the length of the marriage and the parties’ financial resources. It is therefore possible for a person’s “needs” to be assessed as many millions of pounds. Assets that were gifts can be transferred between parties or sold in order to meet the “needs” of one of the parties, including cars, art or jewellery, if necessary.

The second principle considers what proportion of the assets are “matrimonial” and should therefore be shared (in the event that the assets exceed the parties “needs”); this reflects that the law considers marriage to be a partnership. Assets that have been earned or have accrued during the marriage, for example, a piece of jewellery purchased with money that has been earned during the marriage, are considered to be matrimonial.

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However, inherited assets or those owned before the marriage are not considered to be a fruit of the marital partnership, and therefore seen as “non-matrimonial”.

These assets are unlikely to be shared unless they are required to meet “needs”.

Depending on their origin, gifts can therefore be considered as either matrimonial or non-matrimonial; at one end of the spectrum, wedding gifts are clearly intended for both parties and so would be matrimonial, whereas family jewellery passed from mother to daughter prior to a marriage, for example, would be considered non-matrimonial. There will, however, be many other circumstances where it is not so clear-cut.

CAN GIFTS BE PROTECTED FROM DIVORCE? Various steps can be taken both before and during a marriage to limit the impact of a divorce and protect valuable gifts, which advisers should be mindful of.

The first, and most obvious, is a pre-nuptial or postnuptial agreement.

Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements are more effective in England than ever before. Although they are not strictly binding, if they meet certain requirements, the courts can and will hold spouses to their terms.

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These requirements include: (i) the nuptial agreement being freely entered into, with no suggestion that a party was pressured into it; (ii) the impact of the nuptial agreement being fully appreciated by both spouses, with a mutual understanding of each other’s financial position and what they may be entitled to should they divorce without the agreement; (iii) holding the parties to the agreement in the circumstances prevailing at the time of their divorce being fair, so that, as a minimum, it meets the weaker financial party’s needs.

The terms of the pre or post-nuptial agreements can ringfence gifts made to either party prior to and during the marriage, and specify how they should be treated on any later divorce.

Another difficulty that can arise is that there can be a dispute regarding whether an item was gifted to one or both parties. Therefore, when a gift is made during the marriage, it is important to keep evidence of who the gift was intended for – whether for one or both parties or perhaps their children – and to take care that subsequent arrangements, such as in whose name the insurance policy is in, are consistent with that.

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It is also important for advisers to consider how a gift is treated once received. To take the simplest example, if a gift of a valuable necklace is made to a husband by his mother, but it is kept it in the matrimonial home and his wife frequently wears it, then the gift is more likely to be considered a matrimonial asset; whereas if the necklace were to be kept in a safety deposit box and not worn by the wife, it will be easier to maintain that it is non-matrimonial.

Divorce can have a catastrophic financial impact, as well as being emotionally devastating. It is hugely important that clients and their advisers consider these issues throughout a relationship, and not just at its end.

Whilst it may not seem romantic, entering into a marriage – for many people – will be the most serious financial decision they take. It is therefore prudent to have these conversations with clients upfront, so that they can take the necessary legal advice to understand the potential implications.

About Sarah Hutchinson Sarah Hutchinson is a family law partner at Farrer & Co LLP and has extensive experience advising on all aspects of family law, in particular complex financial issues further to divorce or separation, disputes relating to children, and pre and post nuptial agreements.

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FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTMENT SPECIALISTS

MAGAZINE

READY TO DEPLOY M A R C H 2 0 21

GOVERNMENT BACKED - GREAT BRITISH INVESTMENTS - EIS - SEIS - BR - SITR - VCT

E ISA

March 2021

SHOULD WE PREPARE FOR THE

ROARING TWENTIES?

Despite the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic, EISA’s Mark Brownridge is in optimistic mood as he shines a practical light on the opportunities for investment in dynamic businesses which are the cornerstone of EIS and SEIS

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o now we know for sure. 2020 was the worst year economically for 300 years as the UK economy shrank by 9.9%.

And the grim reading doesn’t stop there.

According to the Office of National Statistics, that contraction is more than twice as much as the previous largest annual fall on record and is one of the largest across all the major economies in the world.

The Bank of England tell us the economy is like a “coiled spring” with businesses and households currently in stasis but ready to unleash pent up growth when the economy is reopened. So the prospects of a “roaring 20s” might provide salvation.

Certainly many of the small business owners and entrepreneurs that we talk to, and as I am sure many of you are, have found 2020 at best difficult and at worst catastrophic. Small businesses tend to be cashflow dependent and don’t always have large reserves of profit to call upon so any downturn in sales can have a significant effect. So far, we haven’t seen the number of insolvencies and bankruptcies that we might expect given the situation and there’s no doubt the Government’s interventions such as CBILS, Bounce Back Loans and Future Fund have

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propped up small businesses. But, as these measures start to get wound down, there’s no doubt these numbers will rise.

WINNERS AND LOSERS What’s clear is that the pandemic has created winners and losers; both at sector and firm level. At sector level, fairly obviously the hospitality, travel and leisure sectors have had a tough pandemic. Pubs shut, travel banned and social gathering off limits has meant all almost all firms in these sectors have been decimated. But could they be due a bounce back in 2021 and beyond? With us all desperate

The Bank of England tell us the economy is like a “coiled spring” with businesses and households currently in stasis but ready to unleash pent up growth when the economy is reopened

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to holiday, meet and eat together again, are these the hot sectors to invest now? The retail sector has created winners and losers more than most.

The major online retailers and supermarkets have had a great pandemic. Smaller or high street stores with little online presence have struggled or in many cases (Debenhams, Topshop) closed their doors permanently. The other big sector winners have been those sectors which were already starting to see growth but which the pandemic has accelerated at lightning speed, predominantly in tech.

Think Zoom, Hopin (first fundraising to Unicorn in 2 years) and Revolut. The question now is will these trends continue post pandemic or will these successes be shortlived?

Another success story, for obvious reasons, has been medtech and biotech. The scramble for vaccines, testing kits, PPE, personalised health and diagnostic equipment has seen a wall of money reach a sector that has traditionally struggled to access funding. This is due to the traditionally longer timescales needed to start and scale such businesses (by contrast BioNTech, who developed the vaccine with Pfizer, started in 2008 with a “seed” investment of $150M, an amount UK biotech firms can only dream of). Again, short term reaction or sustainable, long term movement?

IDENTIFYING THE WINNERS Many sectors are therefore in flux, which presents investors with opportunities. We saw during the last crisis in 2008 that the crisis decimated the large, static, immobile blue chip companies whose focus was on maintaining their status quo rather than innovating and getting ahead of the curve. However, it helped smaller, more nimble operators focused on disruption and technology to flourish. One simple example is Uber, the granddad of the order by app concept that totally transformed an industry. But back in 2008, it was a struggling startup being turned down by every VC in America. Its early investors weren’t institutions but private investors like Mike Walsh. Walsh was on his

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way to buy a Tesla when he got a call from Uber founder, Ryan Graves, who told him about his new project. Walsh liked the idea, cancelled his Tesla order and instead invested $10,000 in Uber. That $10,000 investment went on to be worth $24,827,400. More amazingly, Walsh wasn’t a seasoned investor, this was only his second angel investment.

The Government plays its part by facilitating the landscape and has indeed committed to making the UK the technology and entrepreneurial centre of the world

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS With sectors in flux and companies beginning to identify and capitalise on fast moving trends, it feels like now is another great investment opportunity. Clearly, the Uber example above is an exception rather than norm. For very Uber, there are 100 Betamaxes but it goes to show what is possible when investing at the earliest stages of a company’s growth journey. And it’s the job of a good VC fund not just to second guess these trends but to work with companies when things go against them and to turn them around.

The Government plays its part by facilitating the landscape and has indeed committed to making the UK the technology and entrepreneurial centre of the world. Actions speak louder than words and we wait to see whether the Government delivers but it has made a good start with initiatives such as the £20M Tech fund and the £134M Sustainable Innovation Fund. But it’s private investors and

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fund managers who can play a significant part and drive sectors and companies forward even quicker. This is where EIS and SEIS come into play.

In the past few years, the schemes have been focused on delivering funding to companies prioritising growth, innovation and tech and during the pandemic, EIS and SEIS funded companies and the funds which invest in them have proved the value of this strategy. They have proved not only nimble and adaptive but also genuinely inventive, profitable and increasingly important job creators.

A few examples help make the point.

SonicJobs SonicJobs, invested in by Velocity Capital, started life as a recruitment app for hospitality and retail. The key technology in the app is its chatbot, “Julie”, which generates comprehensive CVs on the back of a series of simple machine learning questions. It became clear that candidates did not realise that they possessed a number of transferable skills relevant to opportunities in other sectors and that the CVs in their own right had a value.

In December 2019, they pivoted to extend their sector coverage to include healthcare and logistics and CVs created using Julie started to be sold to a number of job boards. Revenue has doubled in the past year as a result and people are getting access to directly relevant job opportunities.

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Hy-genie Finally, we are all acutely aware of the importance of hand washing in society as a result of Covid19. Hand hygiene is a key component to preventing the spread of germs and bacteria in hospitals. It is estimated that over 300,000 patients suffer from health care associated infections each year in the UK. Hy-genie, invested in by Nova Growth Capital has the potential to save thousands of lives each year and the NHS an estimated £1.2bn in treatment costs annually. Hy-genie provides the measurement and monitoring system that is needed at an individual level.

The company is now ready to go live at Alder Hey Hospital and another 6 hospital trusts are talking about introducing the service. Hy-genie believes their product is absolutely right for our world today. The public awareness of the importance of handwashing is going to be with us for very many years, and Hy-genie is set to capitalise on this.

These are just 3 examples of many I could have given you of companies which have been EIS or SEIS funded and been first responders to the pandemic, each in a different - but a rapid and effective -way. It’s now the job of those companies and the VCs that support them to ensure they continue to grow and are ready to take advantage of further opportunities when they present themselves either at a macro or micro level.

There will always be winners and losers in early stage businesses. Both receive funding but only VC backed businesses get the mentorship, support and advice required to navigate through all types of economic conditions to create consistent winners. Within a VC portfolio right now is the opportunity to invest in the next Uber or Airbnb. Go find it!

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Buymie is a Haatch Ventures investment and is a mobile app for On-Demand Groceries. You can order goods from a selection of local stores and have them delivered by a personal shopper in as little as 1 Hour. Buymie were quick to see the opportunity presented by Covid-19, namely the huge increase in demand for delivered groceries and the company believes that this is a trend that will continue after the end of Covid-19.

Buymie facilitates a delivery service for any supermarket which means that any supermarket can compete with the likes of Ocado and Sainsburys, offering a rapid service, and without the fixed overheads of storage, refrigerated vans and inflexible staffing. As a result, Buymie now have relationships with Lidl in Ireland and the Co-op on the UK. Tests are also now being run with Tesco and Asda in the UK. New facilities in Cork and Bristol have created over 150 new jobs.

GB Investment Magazine

About Mark Brownridge Mark has over twenty years’ experience in financial services and prior to becoming Director General of the EIS Association, he was Head of Research and Development at Mazars, a leading UK financial planning firm. Mark is highly qualified being a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Financial Planner, Chartered Wealth Manager and Fellow of the PFS and also sits on the CISI’s Accredited firms committee and TISA’s Distribution Policy Council. Mark’s involvement with EIS began 8 years ago and he has since championed EIS investing within a financial planning context and is extremely passionate about promoting the industry, increasing its effectiveness and ensuring the private sector continues to drive much needed funding to small companies.

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March 2021

THRIFT Y BUSINESS GBI magazine talks to Mark O'Hara, founder of Thrift, about the development of the business and how the support received from Nova has helped to underpin its success

WHAT WAS YOUR LIFE LIKE BEFORE THRIFT? I was passionate about Rugby League, playing for Scotland under-18s. I focused totally on sport, failing most GCSEs, but learning discipline and perseverance!

I still managed to recover and get to university, studying Sports Development. I then went into sports nutrition and supplements, and soon found myself managing an online sports nutrition business for a subsidiary of Tesco.

WHAT GAVE YOU THE IDEA FOR THE BUSINESS? While I was with the sports nutrition business, I had the idea for Thrift, as we wrestled with what would sell online and what would be most profitable. But at the time, I was too busy to do anything with the idea, and moved on to Simply Health, and then Holland & Barrett. I then became ill with pneumonia, and had an enforced rest for three months which gave me time to stop and think!

SO WHAT DOES THRIFT OFFER? Very simply, Thrift lets you know what your unwanted and unused items are worth across the resale market, such as

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eBay, Amazon, Depop and Facebook, which platform is most appropriate and then lets you upload to your chosen Marketplaces. We are making the second-hand market transparent so that people can sell more and earn more themselves. Currently, there are 9 million people in the UK selling things online, forecast to grow to 12 million by 2030.

And in the US there are currently 58 million people doing it, and growing. Yes, we are thinking internationally!

Charities and other retail outlets are important as strategic partners for our early development, but the big market is that of these millions of general consumers.

WHAT PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES DID YOU ENCOUNTER? I first took the idea to Lancaster University, but what I needed was too technically challenging for students.

These were significant challenges and in the early days the tech team at Nova (Nova Cofoundery Limited) was not sure that they could produce the algorithm that operated cost-effectively. In fact, had I known the challenges we faced, I am not sure I would have started. But Nova persevered, and we now have the right working algorithm.

The other major challenge was building a robust panel for user-testing to prove the effectiveness of what we were building. The turning point was when we got a charity

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retailer interested in what we are doing, and we could then access their stores and their staff for the testing.

HAS COVID-19 HAD ANY SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON YOUR BUSINESS? Overall, we have been very fortunate. We had done much of the preparation work with a charity, the British Heart Foundation, when the pandemic arrived in earnest. The intervening time has allowed us to refine what we are doing and plan for a major test. When the charity shops open again, we are now ready to launch a four-week test across five of their branches.

Charities receive many bags of stuff every week. Using Thrift, they will know what is best to sell in store, what online, and how much they should get from it. It is far superior to their current methods, which is done by guesswork and is often inaccurate. It will also indicate which online marketplace is likely to yield the best profit for each item.

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Growth Capital, although that was very important, they gave me a development team from Nova Cofoundrey to work with. They also made me focus on delivering value for the clients, through the lean processes they use.

They have also pushed me to deliver a better proposition, challenged me harder, and made me think bigger, including internationally.

Their belief in me has also made me want to aim higher.

They also made me slow down at times, to test and learn, test and learn, to really gain customer insight, and to be more thorough. It has led to a much better product.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? Undoubtedly more trials, then talking to more charities and then taking it into other retailers that want to trade online post-Covid.

And after that we are very excited about the scale and potential in America. Initial discussions have been met with great enthusiasm!

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SO HOW DID YOU COME ACROSS NOVA? That was simple. My wife saw an ad from Nova Cofoundrey, and I sent in the concept of what I was looking to build. They liked the idea, and things moved rapidly from then on.

WHAT DIFFERENCE HAS NOVA MADE? The difference that Nova has made has been massive.

It was not just the financial investment from Nova

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Nova's view "Mark's idea is absolutely the right product for the times we live in.

Mark has stuck with it through alengthy learning and testing phase, and we are now very excited about the global potential of this product."

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N EWABLE VE NTU RES

March 2021

CREATING A

POSITIVE CIRCLE From understanding the portfolio approach to the investment philosophy driven by the fourth industrial revolution, Sanjeev Gordhan, Director at Newable Ventures, talks to Peter Wilson about why he is passionate about EIS

PHILOSOPHY-LED INVESTMENT Newable Ventures offers two ways of investing through EIS; firstly, the Newable Scale-Up Fund 3 and secondly, on a deal-by-deal basis. All the investments on offer, explains Sanjeev Gordhan, are connected by a strong investment philosophy, namely following a strategy in line with the expectations of the fourth industrial revolution.

This term was popularised at the World Economic Forum, and stipulates in the near future there will be a blurring of the lines between the biological, physical, and digital worlds. Sanjeev said it is this philosophy that drives the sectors which Newable invests in. The philosophy serves a purpose too. Sanjeev wants a better labour market, more equality and more sustainability.

EIS can allow investors to offset the risk that is involved in early stage business investing, while getting exposure to the potential for achieving amazing returns. Newable are

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constantly looking at exit strategies and just last year they saw an exit return 5.6 times their capital investment.

Along with potential for high growth and reducing tax liability, EIS also allows investors to support truly innovative businesses that will shape the society of the future

However Sanjeev wants to “get past hype” of tech, and approach EIS with a deeper investment philosophy. Along with potential for high growth and reducing tax liability, EIS also allows investors to support truly innovative businesses that will shape the society of the future.

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HOW EIS HAS AFFECTED THE UK’S START-UP SCENE Since EIS was first launched in 1994, more than £22 billion has been directly invested into UK businesses through the scheme (as of May 2020). Asked how he thought EIS has influenced the UK’s burgeoning start-up scene, Sanjeev said, “In the UK we have a lot of delegates come from all over the world to try and mimic what we’ve done with EIS and VCT schemes.”

Sanjeev explained that EIS has helped to incentivise investors to get into the early stage investment market, while helping to acknowledge and manage the risks - “put simply, that’s what EIS does, it helps to manage risk.”

Sanjeev suggested that EIS has had a large impact on the UK start-up scene, and explained it as a positive circle.

Investors were attracted because it’s a good policy, and the investors attracted good businesses, and then these good businesses attracted more good investors. Sanjeev, continued, “It grows out of that, we now have a really strong ecosystem throughout the UK.” According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), SMEs account for three fifths of the employment and around half of turnover in the UK private sector. 72% of this growth happened over the last 20 years.

Sanjeev acknowledged that a lot of EIS investment was London-centric. According to the Office for National

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Statistics (ONS), 65% of all EIS investment in 2018-19 was into companies registered in the South East and London.

However, this is something that Newable is helping to counteract with their regional work spaces, something you can read more about here https://ifamagazine.com/ article/newable-helps-to-demystify-eis-for-advisers/ CHANGES TO THE SCHEME Our conversation started with Sanjeev reflecting back to when he was a Wealth Manager. Before the Finance Act of 2018, asset-backed EIS were still widely used by advisers.

These investments were considered less risky as the companies looking for capital had assets that could offset cost if the venture went wrong.

Sanjeev commented, “I struggled with that… it wasn’t about high growth opportunities, and that’s what EIS is meant to be.” Sanjeev continued, “If you’re looking for safer investments, EIS is not what you should be doing.” Sanjeev added “the true spirit of EIS is investing in real innovation and technology.”

In 2016-17 the EIS Association (EISA) recorded around half of EIS investment went into asset-backed schemes. Following legislation in 2018, these projects ceased to work on this model. Sanjeev thinks that advisers are still adapting to this situation and that many advisers see VCTs as the safer option, but are missing an opportunity for high growth.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF PORTFOLIO DIVERSITY So how should advisers incorporate EIS into their client’s portfolio? Considering Sanjeev’s experience as a wealth manager before joining Newable, he is the perfect person to ask.

Sanjeev started by highlighting the necessary barbell approach when considering a client’s portfolio diversity.

Sanjeev gave the example of a client with a risk profile of seven, saying “that doesn’t mean you write off EIS as high risk and not incorporate it.”

Instead, Sanjeev suggests that an adviser should flex the amount they allocate, instead of 10% of the portfolio, allocate 5% and, balance this, an adviser could also put 5-10% of the portfolio into a cash/income funds. Sanjeev continued, I think more advisors need to start looking at EIS as part of the whole investment portfolio rather an individual investment products alone. Tying the EIS investment strategy to the wider portfolio.”

Sanjeev continued to suggest that advisers should start first by looking at the investment scale from a risk and reward basis, and bring in the tax benefits as an additional benefit.

Sanjeev also stressed the importance of knowing what the underlying investments are in an EIS fund. Both clients and advisers should know what businesses they’re funding.

the surface, recently, Newable are getting many more advisers coming directly to them for information.

WHAT WOULD SANJEEV CHANGE ABOUT EIS? Asked if there were any changes to the EIS scheme Sanjeev would like to influence he said, “I would look at increasing the amount under SEIS, so more companies could raise a bit more at seed level.” SEIS caps investment into very small, very high risk companies at £100,000 but offers an increased 50% income tax relief and carry back options.

Often this cash is used to get these small companies onto the EIS stage. Sanjeev compared this to the United States.

“In America seed stage is still several million pounds.”

Sanjeev continued “it’s a different model, but more money would help.”

Sanjeev emphasised he would like to simplify the EIS structure overall, “EIS is not really a fund in the true sense, it’s a pooled investment structure.” The underlying tax relief is based on the actual subscription going into a nominee account, or rather when a clients’ money is deployed into a business within the fund.

Sanjeev continued, this change “would make it a lot easier to understand for advisers, it would make the whole process a lot easier, and it would help fund managers to focus on the underlying investments, rather than all the bits of admin and logistics around that side of things.”

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The amount of people who still aren’t clear on how EIS works, both on an adviser level and an investor level, is huge Asked if the industry needs to do more to tap into a larger investor base, Sanjeev replied, “absolutely 100%. The amount of people who still aren’t clear on how EIS works, both on an adviser level and an investor level, is huge.” Sanjeev added that though adviser engagement in EIS has barely scratched

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About Sanjeev Gordhan Sanjeev became Director of the Newable Ventures arm in May 2020.

He is responsible for the strategic focus of the fund and angel network as well as its day to day management. Sanjeev started as an entrepreneur before going onto selling his own business, and spent five years as a Wealth Manager specialising in venture capital. He holds a diploma in Regulated Financial Planning and an MBA from CASS Business School.

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March 2021

IT’S NOT TOO LATE

FOR EIS GBI Magazine has asked Bulletin’s Martin Fox to look at the issue of deployment within EIS. Here he highlights some of the EIS portfolios which are currently available if you’re looking to deploy by the end of this tax year.

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f you have tax funds you want to deploy by the end of this tax year there are two things you can do right now.

1. Join IFA Magazine for the webinar on Thursday 4th March from 10am-11:30am as they discuss an easy to follow guide on the exact steps to take for maximum tax efficiency in EIS before April 5th.

You can register for the webinar HERE https://register. gotowebinar.com/register/7751131877406992651 2. Check out the following EIS portfolios which are guaranteed to deploy into eligible companies before this tax year ends.

Mark Brownridge, Director General of the EIS Association said “We all know a deadline helps focus the mind and never more so than with the tax year-end. With 6th April now hurtling into view, it’s vital financial planners take the time to understand the full EIS market before making their EIS and SEIS recommendations to clients. Of particular importance is being aware of when and how client’s money will be invested. If your recommendations are reliant on monies

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being invested before the tax year end, now is the time to discover which funds can and can’t meet this objective. “ ASCENSION VENTURES One of the companies Ascension Ventures will be investing in this tax year is Better Nature.

Better Nature is a leading all-natural plant-based protein brand and UK food tech company focused on tempeh fermentation. By developing flavoursome, nutritious and all-natural meat-free products, the company is producing a product packed with protein that doesn't compromise on people, the planet or animals. The team is exceptional, with market leading and patented technology and Ascension sees the meat-free category as a key growth market.

As a result of a consumer change in buying habits through a realisation of the detrimental health and climate impact of a meat-based diet, the plant-based market is booming as consumers adopt vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian diets in larger numbers. The UK meat-free

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market generated £530m of sales in 2020, with the global plant-based market expected to grow to $74.2bn in 2027 with an avg CAGR of 12% (sources: The Grocer, Grand View Research and Vegan Society).

Close 4th of April 2021.

Deployment expected before the end of tax year.

ARIE CAPITAL ARIE Capital will be deploying into four companies and an example of one of these is Engage.do It is a white label web application platform delivering bespoke and audience engagement solutions. Engage has developed an industry leading web application platform that enables brands to quickly and efficiently build complex web and mobile applications at a fraction of the cost of traditional development processes.

Through Engages proprietary and versatile platform, brands can build their own app by adding in their choice of prebuilt modules such as on-boarding, chat, news feed, push notifications payments and subscriptions to create a bespoke customer experience. Once built, brands can then maintain a clear overview of their app’s performance through Engage’s physical access management and admin dashboard, as well as fully integrate with an existing CRM, allowing them to measure, adapt and constantly improve the way they engage with their customers.

Evergreen.

Deployment before the end of tax year.

THE SIDE BY SIDE PARTNERSHIP The Side by Side Partnership will be deploying on the 31st of March, with a target return of 3x and no initial or annual

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fees charged to investors so clients get 100% of their fund for tax relief.

One of the companies they will be investing in is LaundryHeap provides an on-demand laundry & drycleaning service, offering collection and delivery in just 24 hours. LaundryHeap’s customers for the laundry service include both individual (B2C) customers and B2B businesses using the service for their guest’s laundry in hotels or in the short-let and Airbnb market.

Competitors have often entered the market with significant capital outlays, however, with a cost efficient model and the ability to easily scale-up and down as required, we believe LaundryHeap is in an extremely competitive position within its market. With the recent increased focus on sanitisation and hygiene, we believe that the linens rental side (B2B) of the business is well positioned to benefit from the predicted increase in travel bookings as we emerge from the pandemic.

Next close is 30th of March 2021.

Deployment 31st of March 2021.

PAR EQUITY Par Equity will be deploying into 6 companies this tax year.

One of the companies is a digital forensics company.

This company's patented technology helps law enforcement, social media and cloud service providers find and block harmful content, such as child pornography and terrorism.

The company’s first product, a digital breathalyzer helps police and counter-terrorism units in the field determine if devices have harmful content within minutes (versus days with incumbent solutions).

The second generation product goes even further and prevents harmful content from being uploaded onto social media sites and file sharing platforms. Well in revenue, with

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huge addressable market and a highly impressive team with a heavy hitting advisory board. Par is leading a £4.5m investment round into this business.

Close 12th March 2021.

Deployments before tax year end.

HA ATCH VENTURES

March 2021

eBay, Amazon, Depop and Facebook. The investee company will tell customers which platform is most appropriate to sell on and which will get you the best price, and allows you simply upload to your chosen Marketplace.

The company’s founder said, “we are making the secondhand market transparent, so people can sell more and earn more themselves. The market is growing, and we also in trials with charities to help them. We also have eyes on the US market, with 58m people currently selling online.

Haatch will be deploying into 5 companies before the end of the tax year. One of the companies is a health technology digital platform that provides a clear personalised analysis of your body’s current state to enable you to lead a healthy lifestyle and help prevent chronic illness. It quite literally has the potential to preventing illness before it happens.

Next close 19th of March 2021.

Given the right personalised information people can change their lifestyle to postpone and eliminate chronic illness years before symptoms become detectable. The difference is the ability to link genetic results to lifestyle and functional testing assessments while providing granular personalised recommendations all in one place. No other platform currently offers this.

One of the companies that the Vala EIS Portfolio will be backing is The Sustainability Group, led by Mike Penrose, a former exec at Unicef UK and Save the children International and Alex Smith, an experienced commercial director with significant sustainability experience. The funds will enable the team to expand its operations and develop a highly scalable platform for advising businesses, foundations, financial institutions and family offices on how to make sustainability and social purpose an integral part of their operational and investment approach.

Close 19th March 2021.

Deployment expected by 2nd April 2021.

NOVA Nova will be deploying into 24 different companies, mostly through seed EIS, but a few in EIS to support some of their growing companies. An example of one of these is a business that will innovate the resell market. Currently there are 9m people in the UK selling goods online, most second hand, and the figure is growing.

Deployment planned before end of tax year.

VALA CAPITAL

Jasper Smith, founder Vala Capital, says: 'Sustainability is a core focus at Vala and we hope it will be intrinsic to all business. It is rare that you find a company such as The Sustainability Group that has the skills, experience and technology to become a leader in business transition and we are delighted to support them in this exciting venture.’

Close date for this tranche 30th March 2020.

Deployment before end of tax year.

GBI

Very simply this business lets you know what your unwanted and unused items are worth across the resale market, such as

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N EXUS

March 2021

THE NEXUS APPEAL Matthew O’Kane, Managing Director of the specialist Nexus Investments’ EIS Scale-Up Fund, uses a case study approach to highlight the Nexus appeal for subscribers and advisers “on the way in”

A

s a refresher, in my previous December 2020 article, I reported how I first came across the concept of the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), back in 2002, whilst I was studying for my Chartered Accountancy exams with PwC. Now almost 20 years later, and as Managing Director of the quietly-growing Nexus Investments’ Scale-Up Fund (recently doubled AUM for the 2nd year in succession, and with a very promising record emerging as the only specialist EIS Fund focussed solely on Data-Digital-Ed Tech-Health) I continue to find its attractions more pertinent than ever before.

Having last time run through how we have achieved successes for EIS investors “on the way out” of their investments alongside us, the purpose of this short case study (number two of two) is to give you some real life examples of who and why some or our more recent growing subscriber base have selected us “on the way in.”

CASE STUDY 1 – THE DIRECT INVESTOR AN ACTIVE NHS CONSULTANT SEEKING “THE THEMES OF TOMORROW” In mid-2020, around six weeks into first lockdown, I received an email one day, from a Doctor, a Consultant,

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based in Scotland. He had been in discussion two years previously with a prospective financial advisor, who had made him aware of the potential usages of EIS, in terms of financial planning for him his wife and their young children. Both were working in senior roles within the NHS and financial services, in their early 40s, they were in the fortunate position of shortly to pay off their mortgage. The advisor had encouraged them to put money into one or more of his “recommended” EIS or VCT funds. The consultant explained to us, that they had decided against working with the prospective advisor two years previously because a) every area recommended was new to them b) he had the sixth sense that the advisor, perhaps, viewed EIS as a “thing” solely for tax purposes, so c) could not answer properly questions about which industries the underlying deployments would go into, or what the investments actually sought to achieve (outside of the tax aspects of IHT, capital gains mitigation, income tax etc).

Two years later, now working long overtime hours fighting COVID on the front line, this particular individual had now paid off the mortgage. Both he and his wife were now earning income (due to the long overtime) that was causing issues with their pension position, both lifetime cap and annual allowances.

Remembering the EIS chat two years previously, the

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Consultant decided to go to the EISA website which lists out all providers in the space. The couple are in their 40s, rather than 50s, 60s or 70s; therefore still working, but tech natives; with young children engaged in remote and digitised learning every day c/o lockdown; and seeing digital methods as well as focus on health and nutrition increasingly prevalent every day at their own places of work. This meant the Doctor was ideally looking for a precise, sector-specialist EIS fund manager, in tune with and backing these trends of tomorrow. In his mind, he wanted to find an Investment Group focussed on positive investment into promising companies in the Data, Digital, Ed Tech & Health Tech areas. His attitude was that risk goes hand in hand with potential reward, so for them EIS would not be a “capital preservation”led strategy, but a combination of tax-efficiency allied to an opportunity to be a participant in Venture Capital.

He discovered that our fund was the only one that appeared to have a focus solely on these sectors by theme. As distinct from being a generalist fund manager.

Having contacted us to find out more, we went through a number of zoom related meetings, which ultimately led to that investor deciding that we were the absolute fit from him and his wife's point of view. He subscribed to our Fund in the summer of 2020, and we have already deployed over 60% of his capital for him.

GB Investment Magazine

March 2021

CASE STUDY 2 – THE ADVISED CLIENT A SEMI-RETIRED GP SPECIFYING “FIND ME SOMETHING PROGRESSIVE IN MY OWN FIELD” Another case study, also comes from the summer of 2020.

In discussions with their IFA in the southwest of the UK, a retired GP client made it clear to the adviser that they had recently disposed of a 2nd home in Bristol. Now recently retired, they did not want an EIS investment to be made for them (as part of a sensible Capital Gains Tax deferral strategy relating to the aforementioned asset sale), into areas that were too generalist or indeed areas outside of their own sphere of interest. This particular investor had noticed increasing prevalence of digitisation within her surgery work over the previous decade. She made it clear that as her advisor, he needed to find her an EIS fund manager to enable her to be invested into areas such as remote medicine and nutrition/well-being.

This advisor was faced with more of a challenge than usual. His historic contacts (and indeed most of his other clients’ EIS monies) were with the “same old” larger scale tax-efficient fund investment groups, those generally of either a very specialist, or a very generalist approach, often promoting VCTs as well as EISs, often where their own scaling meant less of a focus from the principals on being close to their sectors or investments. Clearly

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March 2021

N EXUS

none of them fitted the bill here. As a result of hearing a podcast we had done with Hardman’s Lead Reviewer Brian Moretta, and having researched on the internet for specialist Healthcare-experienced EIS Fund listings (this time, again, the EIS Association website), this advisor saw the name Nexus, which appeared to have been focussed for some years on the areas that were “non-negotiable” to his client He had never heard of Nexus, or of our EIS Fund, but he was intrigued, so he reached out to us, for an initial chat.

His threshold, in terms of expectations by an IFA from a Fund Manager was high. He needed to know we had a robust group history, that the Nexus leaders are aligned (via our own skin-in-the-game, on same terms as fund investors i.e. that we have been prepared to risk our own capital), that our pipeline was as good as we were suggesting. He wanted to know about the background of Harry Hyman in establishing the Primary Health Properties Plc business and leading that to the FTSE-250 and >£2.3bn AUM / almost £2bn market cap from start-up stage. He wanted to know about my own background qualifying with PwC, then latterly Deloitte in tax, and secondment within Bridgepoint, and investment experience spotting, backing and nurturing entrepreneurs. He wished to know about our investment advisory committee, and what role Stephen Lawrence had played in running a number of PE backed businesses in the education sector, how senior Keith Mansfield had been at PwC when London Chairman, and so on.

He needed to verify that we had indeed had a partial exit earlier in 2020 from one Ed Tech business at 4.72x / 9.44x after SEIS, but that all our investors had continued

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to hold because in our view there was plenty further growth to come in that particular investment. He also wanted to see evidence of our six-monthly reporting: did we really show the entry price per share that our investors receive beneficial interest in the underlying investments? How come other EIS fund managers try to avoid showing that if they can do so?

After a number of conversations, and substantial due diligence, the IFA reported back. In his view our offering was streets ahead of some of the much larger and established EIS Fund and VCT competition out there, whom he had regularly dealt with over many years. He felt it was night and day. His client has recently (in Autumn 2020) subscribed, and has 6 underlying holdings now already.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PORTFOLIO….

In both the case studies above, where actually has our Fund been deploying those subscribers' capital?

So far, for each investor that has been into Medicspot (at the forefront of online-video consultation and COVID testing in the UK); Dynarisk (cyber security, particularly for re-sale within the US and European insurance industry); Pi-Top (coding and robotics for teaching in US schools and at home); Compleat (B2B purchase automation accounting software for global SMEs (incl. analytics)); Hub Box (software provided to enterprise retailers (particularly in the US) for them to integrate click and collect alongside major delivery companies such as UPS); and MarcoPolo (award-winning early-years online school/media company, recently partnered with

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the largest preschool curriculum publisher in the US, for millions of the very youngest students to use as part of their curriculum over the next 5 years).

Those 6 companies, alongside the 6 other portfolio members of our Fund, took part in our Annual 2020 Capital Day in December, for investors to meet their portfolio (this year over Zoom – see Founder images to the right).

March 2021

For more information on Nexus Investments Scale-Up Fund and our monthly subscription schedules, visit www.scaleupfund.co.uk. For more information on Nexus’s 27-year group history, and to see more of the D/D/E/H companies we have backed to date to globally scale-up, visit www.nivl.co.uk.

I will end this second case study with a message we received from the Scottish NHS Consultant in January 2021 (following receipt of his latest EIS3 form via us): “Thank you so much for sending me this, really helpful [before 31 January tax return submission]. I also wanted to feedback how interesting I found the recording of the Capital day. I thought it was very well presented and gave me a real taste of the Nexus Fund.”

IN SUMMARY I hope that over the course of the two articles, this month and previously, we have likewise given you, the reader, a real taste of the Nexus Investments’ EIS Scale-Up Fund, both its attractions “on the way in” and its successes to date and future promise “on the way out”.

I have not even touched upon what the portfolio companies’ themselves receive from us: nurturing, making introductions, setting strategy, assisting with financing, driving good board behaviour, cultivating the entrepreneurial gene. Nor have I particularly touched upon what many of the portfolio say about us themselves.

Perhaps these can follow in a future piece….

GBI

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GBI OPEN OFFERS A selection of tax efficient opportunities currently open for investment 48

GB Investment Magazine

Open Offers

EIS Open

SEIS

Evergreen

Open

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

Uncapped

Nova Cofoundery SEIS & EIS Fund Members of the Nova team have spent the last 10 years developing their cofoundery model which we believe addresses 5 of the most common mistakes made by startups.

The Fund is intended for those UK tax paying individuals:

Minimum Investment:

£10,000

• Seeking a diversified exposure in a highly concentrated asset class to knowledge intensive companies in the UK • With income tax liability in the preceding or current tax years • With large capital gains to defer or mitigate • Who look to benefit from IHT relief

T. 0151 318 0761 E. alistair@novagrowthcapital.co.uk www.novagrowthcapital.co.uk

The minimum individual investment in The Fund is £10,000. At the Investment Manager's discretion, smaller individual investments may be accepted, however, this is not guaranteed.

The selection of investee companies and the subsequent allocation of investor’s subscriptions to the investee companies are made at the discretion of the Investment Manager with guidance from the Investment Advisor.

Highlights An engaged hands-on approach from an experienced startup team • Free of manager fees to the investor for subscriptions received via a financial adviser, facilitating 100% deployment of investor funds and aiming to ensure maximum tax efficiency for the investor • All SEIS and EIS tax advantages applicable, depending on personal circumstances and subject to HMRC approval • Target return of 172p for every 100p invested (Not including EIS or SEIS reliefs) • Performance fee aligns our interests with the investors Still accepting investments for this tax year for Carry Back to 19/20. Investments required by the 19th March 2021.

EIS Open

Now

SEIS Close

Multiple

Amount to be Raised: Evergreen

Minimum Investment: £10,000

Start-Up Series Fund The Start-Up Series Fund is an evergreen EIS & SEIS service. Managed as an Alternative Investment Fund by Amersham Investment Management Limited, authorised and regulated by the FCA. The service is designed for eligible subscribers to be invested in selected winners of the Start-Up Series, a monthly competition organised by Worth Capital Limited and promoted by smallbusiness.co.uk. The Fund invests in qualifying B2C or B2B companies with innovative products or services that can create new consumer behaviours in growth markets, with teams that demonstrate compelling marketing & communication skills and with a clear credible route to exit.

• EIS & SEIS investments – choose EIS, SEIS or both • Businesses selected by real world, commercial entrepreneurs with deep brand, marketing, retail & innovation expertise – Worth Capital • A unique approach to UK EIS & SEIS fund investing – a monthly competition which has attracted almost 3,000 applications to date

T. 07768571271 E. pauls@worthcapital.uk worthcapital.uk

• Ongoing oversight from experienced investor directors – skilled in helping accelerate growth & reducing risk • Investments in ‘mini-portfolios’ of typically 3 or 4 businesses • Investments qualifying for attractive EIS & SEIS tax reliefs Any investment in the Start-Up Series Fund places capital at risk of total loss and will not be readily realisable. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change.

We recommend retail investors take professional advice before investing.

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EIS Open

Close Evergreen - next tranche 19th March 2021

Haatch Ventures EIS Fund Haatch Ventures is an award-winning EIS Fund offering full deployment into 4-6 new investee companies by the end of the current 2020/21 tax year.

Amount to be Raised:

The Haatch Ventures EIS Fund is managed by four successful entrepreneurs who have between them founded, grown and sold businesses worth over $150 million.

Minimum Investment: £10,000

The fund aims to back four to six early-stage digital transformation businesses in sectors the team knows well, such as software-as-a-service, on-demand, gig-economy and digital consumer.

The team invest where they believe they can use their considerable experience to add value. Haatch refers to this as its ‘Smart Money’ approach.

£10m+ this year

T. 01780 408487 E. fred@haatch.com www.haatch.com

EIS Open

March 2012

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £10m - £25m per annum

Minimum Investment: £20,000

T. 0131 556 0044 E. pauline.cassie@parequity.com www.parequity.com

“The Fund has a target return of 10x which is significantly higher than any other SEIS or EIS fund currently fundraising and listed on MICAP, and the track record of Haatch Angel somewhat supports the ambition of this target.” – MICAP.

Par EIS Fund Recognised as "highly commended" in the 2020 EIS Association Awards for Best EIS Fund Manager.

Across 22 realisations made to date, Par is demonstrating strong and consistent returns to investors.

Par Equity is a leading EIS fund manager, investing in innovative, high growth technology businesses across the north of the UK. We harness the expertise and contacts of our Par Investor Network and wider contacts to create a distinctive, operationally focused investment model that benefits both investors and entrepreneurs.

The Fund is focused on innovative companies. These are companies which are developing new technologies for sale or using advances in technology to disrupt existing markets. Par Equity has invested in companies operating in areas such as software, public health, e-commerce, social media, consumer electronics, photonics, technical textiles and medical devices. The unifying characteristic of Par Equity’s portfolio is therefore the importance of innovative technologies to the investment case underpinning each commitment of capital. In building the investment case, Par Equity draws on the experience, expertise and contacts of the Investment Team, but also the resources of individuals within the Par Investor Network. In this way, Par Equity can make informed decisions across a range of sectors, providing the potential for Investors, over a series of Subscriptions, to gain exposure to a diverse range of growth-oriented investments.

Strategy for the Fund: • Focused on early stage technology companies with high quality management teams addressing global markets • Co-investing with experienced angel investors who add value to portfolio companies at each stage through to exit • Target portfolio of 7 - 8 investments • Target deployment within 12 months • Expected holding period of 5 - 7 years with a benchmark IRR of 15% Experience and track record of the Fund Manager: as at 31st December 2020 • 85+ years experience in EIS. • 247 EIS qualifying investments • 61 companies backed • £84m invested by Par leveraging a further £135m • 9.8 months average time taken to full deployment into 8 companies • 96 days EIS3 • 22 realisations

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• 3.8x money multiple (before tax relief)

• 27% IRR

• 4.5 years average holding period.

GB Investment Magazine

Open Offers

EIS Open

Close

1st February 2020

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

£20m raised, uncapped Minimum Investment: £25k

Scale Up EIS Fund This is Fuel Ventures flagship EIS fund that we have been investing from for 5 years. We invest into 10-15 technology companies each year, with a focus on businesses that are marketplaces, platform or software. We now have 40+ portfolio companies and after 5 years our first fund has an average multiple uplift of 5.6X, validated by external fundraising rounds.

We have an advisory committee with over 50+ year’s experience and exits totalling £3bn+. We put a Director on the Board of every company we invest in and take an active and hands on role in the management and development of each company, plus bring added extra value through our network of sector experts. As a team, we invest 5-10% in total in every fund alongside our investors, which is £2m - £3m into the current fund.

T. +44 2038689723 E. investors@fuel.ventures https://fuel.ventures/

EIS Open

Close

1st January 2021

31st March 2021

Amount to be Raised:

£5m raised, uncapped Minimum Investment: £25k

Follow-On EIS Fund The Follow-On Fund invests in 5-7 of our top performing portfolio companies. The companies are carefully selected from our existing portfolio of 40+ technology businesses. The fund invests at the late seed or Series A stage where the companies have proven traction and have demonstrated they are growing quickly.

To date, we have made 13 investments from this fund and have seen fast-growth from a number of companies such as Shift, an on-deman logistics platform and, and OnBuy, an ecommerce marketplace. The companies are EIS eligible and investors can decide if they would like their funds deployed before 5th April 2021 or after 5th April 2021.

T. +44 2038689723 E. investors@fuel.ventures https://fuel.ventures/

EIS Open

1st March 2020

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

Seeking to raise up to £30 million per annum

Minimum Investment: £25k

T. 0161 641 9475 E. ventures@praetura.co.uk www.praeturaventures.com

GB Investment Magazine

Praetura EIS Growth Fund The Praetura EIS Growth Fund will provide access to a unique selection of innovative growth companies that have an established proof-of-concept and commercial viability. It is intended for investors who want to achieve capital growth by investing in early-stage, unquoted companies which have the potential to increase in value significantly.

Praetura are an active fund manager and work with driven management teams at the foundational stages of their business. Each of their portfolio businesses provide access to recurring, high margin revenue streams and have the opportunity for operational leverage once scaled. Areas of focus include; Creative, Digital & Tech, Financial, Professional & Business Services, Energy & Environment, Advanced Manufacturing and Health & Life Sciences.

As an ‘Evergreen’ fund, the Praetura EIS Growth Fund will have two ‘soft closes’ per annum, and the next soft close is 31st March 2021. The Fund will invest into c. 8-10 promising young businesses and expect to fully deploy the capital within 6 months of each relevant close date.

The fund is targeting a minimum return profile of 2x return on capital. This, combined with the tax reliefs available and Praetura's track record, offers investors an attractive investment opportunity.

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EIS Open

Close

17 November 2020

n/a

Amount to be Raised:

n/a

Minimum Investment:

£50,000

Octopus Ventures EIS Service A new service from Octopus supported by Europe’s largest venture capital firm.

We created the Octopus Ventures EIS Service to give investors the opportunity to invest in 10-15 earlystage businesses with high growth potential (each targeting 10x growth), handpicked and managed by our expert investment teams.

The Octopus Ventures EIS Service could be suitable for those who want to target high growth from a long term investment, want to diversify their portfolio and those who want to directly own shares in exciting earlystage companies, providing they are comfortable with the risks of early stage investing.

We believe that there are three stages to achieving capital growth from investments in early-stage businesses, which our specialist in house investment teams are experienced at delivering: 1. Access to investment opportunities that have the potential to achieve high growth.

2. Effective nurturing and support of a business as it matures.

T. 0800 316 2067 E. support@octopusinvestments.com

octopusinvestments.com

3. The ability to manage a successful exit.

For someone investing on their own, each of these stages would pose a challenge.

We are fortunate that through 20 years of investing in smaller companies, we have established a reputation that means many talented entrepreneurs approach us with their ideas when they are looking for a first investment into their business. We also have access to an exciting range of follow-on investment opportunities in smaller companies seeking additional funding for further expansion.

Key risks to keep in mind • The value of an EIS investment, and any income from it, can fall as well as rise. Investors may not get back the full amount they invest.

• Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change in the future.

• Tax reliefs depend on the portfolio companies maintaining their EIS-qualifying status.

• The share price of EIS companies may be volatile and they may be hard to sell.

EIS investments are not suitable for everyone. We do not offer investment or tax advice. Issued by Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT. Registered in England and Wales No. 03942880. We record telephone calls.

Issued: November 2020. CAM010471.

VCT Open

21 October 2020

Close

20 October 2021

Amount to be Raised: £120 million

Minimum Investment: £3,000

Octopus Titan VCT Since 2007, Octopus Titan VCT has earned a reputation for backing pioneering entrepreneurs.

Octopus Titan VCT is the largest VCT in the market, with over £900 million of funds under management1 and a diverse portfolio of around 80 companies.

Titan has a proud history of backing some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs, having made early investments in Zoopla Property Group, Secret Escapes and graze.com, among many others, and continues to provide backing to promising companies with the potential to become household names.

Octopus Ventures is the team that manages the investments in Titan, investing mainly in UK-based techenabled companies with global ambitions and the potential to grow quickly.

The team is one of the largest in Europe, and our network reaches from China to Silicon Valley from our base in London and office in New York.

Octopus Ventures backs pioneering entrepreneurs who are changing the world, focusing predominantly on four key areas: Future of Health, Future of Money, Deep Tech and Consumer.

T. 0800 316 2067 E. support@octopusinvestments.com

octopusinvestments.com

Having deep expertise in these key areas helps attract the best entrepreneurs, who tend to have a preference for investors who specialise in their sector. It also allows us to find the best opportunities in each area more efficiently while continuing to build specialist skills and expertise.

Key risks to keep in mind • The value of a VCT investment, and any income from it, can fall as well as rise. Investors may not get back the full amount they invest.

• Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change in the future.

• Tax reliefs depend on the VCT maintaining its VCT-qualifying status.

• VCT shares are by their nature high risk, their share price may be volatile and they may be hard to sell.

Octopus Investments, 30 June 2020

1

VCT investments are not suitable for everyone. We do not offer investment or tax advice. This advertisement is not a prospectus. Investors should only subscribe for shares based on information in the prospectus and Key Information Document (KID), which can be obtained from octopusinvestments.com. Issued by Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT. Registered in England and Wales No. 03942880. We record telephone calls.

Issued: November 2020. CAM010472.

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GB Investment Magazine

Open Offers

BPR Open

Close

2007

n/a

Amount to be Raised:

n/a

Minimum Investment:

£25,000

Octopus Inheritance Tax Service Since 2007, the Octopus Inheritance Tax Service has given investors the opportunity to invest in the shares of companies making a positive contribution to the UK’s economic growth. The companies are unquoted, which means their shares do not trade on any stock exchange. We select companies that we expect to qualify for Business Property Relief (BPR). This is a government approved relief from inheritance tax.

Provided the investment has been held for at least two years at the time of death, it can be left to their beneficiaries free of inheritance tax.

Octopus Inheritance Tax Service is a Discretionary Fund Management Service. The service aims to deliver steady investment growth of 3% per year on average over the lifetime of an investment. The service is flexible enough to adapt to the investors needs, should their circumstances change in later life, subject to liquidity.

Key risks to keep in mind

T. 0800 316 2067 E. support@octopusinvestments.com

octopusinvestments.com

• The value of an investment, and any income from it, can fall as well as rise. Investors may not get back the full amount they invest.

• Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and could change in the future.

• Tax relief depends on portfolio companies maintaining their qualifying status.

• The shares of unquoted companies could fall or rise in value more than shares listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. They may also be harder to sell.

BPR-qualifying investments are not suitable for everyone. Any recommendation should be based on a holistic review of your client's financial situation, objectives and needs. We do not offer investment or tax advice. Issued by Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT. Registered in England and Wales No. 03942880. We record telephone calls. Issued: July 2020. CAM010110.

EIS Open

Evergreen

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: N/A Minimum Investment: £25,000

Oxford Capital Growth EIS Established in 1999, Oxford Capital is an alternative investment manager passionate about investing in early stage technology companies. For over 20 years, we have offered private investors access to many high-impact technology companies in sectors which the UK is considered a world leader. We partner with portfolio companies and founders to help grow their businesses and deliver meaningful impact in their fields.

The Oxford Capital Growth EIS is an evergreen fund that offers investors the opportunity to invest in a portfolio of shares in early stage technology companies that have the potential to grow rapidly.

The portfolio of 8-12 companies provides exposure to sectors such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, financial technologies and future of retail.

We aim to invest in companies that are:

T. 01865 860760 E. investors@oxcp.com www.oxcp.com

• Run by credible, talented and highly driven entrepreneurs, founders and management teams • Solving commercial, technological and scientific problems in innovative ways • Businesses that have the potential to have a positive impact to the environment and on society We aim to fully invest each initial subscription within 12-18 months and exit most investments within 5-7 years. Capital at risk, unquoted companies are a high risk investment.

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EIS Open

Close

30 November 2018

Evergreen

(monthly closes), next closes

28 February 2021 26 March 2021 Amount to be Raised:

£10,000,000 (£4,300,000 raised to date) Minimum Investment: £25,000

Nexus Investments’ EIS Scale-Up Fund A leading FCA Authorised sector-specialist EIS Scale-Up Fund For 2020/21 that helps advisors & investors deploy targeted, specialist risk capital, empowering growth and productivity at this important time.

We build each subscriber a curated portfolio of 8-10+ exciting, early-stage, EIS qualifying, businesses scaling up in the Data, Digital, Educational and Health sectors.

Nexus is owned by entrepreneur and financier, Harry Hyman, who in 1996 founded, and is still managing director of Primary Health Properties Plc, a FTSE-250 listed Healthcare Real Estate Investment Trust with over £2.4bn AUM itself.

Nexus also founded and runs HealthInvestor magazine, Education Investor and now Nutrition Investor, which are specialist B2B information, news and events titles for each respective sector.

The only UK EIS specialist: – part of a wider corporate group historically managing >£2.4bn AUM – with 27 years group history (including a FTSE-250 Healthcare REIT) – solely Scale-Up, and since inception, solely Data, Digital, EdTech & Health

T. 0207 104 2059 E. nexusinvestments@nexusgroup.co.uk www.scaleupfund.co.uk www.nivl.co.uk

SEIS Open

Close

June 2019

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £3m Minimum Investment: £10,000

– with exciting track record of Venture Investments since 2014 – with meaningful partial exits (+84% first-time score by MJ Hudson Allenbridge)

Jenson SEIS Fund Pioneer of SEIS investments, Jenson have been investing in early stage companies since 2012 with 108 investments. The Jenson SEIS Fund aims to target new innovative companies which are developing disruptive technologies with established plans and management teams, demonstrated growth potential with strong commercial opportunities with a planned exit strategy. The Fund is a generalist fund, thereby the sector focus is agnostic and the type of businesses and opportunities can be anything that is SEIS compliant (typically small early stage companies in non-capital intensive sectors). Jenson has a strong pipeline of investment opportunities.

Highlights

T. 020 7788 7539 E. invest@jensonfunding.com www.jensonfundingpartners.com

EIS Open

July 2019

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £5m Minimum Investment: £10,000

T. 020 7788 7539 E. invest@jensonfunding.com www.jensonfundingpartners.com

• Target Size - £3 million in respect of the 2020/2021 tranche • Diversified Portfolio Size of 8 to 12 SEIS companies • Eight exits to date with a range of multiple returns from x.5 to potential of x12.

Jenson EIS Fund The Jenson EIS Fund has a mandate to focus on long-term capital growth and enables private investors to invest in a range of committed and ambitious entrepreneurs and their early stage growing companies. The Jenson EIS Fund predominantly facilitates syndicated follow-on funding to its existing portfolio, external opportunities are also considered allowing us to benchmark against our existing opportunities. Investing in our portfolio allows us to support management teams that we have already worked along side. All companies will be small unquoted UK companies that qualify under the EIS tax rules. The Fund is a generalist fund, thereby the sector focus is agnostic, and the type of businesses and opportunities can be anything that is EIS compliant (typically small early stage companies in non-capital intensive sectors).

Highlights • Follow-on funding for 19 of our existing portfolio companies.

• Syndicated investment strategy releasing £3 for every £1 of Jenson Investment.

• Solid pipeline of investment opportunities with capacity to deploy, targeting £6m for deployment into 10-15 portfolio companies.

54

GB Investment Magazine

Open Offers

VCT Open

02/10/2020

Close

30/09/2021

Amount to be Raised:

£20m Ordinary shares + £10m over- allotment facility Minimum Investment: £3,000

Blackfinch Spring VCT Growth-Stage Investing The Blackfinch Spring VCT invests in technology-enabled firms at growth stage, bringing a higher chance of success. We invest in firms that have already raised funding, gained traction and aim to accelerate the scale-up process.

Tech-Enabled Firms We’re focused on companies using the Internet, mobile devices and social media to offer better products and services. Exposure to different firms and sectors helps create portfolio diversification.

Return Targets We target firms offering the potential for higher returns at exit. They need to show they have revenue and customers, and are capable of disrupting large, growing markets.

Tax Benefits • Up to 30% Income Tax relief (minimum holding period five years) • Gains exempt from Capital Gains Tax (CGT) when investors sell shares T. 01452 717070 E. enquiries@blackfinch.com www.blackfinch.com

• No Income Tax on dividends

Discounts • 1% per share for new applications received before 3pm, 5 April 2021 • 1% per share for existing investors (additional to the above discount) up until 3pm, 5 April 2021 Capital at risk.

IHT Open

Close

Evergreen

N/A

Amount to be Raised:

N/A

Minimum Investment:

£25,000

Adapt IHT Portfolios Meeting the Inheritance Tax Challenge Inheritance Tax (IHT) legislation, set against property values, means this tax remains a challenge for many. Our IHT solution uses Business Relief for a swifter route to IHT exemption after just two years (and if held at death).

Diverse Opportunities Three investee firms provide access to a wide range of opportunities: • Lyell Trading: property development finance • Sedgwick Trading: renewables investment • Henslow Trading: asset-backed finance

Choice Each client can choose from four model portfolios. This means each can find what’s right for them in terms of sustainable investing, their objectives and risk profile.

T. 01452 717070 E. enquiries@blackfinch.com www.blackfinch.com

• Ethical: focus mainly on renewables and low carbon projects, target return of 3%* p.a.

• Balanced: focus on capital preservation, target return of 4%* p.a.

• Balanced Growth: focus on capital preservation with growth, target return 4.5%* p.a.

• Growth: focus on growth, target return of 5%+* p.a. *All target returns net of costs and charges

Value We only take an annual management fee of 0.5% +VAT after we have achieved the minimum target return on the model portfolio a client selects.

Control Clients retain access to and control of capital, enabling withdrawals if their situation changes.

They can also take regular payments or leave capital invested.

Capital at risk.

GB Investment Magazine

55

EIS Open

Close

Evergreen

N/A

Amount to be Raised:

N/A

Minimum Investment:

£10,000 advised £50,000 non-advised

Blackfinch Ventures EIS Portfolios EIS Provider The Blackfinch Ventures EIS Portfolios are our open offering as a provider of Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) services. We have a strong track record in EIS, having previously raised funding across sectors. We’re passionate about supporting new firms as they grow.

Tech Focus We invest in forward-thinking new technology companies. Firms operate across sectors, with offerings based on ground-breaking new concepts, using highly specialised technology. With the potential to change the way we live and work, they’re set to make an impact in global markets.

Return Targets We target higher returns of 3-5x on investment, focused on successful outcomes for clients and companies. We identify firms early in their life and invest before they take off. Risk management is key to our strategy.

Tax Benefits • Up to 30% Income Tax relief T. 01452 717070 E. enquiries@blackfinch.com www.blackfinch.com

• 100% Inheritance Tax (IHT) exemption on qualifying investments after two years (and if held at death) • Capital Gains Tax (CGT) deferral relief (up to three years prior to investment and up to one year in advance) • Growth free of CGT (if Income Tax Relief has been claimed) • Offsetting of capital losses up to 45% • Carry back to previous tax year (for Income Tax relief) Capital at risk.

EIS Open

Evergreen

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £10m Minimum Investment: £25,000

E. invest@o2h.com www.o2hventures.com

The o2h human health EIS knowledge intensive fund o2h ventures launched the o2h human health EIS knowledge intensive fund as the first HMRC approved knowledge intensive fund.

The investment focus of the HMRC approved knowledge intensive fund will be therapeutic drug opportunities or technologies that enable drug discovery with an emphasis on Artificial Intelligence (AI). The geographic scope shall be UK wide, following on from the success of the ‘o2h human health EIS Fund.

Knowledge intensive investing offers investors an opportunity to take advantage of the predictability of the tax year, from which they are able to claim relief. To date, investors in EIS funds claim relief when the funds are deployed into a business. However, in the new HMRC approved knowledge intensive funds, relief is dated when the investment into the fund is made (with carry back options depending on individual circumstances).

The biotech sector is one of the leading sectors in the UK economy. The large pharma companies now rely on the small innovative biotechs for new ideas in disease areas such as cancer, genomics, anti-ageing and neurosciences amongst others which has led to higher potential exit valuations.

The fund will widen the community of investors that will help expand early stage research in the UK. The o2h team are leaders in the biotech community and have been actively involved as investors, holding various board/industry positions as well as being engaged in grassroots scientific activity for over 20 years. o2h operate from their proprietary 2.7 acre o2h SciTech Park where they are developing a unique model for incubating small life science companies.

Key Highlights The first HMRC approved Knowledge intensive fund • Portfolio Diversification - Investment in 5-7 portfolio companies • o2h Ventures, CEO & Fund Manager - Sunil Shah has been awarded UKBAA Angel of the year 2019 award as well as the OBN Special Recognition Award for his exemplary contribution in lifesciences industry • Closing Date – Bi annually (April and September)

56

GB Investment Magazine

Open Offers

EIS Open

Close

Evergreen

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

N/A

Minimum Investment:

£20,000.00

Newable EIS Scale Up Fund 3 The Fund seeks to leverage Newable’s unique corporate infrastructure to invest in knowledge intensive companies at the point of commerialisation and once a company has proven the concept through early-stage revenues. The investments are supported by Newable's wider platform, providing serviced offices, advisory services, and lending solutions.

Newable also benefits from the expertise of circa 300 professionals, the Newable EIS Scale-Up Fund 3 has a unique eco-system from which to originate, undertake due diligence, execute, support, monitor and ultimately exit investments. The Fund aims to provide investors with a diversified portfolio of 7-10 knowledge intensive companies, offering investors exposure to an exciting asset class without the need to stock pick and commit management time.

Newable is independently recognised as one of the UK’s leading investment networks and draws on a 36 year track record as well as long term partnerships with the U.K. government and business community.

T. 0785 091 5378 E. sanjeev.gordhan@newable.co.uk www.newable.co.uk

Risk is mitigated through a selection methodology and due diligence built around Newable’s +300 strong investor group as well as by leveraging the Enterprise Investment Scheme for early stage investments.

Highlights • Newable can provide strong support at the scale-up growth stage, drawing on broader group resources across a range of disciplines including grant writing services, export services and innovation advice.

• Newable curates one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated deal flow eco-systems in earlystage investing. This eco-system yields around 1,500 investment opportunities every year.

• The Newable Ventures Investment Advisory committee has over 110 years of combined investment experience with a track record of making successful investments across the Innovation and Technology space. Recent examples include: • Atelerix: Invested Jan 2018 returning a 2.07x uplift in share price • Cognism: Invested in March 2018 returning a 3.42x uplift in share price • Hummingbird Technologies Invested in March 2018 returning a 2.25x uplift in share price

EIS Open

Evergreen

SEIS Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £5m Minimum Investment: £15,000

Oxford Technology Combined SEIS and EIS Fund - “The Start-up Fund” Oxford Technology invests in high risk, high reward technology start-ups, in general within an hour’s drive of Oxford, and has been doing this since 1983. The latest fund, OT(S)EIS made its first investment in 2012. By 31st December 2020, OT(S)EIS had completed 149 investments in 42 companies.

Things continue to go well and in the most recent quarter, the tax free gain on the portfolio increased from £10.59m at the end of Q3 to £11.80m at the end of Q4.

The figures for the fund as a whole since its inception are as follows:

T. 01865 784466 E. info@oxfordtechnology.com www.oxfordtechnology.com

Gross amount invested by OT(S)EIS:

£ 7.91m

Cash back to investors via tax reliefs (1):

£ 2.98m

Net cost of these investments after tax reliefs (2):

£ 4.93m

Cash back from exits (3):

£ 0.24m

Fair value of remaining portfolio (4):

£ 16.73m

Total value: £ 19.95m Tax free gain (on paper only so far):

£ 11.80m

After tax losses on the three failures:

£ 0.14m

*OT(S)EIS investors who made an SEIS investment in Animal Dynamics, an Oxford University spinout at 14p per share (7p after SEIS tax relief) in Jun 2015, had the opportunity to exit in March 2019 at 97p per share (so 14x the after tax share price). About 50% of the shareholders opted to sell with 50% opting to remain – the company is doing very well.

OT(S)EIS remains open for investment at any time. We average about one or two new investments per quarter, and investors in the fund receive their pro-rata share of these. The latest quarterly report, with a page of information on each investment is downloadable from www.oxfordtechnology.com.

At 10am on the first Thursday of every month, Oxford Technology holds a Zoom meeting at which 3-4 of its existing investee companies which are seeking expansion capital present, enabling investors to make direct EIS investments; sign up to attend via the website.

GB Investment Magazine

57

EIS Open

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

N/A

Minimum Investment:

£100,000

Mercia BIR fund This Business Investment Relief (BIR) wrapper enables Resident Non-Dom (RND) investors the opportunity to very tax-efficiently invest in Mercia EIS Fund. RND investors can use BIR to bring off-shore capital into the UK potentially without taxation, in addition to the generous EIS benefits.

Mercia’s EIS Funds have an investment-led venture capital strategy, investing nationally with a focus on the underserved regions; specialising in the identification, creation, funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential, creating a strong investment proposition.

Mercia has an Investment Team of industry specialists with venture capital expertise, working extensively with portfolio companies to scale each business with the aim of ultimately delivering shareholder returns.

Mercia can fund companies with different pools of capital, initially via its own EIS Funds or other thirdparty funds, and then selectively using Mercia’s proprietary capital. Mercia is therefore able to provide a ‘Complete Capital Solution’ for entrepreneurs and small companies, starting from seed rounds of £100,000, larger rounds of up to £2.0million, and building to funding rounds of £10.0million.

Highlights

T. 0330 223 1430 E. enquiries@merciatech.co.uk www.merciatech.co.uk

Sustained Deal Flow - the consistency in both value and volume of Mercia's deal flow is hugely supported by deep relationships and networks in each region.

Diversified Portfolio - consisting of approximately 15 EIS qualifying technology companies.

Advance Assurance - will be sought from the HMRC for each investment.

Proactive, specialist asset manager providing capital to regional SMEs (96% invested outside of London).

Eight offices across the UK with 90 investment staff and 19 university partnerships.

The Mercia Group has a substantial track record of delivering realisations from early-stage technology companies.

This EIS fund is managed by a team that has seeded unicorns, and delivered some very high multiple returns for both EIS investors (Clear Review 8x Oct 2020, Native Antigen Company 8.6x July 2020) and Mercia’s other venture capital funds (Allinea 26x Dec 2016, BluePrism 104x July 2019).

EIS Open

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

N/A

Minimum Investment:

£25,000

Mercia EIS fund Mercia’s EIS Funds have an investment-led venture capital strategy, investing nationally with a focus on the underserved regions; specialising in the identification, creation, funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential, creating a strong investment proposition.

Mercia has an Investment Team of industry specialists with venture capital expertise, working extensively with portfolio companies to scale each business with the aim of ultimately delivering shareholder returns.

Mercia can fund companies with different pools of capital, initially via its own EIS Funds or other thirdparty funds, and then selectively using Mercia’s proprietary capital. Mercia is therefore able to provide a ‘Complete Capital Solution’ for entrepreneurs and small companies, starting from seed rounds of £100,000, larger rounds of up to £2.0million, and building to funding rounds of £10.0million.

Highlights Sustained Deal Flow - the consistency in both value and volume of Mercia's deal flow is hugely supported by deep relationships and networks in each region.

Diversified Portfolio - consisting of approximately 15 EIS qualifying technology companies.

Advance Assurance - will be sought from the HMRC for each investment.

T. 0330 223 1430 E. enquiries@merciatech.co.uk www.merciatech.co.uk

Proactive, specialist asset manager providing capital to regional SMEs (96% invested outside of London).

Eight offices across the UK with 90 investment staff and 19 university partnerships.

The Mercia Group has a substantial track record of delivering realisations from early-stage technology companies.

This EIS fund is managed by a team that has seeded unicorns, and delivered some very high multiple returns for both EIS investors (Clear Review 8x Oct 2020, Native Antigen Company 8.6x July 2020) and Mercia’s other venture capital funds (Allinea 26x Dec 2016, BluePrism 104x July 2019).

58

GB Investment Magazine

Open Offers

EIS Open

April 2017

SEIS Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

Up to £25,000,000

Minimum Investment: £10,000

T. 020 7071 3945 E. enquiries@growthinvest.com www.growthinvest.com

GrowthInvest Portfolio Service The GrowthInvest Portfolio Service is a discretionary managed EIS & SEIS portfolio service that leverages the experience and expertise of the GrowthInvest investment team to select a diversified portfolio of some of the most promising companies that are brought to the platform, and the Investment Committee.

Clients can invest in three different strategies in the GrowthInvest Portfolio Service. The first will target investee companies which qualify for SEIS reliefs only; these companies tend to be the highest risk that are often developing their minimum viable product and will be pre-revenue businesses. The second strategy will target investee companies which qualify for EIS reliefs only, i.e. those businesses that are already trading and require equity capital to expand their operations.

The third strategy is a mixed investment policy which will target investee companies which qualify for both SEIS and EIS relief and offering a more moderate level of risk. The GrowthInvest Portfolio Service aims to return to clients twice the initial invested amount (not including tax reliefs) and is aiming to exit investments and return capital three to seven years after the initial investment into the Portfolio Service.

GrowthInvest is an independent platform, which provides whole-of-market access to alternative and tax efficient investments for the clients of financial advisers, wealth managers and investors.

EIS Open

Evergreen

SEIS Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: N/A Minimum Investment: £5,000

GrowthInvest - The Tax Efficient Platform for Advisers GrowthInvest simplifies research, investment and reporting on alternative and tax-efficient assets. Through our smart technology platform, we serve wealth managers, financial advisers, and their clients. Our core service offers: • A market-leading range of investment offers including EIS, SEIS, VCT, IHT and other alternative investments.

• Reporting on all alternative assets in one online secure portal (including the onboarding of historical assets) • An extensive library of educational materials alongside research from independent partners,

T. 020 7071 3945 E. enquiries@growthinvest.com www.growthinvest.com

• Digital administration solutions and innovative products, driven by client demand, such as our diversified VCT service.

• Personalised client service with an experienced team from institutional backgrounds: because technology is not always enough We have placed the adviser and their clients at the heart of everything we do. Contact us to discuss your specific requirements and for a demonstration of the future of alternative and tax efficient investing.

GB Investment Magazine

59

CANDIDATES Financial Planner - 588512 Salary Indicator: £60,000 •

Level 4 Qualified with additional AF7 Qualification

•

CAS and CF30 experience, giving full holistic financial planning to HNW clients both over the phone and face to face.

•

Experienced in managing and maintaining a client bank consisting of around 80 High Net Worth Clients

Chartered Financial Planner - BS586241 Salary Indicator: £55,000+ •

A chartered IFA with over 12 years industry experience

•

Currently providing holistic financial planning to the medical dental profession.

•

APFS qualified, as well as holding cemap and holding fellowship of the Personal Finance Society

IFA Administrator - AM552723 Salary Indicator: £25,000+ •

Competent user of Intelligent Office, Dynamic Planner & other investment platforms

•

Master’s degree in accounting and Financial Management

•

Currently self-financing Diploma in Financial Planning

•

Over 12 months experience of working within an IFA office

Financial Planner - KB 558854 Salary Indicator: Eg £40,000

Location: LEEDS

•

Level 4 qualified Paraplanner seeking home based options

•

2 exams from obtaining Chartered exams

•

Confidence in producing Suitability Letters for Clients with over 5 years industry experience

IFA Administrator - 588018 Salary Indicator: £25,000 Location: RELOCATING TO CENTRAL LONDON •

CeMAP qualified, studying for Equity Release Exam

•

2 years experience working for a Wealth Management company

•

Supports Advisers & Consultants

•

Role includes: the prep of client review packs, client top ups/withdrawals, new business processing, creating new client files, pre/post meeting packs and liaising with many providers such as Old Mutual Wealth, Quilter & Aviva.

Financial Planner - LS 575435 Salary Indicator: £160k

Location: LONDON

Self-employed adviser, turns over £160k, looking for 75:25 Ref: 575435 •

Strong existing client bank

•

Looking to sell clients in the next few years

•

Does some equity release

60

•

Existing network has been acquired and is being forced to go restricted •

Ideally wants admin/paraplanning support

GB Investment Magazine

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Position: Employed Financial Planner (With Client Bank/Leads) Salary: £35,000 - £50,000 (D.O.E)

Job Ref: 63416DG

Location: PRESTON

The Opportunity The opportunity here is for a Financial Advisor, with a professional and level-headed approach to come in and help provide advice to the clients generated through the firms lead source. This opportunity would be suitable for any Level 4 Diploma qualified professionals, whether you be an existing IFA with a strong book of business, or a newly qualified Adviser looking to work in a highly professional environment. The succesful candidates will work on existing clients, whilst looking to develop and build a personal bank of clients, with all back office support needed to allow them to thrive.

What’s Required?

• Previous experience within a financial planning practice, within a face to face advisory position would be preferable but not “deal-breaker” • Minimum of Level 4 Diploma Qualified • Strong level of technical knowledge • Professional and competent manner

Position: Paraplanner

Job Ref: BS63445

Salary: £35,000 - £42,000

Location: HUDDERSFIELD

The opportunity for a Diploma Qualified Paraplanner to join an exceptional Wealth Management Practice working in their Huddersfield office, who provide exceptional training and study support.

The Opportunity During a period of key expansion, our client is looking for a highly experienced Paraplanner to support the successful Financial Planners of the business. The firm has the flexibility to mould the perfect opportunity around each person’s specific skill set, so the role can be tailored to exactly what you want. You will have the opportunity to take on team leader responsibilities within this role.

In order to be considered for this unique opportunity, candidates need to have • Comfortable producing technical Suitability reports • P artially/fully level 4 qualified • Excellent people management skills • Previous experience within a fast-paced IFA Practice • High level of analytical capability and good communication skills (Client facing skills)

Position: Self Employed IFA

Job Ref: AM62894

Location: LEICESTER We are looking for a self-employed Financial Adviser to join a rapidly growing Financial Advice firm. The firm provides cutting edge advice on various facets of Wealth Planning including Pensions, Investments and Tax Planning.

The Opportunity • Self-Employed Financial Advisor role • Un-capped earnings

•

•

Leads and clients provided

Able to build up a long-term client book

• Able to work from home and access to office

•

• •

Access to paraplannng and administration support

Able to build your recurring income

Manage your own diary

•

Market leading IT systems

What’s needed for me to be considered?

• Diploma Level 4 Qualified

•

CAS signed off in the last 12 months

• Experience of advising clients on Investments, Pension and Protection • Proven track record of success and achievement

•

Good at business development or looking to build up own client book

• You may have a client book already and need a superior proposition

GB Investment Magazine

•

Hungry, driven and motivated individual

61

Position: Associate Financial Planner Salary: £30,000 - £40,000

Job Ref: 63449

Location: NORTH LONDON

I am currently working with an excellent independent financial planning firm based in North London.

They have an urgent need for a junior financial planner to take over a portion of their existing client bank as well as develop some new business opportunities.

They'll provide you with clients, qualified warm leads and back-office support.

This opportunity really represents an excellent career move, as they'll allow you the opportunity to go self-employed in a few years if that's a direction you wish to travel.

This role will not be available for very long, so if you're interested please get in touch immediately.

Position: Pensions Administrator Salary: £25,000 - £30,000

Job Ref: AW62760

Location: NORTH WEST LONDON

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Pension’s Administrator to join the SIPP & SSAS team within an established and expanding pensions business. This firm covers a full range of actuarial, pensions & investment advice.

Ideally, you will have experience working within a Financial Services environment and have a good knowledge of the pensions industry.

You will be working with an excellent team of Pensions Administrators who work to maintain professional relationships with their clients which will provide you with an exceptional working environment.

Responsibilities: • Processing new business applications • Processing Payments

•

•

Setting up new schemes

•

Preparation and issue of annual client reviews

Processing pension contributions and pension transfers

• Liaising with clients to ensure that they are communicated with in a professional manner

•

Handling general information requests

Skills: • Previous experience within a Pensions Administration role • Knowledge of the pensions industry

•

•

Excellent written and verbal communication

Financial Services qualifications are welcomed

Position: Paraplanner Job Ref: 63317 Salary: £40,000 - £45,000

Location: CHESTER (HOMEBASED)

This is an award winning financial planning and investment company that has an excellent reputation within the industry. Specialising in proving a wide range of services to private clients, corporations, HNW individuals and financial services professionals across the UK they are the market leader in the industry and have been supporting their clients for over 30 years with their financial planning and investment needs.

The Opportunity Due to growth, this company have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Paraplanner to join the team and become a vital part of the financial planning process by supporting several highly successful advisers and their HNW clientele. This is a homebased opportunity with occasional requirements to travel to Chester for training and some meetings You will benefit from working with a highly experienced team in an environment that provides industry leading training & development as well as exam support towards chartered status.

What’s needed for me to be considered?

• Previous experience within a Paraplanning position within a regulated environment • Ideally hold level 4 Diploma in Financial Planning • Understanding of the full financial planning & corporate advice process • Access to Chester for occasional meetings and training

62

GB Investment Magazine

February 2021 February has been a busy month, companies are getting down to the nitty gritty of the day job and people are getting more and more used to lockdown life.

We have seen an uplift in interviews as clients have more time to speak to people and candidates are able to plan more time into their day as they are working from home.

Companies are able to put offers out quickly and attract better candidates because of this.

As lockdown is coming to an end (we hope), we have spoken to candidates who are not happy about the way their companies are asking employees to come back to the office.

They have had a taste of flexibility and like it, some companies are now going to lose staff if they don’t continue to offer that flexibility.

We are looking forward to the end of the tax year, please get in contact should you wish to discuss any recruitment needs.

Alex Russon Associate Director – Financial Planning Division, Heat Recruitment Alex.russon@heatrecruitment.co.uk 0117 284 1248

What’s next?

If you are interested in any of the above opportunities, please contact us directly. If suitable, one of our specialist consultants will be in contact with you to discuss the opportunity in detail prior to submitting your Curriculum Vitae to the client. During this discussion, we will aim to identify your specific skills and motivations and, where appropriate, can also recommend other relevant opportunities to you that match your requirements.

And finally…

If these specific vacancies are not exactly what you are looking for, please contact us to discuss other opportunities we may be recruiting for that aren’t necessarily advertised.

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TELEPHONE

0330 335 8347 Visit the Heat Recruitment website for more details of these and hundreds of other jobs too www.heatrecruitment.co.uk

GB Investment Magazine

63

Open for investment

Jenson SEIS & EIS Funds A proven track record of managing S/EIS Funds since 2013 with over £17 million invested in 110* eligible companies carried out by a longstanding team

Fund offering Diverse portfolio of investments: • 8-12 for SEIS and • 5-10 for EIS

SEIS focussing on tech-enabled companies with some deep tech and product. Founders with in-depth knowledge and experience within their sector.

Evergreen Funds with rolling tranches.

Next expected close: 24th March 2021

Funds are predominantly used for scaling and supporting the continued commercialisation of the company’s product.

EIS Fund targets existing portfolio companies that have demonstrated execution.

Target the ‘EIS Equity Gap’ – round of funding after an SEIS round (commercial traction) and prior to a later stage EIS/Pre-Series A round.

9 SEIS and 1 EIS exits to date Eligible for generous tax reliefs: Income Tax, CGT and Loss Relief Automated application process Capital at Risk *From the 110 investments made to date, 57 are still active after the nine exits.

For more information contact: T: 020 7788 7539 E: invest@jensonfunding.com

jensonfundingpartners.com The MJ Hudson Trustmark indicates that Jenson EIS successfully completed an independent review and a full due diligence research report was published by MJ Hudson Allenbridge on 23/04/2020.

Jenson Funding Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership incorporated in England and Wales No. OC375306. Registered Office: 2nd Floor, Runway East, 20 St Thomas Street, London SE1 9RS. Jenson Funding Partners LLP is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority. FCA No. 820516.