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Lord Sugar has received quite a lot of flack in the press after suggesting that small businesses should not expect a blank cheque simply for coming up with a good idea and that some firms would not succeed even in the best of times. I accept that calling them moaners who live in Disney World may not have the right ring from a Government stance supposedly encouraging new businesses but it does illustrate the number of businesses who have seen the EFG loan scheme as an expectation of funding and been surprised when turned down.

 Brokers seem to be gearing up with high expectations for a raft of IPO’s expected to come to AIM and PLUS markets in the first quarter of 2010. Sentiment seems to be that investor appetite is returning for small quoted companies as investors search for decent returns. We’re a little sceptical about this as many of the funds we are in contact with, have struggled to attract new money to invest.

The growing appetite for direct investment as part of a wealth portfolio was confirmed at our 20th London Investment Fair on 3 November. During the day over 125 investors came to our fair to meet the 30 fund seekers presenting a wide variety of funding opportunities in new and expanding innovative companies. Feedback was encouraging with comments of “best yet”, “the atmosphere is really buzzing today”, “not even the rain could keep me away”, “really great event”, “really interesting businesses here” and “looking forward to the next one” which we really appreciated.

Our 20th London Investment Fair will take place on Tuesday 3rd November at Mark Masons' Hall in the West End. Now entering its 10th year this event attracts up to one hundred and fifty private investors with a typical third of exhibiting companies successfully raising capital from the day. Only 30 places are available for Businesses seeking funding and we are actively looking for companies with a compelling investment opportunity who wish to raise funding.

Recent additions to our team of associates are James Leay who has recently joined us in an Investor Relations capacity and as a London Associate, and new associate Martin Hogbin in the South East.

The Finance Act 2009 is changing the tax landscape and the biggest impact for certain taxpayers is the rise in the top rate of income tax to 50% from next April. The incentive to convert income into capital gains attracting CGT at 18% or zero if EIS qualified is therefore heightened. Investors are continuing to take advantage of the tax benefits of direct investment, and are increasingly becoming more certain and confident in their own judgement when it comes to making the investment decision, resulting in a rise in direct angel activity and a lowering of investments into funds, VCT’s etc.

Almost every discussion I have about the UK economy inevitably turns to property, not least because nearly everyone owns one or more properties – which makes us all experts! The consensus seems to be that the residential market is now bumping along the bottom. The commercial market is less homogenous, but freehold properties with good quality tenants and 10 years or more on the lease are proving to be quite attractive. Of course, property has to be viewed as a 4-5 year investment but has the advantage of a bricks and mortar asset base.

Whilst it is clear that the worst is not yet over, there are some indications that the recession may not be as prolonged or as hard as expected.

ur recent London Investment Fair, held last week, proved to be one of our best yet in terms of the high quality of companies presenting and looking for funding and a record number of investors and their guests who visited us on the day. Our selection process of taking on around 3% of the opportunities that are presented to us is key to this and we are actively looking for more companies requiring funding in the £100,000-£3m range.

We look forward to catching up with many of our registered investors at our 19th London Investment Fair next week on Wednesday 13 May. Despite (or perhaps because of) the current economic climate we expect attendance higher than last year given the number confirming interest so far. We even managed some small coverage in the FT Money section on 2 May under headline “Investors look to fund start ups”.