London and South East scoop most enterprise scheme cash

The enterprise investment scheme (EIS) is relatively underused by businesses outside London and the South East. Only £610m (about 33%) out of £1.9bn EIS investments went to businesses in regions outside those areas. Businesses in the North East and North West of England claimed only 6% of the total and Scottish businesses received only 3%. See HMRC’s statistics at here.

It is an identical picture with the seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS). Aimed at start-up businesses regions outside London and the South East attracted only 34% of all investments.

Tim Fussell partner at Moore Stephens said: ‘It is concerning that small and medium-sized enterprises outside the capital are failing to take advantage of the EIS. If regional economies are to compete with London and the South East schemes like the EIS need to be used to their fullest extent. The latest statistics highlight that this...