Viking Fund owner looks forward

BRAVEHEART Investment Group, which owns Yorkshire-based specialist investment firm Viking Fund Managers, today said it was optimistic about its future despite the “bleak” outlook.

Viking Fund Managers, which was founded in 2002 by chief executive Andrew Burton and was previously called Inkopo, was acquired by Scottish AIM-listed firm Braveheart in a deal worth up to £1.31m in 2009.

North East Access to Finance, which supports SMEs in the North-East, asked Viking Fund Managers to develop a network of business angel investors in the region earlier this year. A similar group operates in Yorkshire.

For the six months ended September 30, Braveheart increased fee based revenue by 89% to £621,000.

However, the loss before taxation for the period was £842,000, up from £581,000 the previous year.

Chairman Garry Watson said: “The current macro-economic outlook continues to be bleak and is likely to remain so for some time. 

“However, we anticipate that we will continue to expand our investment management business and with a valuable maturing portfolio of investments we continue to be optimistic about the future.”