State-owned British Business Bank has announced a loss of £135.3 million in its latest financial year.

The organisation is the UK government’s economic development bank, launched in 2014 to "drive sustainable growth and enable the transition to a net zero economy".

The bank’s chief executive Louis Taylor said that an expected drop in valuations across its portfolio had driven the loss.

“Given the longer-term 10-year horizon for most of our investments we would expect an overall upward trajectory despite these in-year fluctuations,” continued Taylor.

He added that post-pandemic, the bank has refocused on the UK’s future economic growth as it delivers against its new strategic goals for the next financial year, which include “driving sustainable growth, backing innovation, unlocking potential, and building the modern, green economy.”

British Business Bank said that it had supported more than £12.4 billion of finance by the end of March 2023, exceeding its target of £10.7 billion.

“There can be no doubt that the prevailing market conditions during 2022/23 have been both demanding and extraordinary," said Lord Smith of Kelvin, chair of the British Business Bank. "Our role, as the UK’s economic development bank, is especially important at the more difficult points of the economic cycle and this is why we have continued to invest during the last year.

"In doing so, we have built further our support for our ultimate end-customers – the UK’s smaller businesses.”

Share Story: