State-owned British Business Bank reported a £147 million loss in the year to March as its investees faced a tough year in the face of a deteriorating global economic outlook.
Though the bank remained upbeat on its long-term outlook, its investments for the year fell in value by £146 million, prompting a deficit after some £619 million in gains a year earlier.
“Our role, as the UK’s economic development bank, is especially important at the more difficult points of the economic cycle,” chair Robert Smith said.
“This is why we have continued to invest during the last year.”
The bank had been set up in 2014 specifically to build stakes in and fund British startups to aid their growth.
Over the 2022 financial year, British Business Bank made some £1.6 billion worth of funding commitments as a result, in spite of the unappealing market conditions.
Chief executive Louis Taylor anticipated that an “upward trajectory” would appear in its investments over the next ten years, regardless of this year’s valuation slump.
“Our longer-term, patient investor perspective enables us to see beyond the current economic difficulties, and to focus on future growth and opportunities within the UK,” he said.