24th Aug 2015 08:15
LONDON (Alliance News) - Braveheart Investment Group PLC on Monday said that its chief executive of 18 years has stepped down, with his departure coming after a second consecutive loss-making year for the AIM-listed investor in small and medium sized enterprises.
Geoffrey Thomson, one of the company's founders, is no longer chief executive but will remain on the boards of the group's operating companies for a short time until regulatory approvals have been obtained. Braveheart named Non-Executive Director Trevor Brown as its interim CEO.
Thomson's exit will follow those of former chief financial officer Aileen Brown and chief investment officer Carolyn Smith, who left as part of a restructuring of the group's head office. Ken Brown also stepped down as a non-executive director following the year-end.
Interim CEO Brown will be joined on the board by Jonathan Freeman, senior independent non-executive director at Futura Medical PLC, who will be a non-executive director. In addition, Braveheart said it intends to appoint Andrew Burton, currently CEO of its main fund management business, Viking Fund Managers Ltd, as an executive director in September.
Braveheart made a GBP739,081 net loss in the year ended March 31, compared with a GBP805,028 net loss in the prior year.
At pretax level, Braveheart swung to a loss of GBP767,813, compared with a GBP15,4288 pretax profit the prior year, as lower revenue and a GBP1.1 million decrease in the fair value of its investments hit income. Operating costs fell to GBP1.9 million from GBP2.0 million.
"We sold one of our investments in December, and this saw a pleasing return to both our private client investors and ourselves. The team are working on other realisations. The group will continue to focus on growing the funds under management and achieving realisations from the portfolio to enhance earnings per share," Chairman Jeremy Delmar-Morgan said in a statement.
"The economic climate has improved, and with a stronger UK government in place I think we can look forward to a period of growth," Delmar-Morgan said, referring to the Conservative Party's surprise majority victory in the UK's General Election in May.
Braveheart shares were untraded on Monday morning in London. The stock last traded at 6.50 pence.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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