Superwoman Nicola Horlick is thwarted by coronavirus in quest for profit
Profits have again eluded the crowdfunding business founded by former fund manager Nicola Horlick as cautious investors consider the coronavirus.
Money & Co, which matches wealthy investors who want to lend money with businesses which want to borrow, said customers funnelled a fraction of their usual savings into Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs).
Caution: Profits have again eluded the crowdfunding business founded by former fund manager Nicola Horlick
IFISAs are a tax-efficient way for savers to lend. But Horlick said: ‘We didn’t see the normal influx this year,’ and speculated this might be because investors were opting for stocks-and-shares ISAs because they had seen prices fall and were betting on a bounce.
‘The difference on previous years was vast – we received about 5 per cent of the ISA money we would usually get.’
Money & Co lost £420,000 in the year to March 31, which Horlick described as ‘frustrating’ since she predicted it would have had its first profitable year had coronavirus not struck.
She expects to make a profit in the year to March 2021, but is cautious about the UK’s economic prospects. Money & Co is moving from lending to small firms to looking at litigation finance – where loans fund a legal case and investors receive a cut of winnings – and loans to record labels and artists which are secured against music rights to music.
Horlick, who was dubbed superwoman for her exploits, believes many firms which have taken on coronavirus debts will be unable to pay them back, and will need equity investment.
She said: ‘I think there will be a day of reckoning. The Government needs to rethink its approach – get a team of people together who understand private equity and venture capital who will know what to do with these debt-laden businesses.’