Venture Finance plc’s financial statement showed that turnover fell by 5.1% to Ј21.9 million compared with Ј23.09million for the year ended 31 December 2001. Total profit before taxation for 2002 was Ј5.15 million, 5.9% less than the previous year’s total of Ј5.47 million.
The report from the directors, in the financial statement, attributed the decrease in turnover to difficult trading conditions for UK clients. It said: “Trading conditions for our clients in the UK small- to medium-sized enterprise sector remained difficult during 2002 with almost no growth and an increasing number of business failures amongst their customers. As a consequence the value of invoices handled in 2002 showed minimal growth over the figures recorded in 2001. The main cause of the reduction in turnover was the reduction in average UK base rates by more than 20% in comparison with 2001.”
