Scotland’s state-owned bank posts £14.6m loss

The Scottish National Investment lost £14.6m in the last financial year, including £8m following the collapse of the company set up to administer Scotland’s failed deposit return scheme, latest figures show.

However, the state-owned investment bank exceeded its operating costs of £16.1m for the first time, with an income of £19.3m, which was up more than 80% on the previous year.

The bank’s latest annual report, covering the period April 1 2023 to March 31 2024, showed that loss before tax was £14.6m, down from £20.2m the previous year, predominantly due to realised and unrealised losses on investments.

This includes a full realised loss of £8m on Circularity Scotland Limited as the administration process progresses to completion.

Circularity Scotland called in administrators in June last year following the decision to delay the deposit return scheme (DRS) to bring it in line with a planned date for a UK-wide scheme, after the UK Government said the Scottish DRS could not include glass bottles.

In recent months ministers around the UK have been working on a four-nations scheme – but this has been delayed by two years to October 2027.

However Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) chairman Willie Watt said the bank has made “clear and demonstrable achievement and progress” in its third full financial year.

He said: “The Bank was established to be an impact investor, to drive growth in our economy, provide financial returns on public capital and deliver social impact.

“These are long-term goals and we are operating in a challenging macroeconomic environment, which makes our progress all the more significant.

“The Bank’s income exceeded operational expenses for the first time. This is significant but we are conscious that in our early years this remains sensitive to the mix of investments, continued deployment, and availability of capital to invest.

“This acceleration towards profitability has been progressive, with our income growing significantly year-on-year.

“A key factor in this was the clarity provided by Scottish ministers at the time of our founding, with a bold commitment to capitalise the Bank with £2bn over 10 years.

“The Bank was conceived as a perpetual institution that would redeploy investment returns for the people of Scotland and we need to make this structure a reality.”

In the last financial year the bank committed £224.6m across eight new and 12 “follow-on” investments – where it provides additional investment to an existing portfolio business.

These ranged from £1m to £50m in equity, debt and fund investments spanning the length and breadth of Scotland.

Scotland’s deputy first minister Kate Forbes said: “Having achieved an operating profit and nearly doubled its annual operating income in only its third full year since opening for business, the figures demonstrate a strong performance and increasingly promising future for the publicly-owned Scottish National Investment Bank.

“The key missions of The Bank remain closely aligned to the First Minister’s priorities, and it continues to make strategically important investments – from green energy to our net zero transformation and high-growth innovation – to help shape a strong, growing and vibrant Scottish economy.”

The bank, established in November 2020, was established to drive growth in the Scottish economy by addressing three “grand challenges” facing society: the climate emergency; community inequalities; and the requirement to enhance productivity through greater commercial innovation.

All investments made must deliver against these three missions.