Business

Investors’ guides to Dorset’s opportunities

NEW guides to attract investment in Dorset have been published.

The documents, aimed at businesses and investors across the UK and abroad, showcase the potential for millions of pounds’ worth of opportunities to invest in the county.

Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has published the five investment prospectuses, which are available to download free of charge.

They highlight more than 50 case studies of transformational business success from Dorset, including companies such as Lush and Sunseeke.

Each guide covers a specific sector key to the Dorset economy: advanced engineering and manufacturing; agritech; financial services; marine; and digital and creative.

They have been produced by the LEP’s Invest in Dorset team, a group of economic development

Defence Battlelab at Dorset Innovation Park, Winfrith Newburgh, Wool, is a public-private initiative involving the Ministry of Defence. Inset, Vinita Nawathe, executive director of Dorset LEP professionals who help clients identify opportunities for growth and expansion in the county. The team offers a support package that includes location and labour market advice, assistance on securing funding, introductions to training and recruitment partners, mentoring, networking and help with relocating staff.

Dorset LEP executive director Vinita Nawathe said: “Investors and entrepreneurs need to understand what return on investment they can expect in our region.

“We have a great story to tell across a range of industries, with many businesses right at the cutting edge of high-growth sectors.

“Our guides explain why leading companies and organisations have based themselves here and the benefits that others can expect to enjoy if they follow in their footsteps.”

All the guides are downloadable from www.dorsetlep.co.uk

New Year’s resolutions

WHY not make it your New Year’s resolution for 2023 to review your finances? It doesn’t have to be an onerous task or a lengthy commitment, just setting aside a couple of hours could make all the difference to your day-to-day financial situation and your long-term plans. The areas you could look at are:

What is my income and expenditure?

YOUR income is probably known, but expenditure may come as a surprise. Sometimes the discipline of writing down everything you spend can help you realise what you are spending and where you can potentially cut down on day-to-day spending if you need or want to do so.

Can you make savings on your bills, such as cutting out unnecessary charges or unused commitments and can you lower the cost of necessities such as utilities or insurance while still maintaining the service you require? Have you any expensive loans or credit card debt which could be moved onto lower rates?

Can you set aside money each month for things that you need to pay for such as car expenses, household repairs and replacements and also luxuries like holidays?

If you are self-employed, are you setting aside money for your tax bill?

What is my current financial position?

WHAT is your cash position? If you have an excess of cash over what you feel is a good buffer, are there better places that you could invest some of that money?

What are your current financial assets and are your investments working efficiently? Do you need professional help managing your finances?

Am I using the tax allowances?

THE current ISA allowance is £20,000 and investments and cash in ISAs are free of Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax. The Personal Savings Allowance for interest income is £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers, £500 for higher rate taxpayers and nil for an additional rate taxpayer.

Within these allowances, any interest income is tax free. The Dividend Allowance is £2,000 regardless of an individual’s tax rate and dividends totalling less than £2,000 are tax free.

Appropriate use of these allowances can help you ensure that your assets are as tax efficient as possible, and you may need to seek professional help for assistance with this especially as some of these rates and allowances are set to change in April 2023.

I hope this gives you some inspiration and a positive and useful thing to do as a New Year’s resolution, which could also potentially save you money.

With best wishes for 2023.

Kate Spurling, investment manager, Redmayne Bentley, Phone: 01202 714 450 kate.spurling @redmayne.co.uk

n Please note that tax treatment depends on the specific circumstances of each individual and may be subject to change in the future. Please note that our advisory services provide advice on all types of investment instruments that might be suitable for our clients, although we do not provide a universal financial planning service on non-investment instruments or products. Consequently, our advisory services are categorised as focused independent advice.

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