UK must stop exodus of growth companies – City’s Lord Mayor

Promising high-growth companies are “leaving our shores” at an alarming rate in search of better opportunities, according to the city’s mayor.

So-called “growth companies” are lured abroad by more attractive business environments, Nicholas Lyons said.

His warning came as business leaders called for more help for growth companies in emerging industries. While the UK is good at developing technologies, they said, it is less successful at helping them as they grow.

Some companies are tackling this – HSBC has made the first loan from its £250m Growth Lending Fund, aimed at high-growth tech scale-ups.

It handed over £15 million to P2i, which uses nanotechnology to make waterproof coatings for electronics. But HSBC’s James Cundy said the bank’s Growth Lending Fund was only a fraction of what was needed, though he hopes it will be extended.

Lyons, the 694th mayor of the City of London, said: ‘We need to do more to support the high-growth businesses that attract talent, grow our economy and guide future wealth creation.

“Companies, intellectual property and people are leaving as they are taken over by the most sophisticated and well-capitalized asset owners in other global centers like New York.”

Cundy told the Mail: ‘It’s really important that we continue to support these scale-ups as they are a great way to attract talent to the UK. About 50 percent of GDP comes from scale-ups.’