Why Hargreaves Lansdown?

There are two main reasons why clients use the HL VCT service - research and discounts.

Over the last three tax years, we have rebated more than £5 million to our VCT clients in the form of discounts. The average discount on the VCTs we have suggested was 3%. This has given clients dealing through Hargreaves Lansdown a headstart on direct investors.

The VCT community is quite small so it is possible for us to carry out in-depth face to face meetings with all the VCT managers bringing out new issues.

In addition, as part of the research process, we regularly meet the management of the underlying companies in which the VCTs invest. These can be a diverse range of businesses ranging from internet start-ups, to clothing retailers in Scotland, to one of the biggest retailers of wheelie bins! We also get the opportunity to meet the management of companies they are considering investing in. These meetings give more of an insight into how the venture capitalist works in practice and whether the VCT team adds anything apart from finance.

Hargreaves Lansdown has been at the forefront of VCT investing since they were introduced in 1995. Our clients account for a substantial share of all money coming into VCTs - over 15% in the 2006/2007 tax year - and this means that we can negotiate some of the best deals. During the course of this tax year, there will be many new offers from both new and existing providers. We will be highlighting to you those we consider to be the highest quality deals throughout the year.