ISSUE 3

5 investments completed in 4 monthsThe South West Ventures Fund has completed two further investments bringing the total to five in the last four months of 2005. Peter Davies, Investment Director at YFM Venture Finance, said: "The South West region offers attractive opportunities across a broad spectrum of sectors. We are seeking to invest in companies with strong management teams and with high growth potential." The Fund has a good pipeline of soon to be completed deals but is always interested in hearing from companies seeking up to £500,000. In certain circumstances, alongside other new investors, the Fund can follow on its investments to provide a total of £2.5 million to any one company.

Expansion plans a realityExpansion plans are now on the agenda for a Swindon-based company specialising in the provision of wireless communication solutions, following £250,000 investment from the SWVF. CMS Global Technologies Limited has emerged as a successful application service provider for clients in the transport, courier and distribution sectors needing to control and track vehicles and staff who work remotely. The range of services has recently expanded with the introduction of its Open Wireless Platform which supports complete end-to-end wireless communications solutions. Speaking about this latest deal, Simon Griffiths from the SWVF said: "We were attracted to CMS by the combination of an enthusiastic and resourceful team with an exciting technology that offers excellent future potential." Improved performance A company that develops state-of-the-art performance management software for the public sector has secured £250,000 from the SWVF. Taunton-based Covalent Software was launched by software consultant Peter McHugh and the company’s flagship performance management system Covalent CPM is now used by nearly 50 councils across the UK. The funding will enable Covalent to develop its software for other areas of the public sector such as housing associations, hospital trusts and higher education. Covalent tracks relevant performance indicators and can provide evidence of actions taken based on these results, highlighting an organisation’s capacity to improve the way it works. Peter McHugh, CEO at Covalent, said: "Our goal is to make Covalent CPM the leading performance management software solution in the public sector, by offering the best functionality at the best price. This additional funding from the SWVF will help us achieve this goal and make our systems available to a wider range of organisations."

For further information please contact the YFM Venture Finance team Peter Davies, Simon Griffiths or John Baker

Disclaimer The South West Ventures Fund is managed by YFM Venture Finance Limited, part of the YFM Group. YFM Venture Finance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Trading names used in the past by the Bristol office include South West Ventures, Yorkshire Venture Finance and Yorkshire Fund Managers. Whilst YFM Venture Finance has taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained within these pages is accurate and up-to-date, no liability can be accepted for any error or omissions appearing in this site. If you are in any doubt as to the validity of information made available within these pages, or if you wish to rely on this information, then it may be in your best interests to seek verification by contacting us.