Scottish National Investment Bank makes net loss of £138m

The Scottish National Investment Bank has revealed it made a net loss of £138m last year.

The state-owned body cited the the collapse of three of its early investments – including its first, Glasgow-based laser company M Squared.

However, the bank also generated an income of £32m, comfortably covering its operating costs of £20m.

Chief executive David Ritchie called the losses “regrettable and disappointing”, but said he was determined to demonstrate that a “commercially disciplined development bank can deliver for Scotland”.

The Scottish National Investment Bank, which is independent from government, was set up by ministers in 2020 with a mission to fund business and innovation to boost economic growth.

Its report for the 2025-26 financial year revealed a net loss of £138m, including £65m of realised losses from the failure of three early investments – M Squared Lasers, the electric car charging firm Trojan Energy and the satellite and digital company Krucial.

There was a further £85m of unrealised losses after rocket manufacturer Orbex and medical technology firm Pneumowave entered administration.

The bank also invested a record £374m in Scottish ventures, while its operating costs were below budget.

‘Level of risk’

Ritchie called the losses “regrettable and disappointing”, citing a “challenging economic backdrop”.

He said: “An element of loss, however, is consistent with the mandate we hold, the risk we accept in pursuit of impact, and the macroeconomic conditions in which we are operating.

“These results underline the importance of being explicit about the level of risk we take, why we take it, and the safeguards we apply when deploying public capital.”

Since being set up in 2020, the bank has investment more than £1.2bn in 53 ventures and helped to raise £1.9bn in third-party investment.

An independent report by Sir John Elvidge, a former chief civil servant to the Scottish government, found that the bank was expected to have made losses of about £110m by the end of 2025-26 financial year.

He said it was important that the bank learned lessons from the losses, but did not say the scale of the failed investments were necessarily higher than should be expected for a newly launched body.

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