The company responsible for securing millions of pounds in Research and Development (R&D) tax credits for small or medium sized businesses (SMEs) has appointed a new chief executive officer.
Luke Hamm now heads GovGrant, stepping up from his role as chief commercial officer and leading 80 in-house professionals and associate field experts.
He takes over from company co-founder Jeremy Tear, who will remain a consultant to the business.
Jeremy said: “Following an investment from Foresight Group in 2015, it was always the intention to build a new management team to take the business forward and build on what we have established.
“Luke has certainly made an impact since joining us and I have no doubt that he and the team will continue to lead the market.”
GovGrant has helped more than 5,000 SMEs to recover government support through tax relief worth more than £160 million in the areas of innovation, intellectual property and capital allowances since 2001.
Luke said: “I am delighted and honoured to lead the amazing team we have here at GovGrant. Jeremy’s are big shoes to fill, but I am in no doubt that our accomplished, dedicated and hard-working team will be striving to improve our excellent service to clients with our trademark, straight-forward specialist advice.
“Innovation is the key to Britain’s future prosperity, especially with Brexit on the horizon, and businesses investing in transformation or modernisation must have their commendable efforts rewarded.
“The UK is ranked only 11th of 28 EU countries as a percentage of gross domestic product spent on R&D, at 1.7 per cent. We need to ensure that government support is fully utilised to push the UK up the European table – it’s a shocking fact that 80 per cent of eligible SMEs have so far not claimed any of the R&D tax reliefs available to them.
“We are a nation of inventors who often fail to protect our valuable IP. It is a core aspect of GovGrant’s business that we not only assist clients to commercialise their innovations, but we also help to push innovation up the agenda with government, helping to ensure that IP remains on our shores.”
GovGrant helps SMEs to maximise their R&D opportunities, which in turn will help to keep UK businesses innovating and showing the rest of the world that we remain leaders in industry across the board.
St Albans headquartered GovGrant was founded in 2005 as Government Grant & Tax Consultants Ltd (GGTC) as a response to the government introducing R&D tax credits to encourage business innovation the previous year.
Three successful businesses evolved as a result of ever-changing legislation – GGTC, Capital Allowance Specialises and Patent Box. These were all brought under the GovGrant umbrella in 2014.
GovGrant has a long and successful record in aiding SMEs to claim tax rebates. SMEs are businesses with fewer than 500 employees and either an annual turnover under €100 million or a balance sheet under €86 million. Such companies have an average claim of £61,000, equating to 33 per cent of the initial R&D spend.
GovGrant can also help larger companies to apply for the Research & Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC).
Call GovGrant today on 01727 738600, to see if you could benefit.
