The UK state-owned British Business Bank (BBB) estimates its activities helped create at least 1,100 new jobs in smaller Northern Ireland firms during 2024/25.
Set up in 2014, the bank does not lend or invest directly with SMEs, but it works with financial institutions to channel debt and equity finance.
One of its key programmes in the north is the £70 million Investment Fund for Northern Ireland, which has helped channel finance to 35 smaller businesses since it was launched in November 2023.
It includes investment of around £18m, which helped leverage an additional £12m in private sector funding.
The economic agency’s Impact Report 2025 has detailed support to a further 600 businesses, which is expected to lead to £300m of additional business turnover.
The report said that would equate to an economic output of more than £100m over the lifetime of the finance.
“The Bank has a 10-year track record of delivering impact in Northern Ireland therefore it is very pleasing to see that our support to 600 smaller businesses in 2024/25 is expected to create 1,100 local jobs,” said Susan Nightingale, BBB’s UK network director for the devolved nations.
“We recognise it can be challenging for some firms to secure the support they need to start up and scale up, therefore through improving access to finance for smaller businesses we drive growth and prosperity in Northern Ireland and across the UK.”
The new impact report comes as the government-owned bank announced a pre-tax profit of £144m in the year to March, swinging a £122m loss a year earlier.
It is the first profit the bank has delivered since 2022 after the valuation of firms it invested in were impacted by challenging economic conditions.
In its latest set of annual accounts, the BBB said its investments and funding activities are expected to have created around 38,000 additional jobs cross the UK.
It supported a total of £6.8 billion worth of funding agreements during the latest year.
It said this included £1.2bn worth of its public funding, £2.6bn of guaranteed lending and a further £3bn of private capital.
The return to profitability and increased funding agreements come amid efforts from the UK Government to accelerate economic growth across the UK.
The government agreed to increase the bank’s financial capacity to £25.6bn in order to help it increase annual investments to around £2.5bn a year and to gather more third-party capital.
Louis Taylor, chief executive of the bank, said: “In a busy and productive 2024/25, the British Business Bank amplified its role, delivering significant impact in driving economic growth and innovation and playing its part in the economic transformation of the UK’s Nations and regions.
“At the same time, we have undertaken a significant reshaping of our organisation to prepare for an expanded mandate and long-term ambitions.
“Having an economic development bank with permanent capital and a consistent risk appetite, underpinning the UK venture and growth market through its cycles, is a powerful and very positive development.”