Record year sparks £1m expansion plans for Momentum Group

A leading Bangor-based specialist R&D tax credits firm is to invest over £1 million in a major expansion that will see it grow its presence in Scotland and the north of England, creating a range of skilled jobs.

Coming on the back of its best year ever recorded in 2021, The Momentum Group’s growth plans have already seen the business strengthen its executive leadership team and launch in Scotland, with the appointment of a Glasgow-based business manager.

With regional R&D tax credit claims up by 25%, 2022 has already seen Momentum appoint a new business development specialist to join its sales team. The firm will also create a range of professional roles across its wider operations over the next two years.

Established in 2009, Momentum specialises in helping clients to understand and document innovation projects and R&D activity within their businesses. With companies able to reclaim up to 33% of their R&D spend from HMRC, the firm, to date, has generated over £200 million of tangible tax savings for its clients across the UK – something which managing director Tom Verner said is “not easily replicated”.

According to Mr Verner, Momentum experienced “unprecedented growth” in 2021, despite challenges posed by the ongoing global pandemic.

He explained: “We continued to grow throughout the pandemic and continued to partner with more accountancy firms, legal practices and joint venture opportunities, as well as recording significant growth in new business generated directly by our business development team. Having experienced our best year on record in 2021, we have entered 2022 in a strong position and are poised for further growth in the next two years.

“Alongside strengthening our senior leadership team in NI, we will invest in growing out our dedicated team in Scotland who, led by newly appointed business manager Kyle McGuigan, will build upon recent business successes there and continue expanding the Momentum footprint into the north of England.”

Momentum’s growing team currently includes R&D consultants, chartered accountants, specialist business consultants with backgrounds in ‘Big Four’ firms, and business support professionals who possess a deep understanding of tax relief legislation and its real world industry applications.

To date, Momentum has worked closely with thousands of companies, across most industry sectors, to identify and analyse activities and costs which qualify for R&D tax credits, or Capital Allowances and Land Remediation Relief.

The most recent R&D Tax Credit figures published by HMRC indicate that NI businesses accounted for £135 million of all R&D tax credits claimed across the UK for the year 2019-2020 – an increase of 13% from the previous year.

However, with local firms accounting for just 2.65% of the total number of R&D tax credits claimed across the UK, Mr Verner urged companies across the region to avail of this “invaluable opportunity” through the R&D tax relief scheme.

“Whilst this year-on-year increase in claims of 13% is encouraging and reflects what we are seeing in our own business, many companies across Northern Ireland are clearly not aware or are not fully optimising the financial benefits available through the R&D tax relief scheme,” he continued.

“With the rising costs of materials and utilities, we would urge companies to get in touch to explore how they can avail of this invaluable opportunity to secure real financial benefits that could be reinvested in further R&D and innovation and, in turn, underpin their business growth plans.

“Whether a company is new to R&D, Capital Allowances or Land remediation relief, or simply requires a second opinion, we can provide the support and expertise required.”

The average amount of R&D tax credit claimed by companies in NI in 2019-2020 was £57,250, with the average for SMEs being £41,000. For SMEs, this represented an 11% increase in the number of claims being made, and a 13% increase in the financial value of the claims.

Significantly, there was a serious shift in how NI’s larger companies are benefiting the most from the scheme - with the monetary value of R&D claims by large companies increasing by 150% and total number of claims growing by 25%.

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