Leading Scottish entrepreneur Brian Souter  — who was co-founder and CEO of Stagecoach, the global FTSE 250 plc — believes risk-adverse attitudes in business and wider society are holding back national growth.

“I can’t help thinking that in wider society the risk/reward pendulum has swung too far towards avoiding mistakes, rather than seeking opportunities to back your convictions and take calculated risks in the pursuit of progress and wealth generation,” he says.

Since Souter Investments, based in Edinburgh, was founded in 2006, along with Andy Macfie, the private family office has invested over £750m in more than 100 unquoted companies, with a typical equity cheque of between £2m and £30m. The portfolio value has increased its value by 8 per cent annum over the 18 years ended 31 March 2025.

“We are sector agnostic and opportunistic, with an interest in a wide variety of sectors including, but not limited to, business services, healthcare, energy, financial services, technology and industrials.”

Writing in his annual investment review, he said: “It seems self-evident to me that it is impossible to achieve anything – in investing or in life – without taking some risk. My kids would probably tell you I have an all too healthy appetite for risk, as I regularly throw myself off bridges with bits of elastic tied round my ankles. It is certainly true that the team at Souter Investments’ more measured and structured way of thinking has sometimes saved me from myself.”

“One of the most egregious examples is the lack of investment by UK pension funds into so called ‘risk assets’, which essentially means anything outside UK government bonds. Whilst this strategy is badged as being safer for pensioners, in my view it is bad for everyone concerned. It penalises pensioners and the companies that fund those pensions, as they all miss out on higher returns and therefore have to contribute more to pension pots to achieve the same income. It punishes the UK more widely by hampering the development of a healthy stock market that can support our companies, enabling them to flourish. Moreover, this triple whammy doesn’t necessarily make those pensions any safer,” he said.

“However, I can’t help thinking that in wider society the risk/reward pendulum has swung too far towards avoiding mistakes, rather than seeking opportunities to back your convictions and take calculated risks in the pursuit of progress and wealth generation.”

Investments by Souter Investments include engineering and infrastructure firms such as: Suir Engineering, a high-voltage specialist building data centres; Amey; Cardo; Octavius Infrastructure and Ancora Group. Other companies in the portfolio  are: Likezero, which provides data solution, powered by AI. Another firm is Climate Impact Partners, who work in big US tech companies who are building data centres. In healthcare, the fund has completed a deal with Agito Medical, and investment in ForLife, while in aerospace, it has supported MEL Aviation, with Averna Capital, and the carve out of aerostructures business of Senior plc, with Sullivan Street.

In a remarkably honest appraisal, Souter says: “I felt real guilt about my ability to steward the capital I was accumulating from Stagecoach. I worried that I was squandering the hard-earned money that our passengers paid us in fares on poor investments in funds that returned eye-watering fees to slick London advisors but too often left investors feeling underwhelmed, to say the least.”

The fund is co-managed by managing directors John Berthinussen and Calum Cusiter. A major beneficiary of the work is the Souter Charitable Trust, set up in 1992, and motivated by the Souters’ Christian faith, which supports projects engaged in the relief of human suffering in the UK and overseas.