Braveheart Investment, the Scotland-based syndicate of business angels, yesterday unveiled a healthy pre-tax profit for its first year as a listed company � but said that as the economy slows and the credit crunch continues to bite it will invest in fewer new companies in 2008.

Braveheart Investment, the Scotland-based syndicate of business angels, yesterday unveiled a healthy pre-tax profit for its first year as a listed company - but said that as the economy slows and the credit crunch continues to bite it will invest in fewer new companies in 2008.

In the year to the end of March, the Perth-based company posted a pre-tax profit of £106,000, compared with a loss of £164,000 during the previous 12 months.

Ten-year-old Braveheart, which specialises in providing equity finance for emerging hi-tech university spin-outs, joined the Alternative Investment Market last year, and said that in the year to March the company made 12 investments worth £3m.

Braveheart, which now has 33 companies in its port- folio, said that over the course of the year it made six new investments and six follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies.

Geoffrey Thomson, Braveheart's chief executive, said: "Things are still pretty tight out there, and the IPO market has more or less dried up.

"We're not having trouble raising money, but our exits this year will be all trade sales. We expect maybe half-a-dozen exits this year."

The company's accounts reveal that the value of its portfolio increased by £1.7m to £2.5m as of March 31.

Braveheart's revenue increased 22% to £659,000.

During the year, it announced the creation of a £25m fund with Edinburgh University. Under the terms of the fund, Braveheart has right of first refusal to invest in all company and intellectual property investment opportunities that arise at the university - except in the fields of medicine, veterinary medicine and life sciences, where it may take a co-investment position.

The group last year also acquired W L Ventures, and noted the listing of another investment, Capital Pub Company, on AIM. That listing resulted in an initial market capitalisation of £32m.

Since April, the company said it had made a new investment in Im-Sense, a spin-out from the University of East Anglia, and follow-on investments in Cascade Technologies and Spiral Gateway.