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The 5 April Stocks and Shares ISA deadline is fast approaching. That means British investors are on the clock to maximise as much of their £20,000 annual allowance as possible.
After all, when the deadline passes, any unused allowance is lost forever. And given it provides British investors the opportunity to earn limitless capital gains and dividends tax-free, not capitalising on this investment vehicle could be an expensive mistake in the long run.
Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.
The good news is all investors have to do is deposit money into their ISAs to use their allowance. Of course, once the money’s been added, investors now have to deal with a new problem – where to invest it.
With that in mind, three growth stocks catching my attention right now are Games Workshop, Toast, and Alpha Group International (LSE:ALPH).
Profiting from market turbulence
Games Workshop’s off to a stronger start in 2025, with a recent trading update informing investors that trading during January and February was firmly ahead of expectations. Meanwhile, the latest earnings from the restaurant-tech enterprise Toast revealed further market share gains. However, Alpha Group International is in a particularly interesting position right now.
The alternative banking and risk management fintech enterprise has been a terrific performer over the last five years, rising by over 150% without counting dividends. It even landed itself as one of the latest additions to the FTSE 250 index. But the upward journey hasn’t been without headaches.
In 2024, higher interest rates have caused customer project delays. This meant lower demand for Alpha’s currency risk management and alternative banking services. Pairing that with the loss of its founder and CEO, Morgan Tillbrook, who stepped down at the end of last year, shares suffered a double-digit drop in September.
However, despite these headwinds, Alpha’s simply continued to thrive when looking at the group’s January trading update, with revenues growing by 23%. Yet this might be just the tip of the iceberg.
With talks of tariffs and resurgent inflation dominating financial headlines in the US, exchange rates with the US dollar have been volatile. In fact, since the start of March, the value of the US dollar relative to the British pound has fallen by 3%. That’s pretty extreme for the world’s reserve currency.
Yet currency volatility is Alpha’s bread and butter. As more businesses seek to hedge against currency fluctuations, demand for Alpha’s risk management services is likely to rise. That means a powerful tailwind for management to capitalise on.
What could go wrong?
In my opinion, all three of these growth enterprises are potentially set to thrive in 2025 and are worthy of consideration. However, that doesn’t make them risk-free investments.
Suppose new tariffs emerge between the UK and the US. In that case, Games Workshop’s export costs are likely to rise considerably, given it manufactures all its products in Nottingham. Meanwhile, Toast’s tied to the cyclical nature of the restaurant industry.
As for Alpha, new CEO Clive Kahn has some big shoes to fill. Having only moved into the corner office in January, it’s too early to tell whether he can maintain Tillbrook’s spectacular track record. But given Kahn’s been at Alpha for over eight years, I remain cautiously optimistic about Tillbrook’s successor.
That’s why Alpha continues to be one of the largest holdings in my Stocks and Shares ISA.
