March 6, 2009: Harris & Harris Group (Nasdaq: TINY), a publicly traded venture capital company that invests in nanotechnology and MEMS, has released information regarding its financial health in response to questions of how the company is doing during the economic downturn.

“Given the current financial and economic environment, we have received a number of questions over the last few days,” according to a company news release. “These questions have focused on how this environment is affecting Harris & Harris Group’s financial position, its status as a financial institution, and more specifically its status as a business development company.”

The company said that as of Sept. 30, 2008, it had about $57.9 million in cash and US Treasury obligations, no outstanding debt, and operating expenses are expected to be about $6 million per year.

“We are not subject to credit agency downgrades, or risk of default or failure from these types of loans that could cause us to fail asset coverage tests or force a fire sale of assets,” the statement said.

As a business development company, the firm said, “our investment objective is long-term capital appreciation rather than current income.”