Chris,
I have just sold a villa in spain and had a new one built.
This is why I have looked into the capital gains involved in the profit made from the selling of our villa.
It is true that any monies spent during the running of your friends buisness i.e. maintenance of machinery and building upkeep etc can be deducted from the gross profit etc.
Any profit up to £1920 is taxed @ 10%
Any profit up to £29000 is taxed @ 20%
Any profit over £29000 is then taxed @ 40%.
This may be of some help to you it certainly helped me.
Go to the following web site.
www.qck.com/capital-gainsClick onto tax advice, then work your way down until you reach capital gains then click onto that.
Hope this helps
Regards Tony Harrison