Tony Rafferty: Printing.com

Tony Rafferty
Age: 35
Company: Printing.com

Organising club nights at university and producing flyers for them contributed to Rafferty failing his degree, but ultimately led to him forming OFEX-listed Printing.com in 1992. The 110 person Manchester printing and franchise company is now planning a move to AIM in the next six months and has just announced a turnover of more than £8m, with profits of £450,000. It is expected to hit the magic £10m next year, and will have 175 outlets by 2005.

2012 update:

Printing.com now has 267 outlets, of which only six are directly owned. The highly successful franchise saw turnover rise more than £4m in a year to £21.7m to March 2012. EBITDA year-on-year growth was also healthy at 19.9%, rising to £3.4m. And the company launched Flyerzone.co.uk, an online catalogue of design agency-quality artwork.

2016 update:

Printing.com has now changed its name to Grafenia PLC in line with the expansion of its range of services. It now has a franchise network of 280 printers across the UK and runs operations across France, USA, Australia and New Zealand. The three divisions under are W3p, a web-to-print service; MarqetSpace, a European platform connecting buyers with printers and manufacturers and Printing.com. Rafferty remains as CEO.