Focus: Foreign exchange
Nick Robinson, 33
Company: World First
Web: www.worldfirst.com
World First competes with banks on both service and rates and has transacted with over 10,000 private clients and 1,000 UK companies in its three-year history. Robinson and co-founder Jonathan Quin recently secured investment from Prudential chairman and former deputy governor of the Bank of England Sir David Clementi. They project £1m profit on a £3m turnover this year and will soon be expanding online services. Hedging tools for corporate clients and invoice discounting will follow.
2013 update:
World First has grown to become the third largest foreign exchange company in the UK by profit (behind industry veterans Travelex and Moneycorp) posting impressive revenues of £2.96bn in the year ending January 2012, of which £4.5m was profit.
