Cross-border Payment and FX specialist Universal Partners reaches record £1.30 billion in turnover YD2022

June 12th 2023, London UK: Universal Partners, a leading FCA regulated, cross-border payment and foreign exchange specialist for businesses, today published its results for the 2022 financial year.

Summary of financial results:

– FX Turnover reached £1.30 billion (up 84%)

– Gross profit increased to £6.52 million (up 104%).

– Operating profit increased to £2.56 million (up 120%).

– New clients increased to 159 * (up 35%)

– Staff headcount has increased from 28 to 46. (up 64%)

– Net cash position increased to £14.53 million (up 544%) – * New customer increase is based solely on customers who generate £10,000 or more per annum.

– Planned expansion into international markets, including the launch new services and first European office will help further diversify the company client base.

Canary Wharf Buildings

The company reported high levels of growth, with annual turnover increasing 84% from the previous period, taking Universal Partners to £1.30 billion in its 3rd year since being licenced by the FCA. Gross profit increased to £6.52million, up 104% and Operating profit increased to £2.56million – up 120% respectively.

Activity within Universal Partners’s client-base exceeded pre-pandemic levels, with industries such as travel, where they have sector expertise and the Partnership with the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) seeing pent-up demand after the long period of restrictions were lifted. This allowed the company to push ahead with its planned expansion strategy by boosting the size of its C-suite team and increasing overall headcount by 64%, from 28 to 46 employees.

A number of factors were key to the company’s success in 2022, including a comprehensive, industry-first training programme for staff to help them understand the requirements of each client and to give them the skills to develop exceptional tailor-made risk management solutions to help their clients mitigate their longer term risks.

Staff were also trained to better identify clients that require its services and to increase overall client retention. As a result, Universal Partners increased its average turnover and revenue per client, with the total number rising to 159, up 35% from 2022. Investment into new internal back office systems and processes also helped to create stronger synergy between all departments and to automate operational day-to-day activities including speeding up the reconciliation of incoming and outgoing client funds.

Reflecting on the year, Oliver Carson, co-founder and CEO of Universal Partners, said: “Increasing turnover was, as always, a key element of our growth as we saw an 84% increase from the previous period, taking us to £1.30 billion in our fifth year since incorporation and within 4 years of getting our Payment Institution license. It is incredible to see gross profit increasing by 104% to £6.52m whilst simultaneously making further investments into technology and key senior hires. What this shows is how effective our growth strategy has been with consistently onboarding the correct type of clients to further support future growth plans.”

Looking ahead, Universal Partners plans to deliver more global payment services, including instant mass payments for a broad range of currencies and setting up overseas collection accounts, from tier one businesses to fast growing SMEs. The company is also focusing on establishing key partnerships with global financial institutions.

“Part of our growth strategy has involved establishing new relationships with tier-1 global ,, regional and local banks that can help us expand our range of products and services to offer our client base,” said Carson. “Our online platform is just one of those new offerings, further enabling our clients to closely manage their international payments and balances. Through dealing closely with many large international corporates, we have a good understanding of all of the challenges and risks these businesses face on a day-to-day basis. Universal Partners has a mission to be able to provide solutions to as many of our clients’ problems as possible that relate to international trade. Ultimately, we want to help businesses grow, that’s what gets us excited. This will see us continue to develop new products and enter new markets as we look at the road ahead, including establishing our first office outside of the UK which will expand our global footprint.”

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