Smart money: Kristo Kaarmann could become a billionaire from a float
At first glance, Kristo Kaarmann looks like a typical tech entrepreneur. He is sitting in his spare room in Hackney, wearing a sweater emblazoned with his company s new name: Wise.
The original brand – Transferwise – was ditched last month because Kaarmann, chief executive, has a broader vision for the ten-year-old money transfer service.
His plan is to roll out investment products to its ten million customers later this year, in addition to its bread and butter: sending money abroad cheaply, undercutting the fat fees charged by high street banks. In an ironic twist, Wise now counts banks among its customers.
Apart from companies in the leisure and hospitality sector, along with the oil heavyweights, shares of commercial property companies were among the stock market s worst performers last year.
Not all of them, of course: Segro, which develops, owns and manages warehouses across Europe, enjoyed a very solid year as demand for its space was supported by the rapid expansion of online shopping.
But those exposed to the retail, hotel and office sectors had a rotten 2020. Image: Retailers missed out on the golden quarter
Land Securities, which manages the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent and which owns 30% of the site, saw its share price fall by 32%.
Cross-Border Money Transfer Service TransferWise to Hire 750 New Staff Members in the Next 6 Months
TransferWise is reportedly planning to recruit 750 additional workers in the coming months. These new hires would be equivalent to over a third of the online money transfer service’s existing team of professionals.
This latest announcement has come after quite a successful period for the UK-headquartered Fintech company. TransferWise has confirmed that it has recorded a substantial 70% growth in overall revenue over the last financial year (FY) to £302.6 million (appr. $403.8 million).
The 10-year old firm also managed to double its net profits from £10.1 million to £20.4 million during the financial year ending on March 31, 2020. TransferWise now claims over 9 million customers.