Blues deal boosts Rational FX's Brum site
By Stephanie Bartup, Midlands Correspondent
A sponsorship deal with Birmingham City Football Club is paying dividends for foreign currency transfer business Rational FX. Chief executive Rajesh Agrawal told Insider the club's European performance had boosted his company's sales and revealed he was now considering relocating a large chunk of Rational FX's operations to its Birmingham site.
Rational FX, which is headquartered in London with an office in Birmingham, helps businesses make money transfers and foreign currency payments.
Six months into a year-long sponsorship deal with the Blues, Agrawal said the company was now looking to boost its Birmingham site.
"We have discussed relocating our telesales operation in London to the Birmingham site," he said.
"London offices are much more expensive to run and there's a lot more competition - whereas the Midlands office is a great, central location and we're the only company offering our services in Birmingham.
"We are also looking to double the number of people working in the Midlands office, and will be recruiting for up to five more positions in the next three months."
Despite the Blues' lukewarm performance in the Carling Cup this year having won it last season, Agrawal said enquiries form Birmingham-based clients have "gone through the roof" in the last six months.
He added that the company's next move would be to grow its operations into Europe.
"As the club have been playing in the continent, we have definitely been given a lot more exposure than we would have had they been limited to UK games," he said.
"It's great news for us as we're planning to expands further in to Europe and I've got my eye on a few countries which I think we can definitely have an impact in."
He said that he was backing the club to move back into the Premier League, but insisted it was not vital for his investment return.
"Of course I would love to see the team move up again – I think they really deserve it. But it would not be a necessity to justify our investment in the team – we're already seeing a very successful return."
