Name: Matt Davies

Age: 34

Company: Direct Ferries. Set up in 1999, we’re a ferry ticket retailer and independent specialist travel provider.

Turnover: £48m

First job: Counting and sorting the money donated to charities from airline passengers. I also had a very brief and unsuccessful career as a paper boy but I don’t think that counts.

Dream job: Anything in sport, especially football.

Car: Porsche Cayenne

Economy, business or first class: Usually economy.

Most extravagant purchase: Probably my car.

Most-played song on your iPod: It changes every few months. It’s currently “Fire” by Kasabian.

Best business book: I’ve never read a book about business although I’ve read lots of books about business men.

Worst business moment: Over-spending on advertising in the early days and realising that speculation doesn’t always result in accumulation. It took a few years to turn that around.

Proudest business moment: Realising the company was going to be a success when turnover grew by 700 per cent from year one to two.

Your business mentor: We’re a family business, so it has to be my father.

Next big thing: In our industry, it’s got to be luxurious ferries. They’ve really come a long way in recent years and give a lot of cruise ships a run for their money. In general, the rise and rise of transactional mobile sites.

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