Co-founded by the very-low-profile Henry Moser in 1973, Jerrold Holdings' Blemain Group is a finance specialist, providing secured lending to both residential and commercial customers.

A classic bootstrapper, Moser left school at 16 and worked as a market trader before starting Blemain. Known for his hard work and dedication to the job, he elected not to take a business lunch for 20 years, preferring to be doing 'something more productive'.

Such single-mindedness seems to have paid off - Barclays Private Equity invested £113.5m for a 30% stake in September 2006, and in November 2007 Blemain's parent company Jerrold Holdings secured a £900m funding package to increase its lending firepower and boost its growth plans.

In the year to June 2008, Blemain's profits rose from £56.6m in the previous year to £68.7m on sales of nearly £166m.