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Profit growth fuels expansion into Asia for Apprentice finalist’s wine venture

London-based wine specialists, Cult Wines has announced plans to open a new office in Hong Kong to take advantage of increasing demand in Asia for investing in fine wine.

The Richmond company, which was ranked 40th in The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 2015, has seen annual profits increase by 105% in 2015.

Founded in 2007 by Apprentice finalist Tom Gearing, the firm specialises in the procurement, management and eventual successful liquidation of the world’s finest and rare wines.

Cult Wines manages private and trade client portfolios on behalf of more than 1,800 clients across 55 countries. Assets under administration are around £30m with the firm aiming for sales of around £25m next year and £50m by 2020.

Tom Gearing, a finalist on the 2012 series of BBC’s Apprentice and Managing Director at Cult Wines, said: “We’re delighted to be launching our proposition to the Asian market and are very excited to be working with strategic investment partners in China.

“Our performance over the last year has helped us cement our position as one of the leaders in the wine investment market and we see targeting the Hong Kong & China market as a natural extension of our current growth plans and this will certainly help us to consolidate our services to a growing client base in Asia.

“For many people wine collecting is seen as a hobby for the rich but more recently fine wine is being recognised as a genuine alternative asset class, providing significant diversification benefits from mainstream financial markets. Not only can the sector provide strong returns under expert guidance but it is an enjoyable, collectible, tangible asset that has a very exciting future.

“Fine wine investment can act as a defensive holding as it has the capacity to remain stable under difficult economic conditions. It has the advantage of not necessarily following the general trend of lagging behind the rest of the market during economic expansion because demand is consistently strong. Real assets remain an attractive option as they tend to change in value independently of the core financial markets.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .