News & Press - Written by wendy on Thursday, October 1, 2009 10:22 - 0 Comments
World First: Sterling weakness provides windfall for farmers
All farmers who elected to receive this year’s single farm payment in sterling will benefit from a 15% uplift on their final payout compared with last year.
The final rate the ECB settled on, on Wednesday 30 September, was just over 90p for €1 – a significant increase on last year’s 79p. Farmers will now receive their payments between January and June 2010.
All farmers based in the UK have the option to receive their single farm payment in sterling or euros and this year, World First, the foreign exchange broker, has reported a record level of farmers opting to take their payments in euros due to the weakness of sterling.
Chris Birts, head of agriculture at World First, says, “Almost all of our farming clients opted to receive euros and have either fixed the exchange rate already or are doing so now. Economists are predicting sterling’s weakness to continue but exchange rates have been so volatile this year, that betting on the rate being at the right level for when you want to transfer your single farm payment is a very risky strategy.”
Farmers who have elected to receive their single farm payment in euros are advised to speak to a foreign exchange broker at their earliest opportunity.
For further information contact:
Wendy Casterton
t: 020 7801 1060 / 07789 115506
e: wendy.casterton@worldfirst.com
w: worldfirst.com
Notes for editors:
World First is a currency exchange broker, serving both private and corporate clients. Set up in 2004 by directors Jonathan Quin and Nick Robinson, the company is experiencing very fast growth and now employs over 70 people in two offices (London, UK and Sydney, Australia). It has 20,000 clients and transacted over £1 billion in 2008.
World First’s corporate clients are generally import or export companies, making regular transfers. World First helps them minimise their exchange rate risk and manage their currency exposure.
Private clients largely use broker services to purchase a property abroad, usually a second home or investment or to emigrate.
World First is also now offering currency options to SMEs and private clients through World First Markets Ltd, which is authorised and regulated in the UK by the FSA. World First is the first and currently only broker to offer currency options which have, until now, been the preserve of very large corporate organisations through their banks.
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