A WORCESTER firm has created 33 new jobs in the city, of which 27 will be employed on apprenticeship schemes.

Diglis based business, SME Broker Services, said it has created 33 new jobs, having already hired 25 new staff.

The company still has eight vacancies to fill with October start dates, which will see their headcount jump to 58.

Managing Director Alex Nicholls, aged 29, started the company in February 2016 and has been working over the coronavirus lockdown to secure investment which will fund the business expansion.

SME’s new backers, Port Group Investments, are a private equity firm specialising in the acquisition of technology companies.

Mr Nicholls said the business is expanding “rapidly” due to the investors Port Group Investments.

He said the business suffered during lockdown but it picked up after the government backed companies with the furlough scheme.

He added: “We struggled initially during lockdown.

“Initially our plan B was to focus on brokering finance (business loans) but that plan was scuppered when the government-backed business loans came in about a week later.

“Luckily our only major overheads are salaries, so the furlough scheme was crucial for us.”

In order to accommodate for more staff at the current office in Navigation Road, Diglis, SME has knocked through walls in order to gain more space, combining two rooms that were previously used as a meeting room and a storage room.

The business is recruiting sales and marketing positions and seeking broker executives and senior broker executives.