CREWE-BASED global business services company Radius Payment Solutions, which was once based in Arclid near Sandbach, is seeking to hire over 100 local people and has just announced plans to build its fourth office in the town which will create jobs for an estimated 300 more.

Already employer to a 700-strong workforce in Crewe alone, divided between its three buildings in Emperor Way and Herald Drive off Macon Way, Radius is designing its next office for Arden Square on land it has recently purchased.

The £2.6 billion company that some call "Crewe's best kept secret" regularly features in the Sunday Times' Top Track 100 list of companies, where it now ranks as the 24th largest privately-owned business in the UK.

All companies have humble beginnings, but the contrast between the early days of Radius and the company nowadays, with 11 UK offices and 14 more across five continents, is difficult to imagine.

Whilst Radius now has an award-winning global headquarters a stone's throw from Crewe station boasting specially commissioned murals, a free gym, pool tables, a computer gaming room and futuristic glass walls, in its early days the company worked in Arclid before moving to a former bedroom rented above a hair salon in Holmes Chapel.

Radius founder and CEO Bill Holmes quit a comfortable job with oil giant Esso to launch Radius back in January 1990 under the name UK Fuels.

In the early days, the business model was about fuel 'bunkering'. Companies can buy fuel at one network site and the lorry drivers can draw that fuel out elsewhere with a card-based electronic payment system.

It works like a bank account, but with diesel instead of money. Originally just selling diesel in the north of England, the company soon expanded to Northern Ireland in 1991 and the Republic of Ireland in 1996, partnering with the oil companies and becoming a reseller of their products to the smaller buyers which the oil companies were not interested in looking after.

Radius today manages over three billion litres of fuel every year via 1.2 million fuel cards across 40,000 locations in Europe and Asia.

Radius expanded its fuel cards business country by country across western Europe and then expanded into Asia, Australia and the US, adding services and product categories as it grew.

Supporting thousands of companies and small traders across five continents, Radius now provides business services ranging from fuel cards and telephony solutions to business insurance, telematics and vehicle tracking, electric vehicle charge points and charge cards.

The electric vehicle charging operation has been launched in readiness for the transition to electric business cars and vans, a change some 10 per cent of Radius customers say they are already planning.

"Our acquisitions are about building some new bases. They give us scale and get us into new locations," explains CEO, Bill Holmes. "In the future 100 per cent of our energy needs are going to be renewable, which is why we've started a green fuel business in partnership with Green Energy. We're trying to plan where we are going to be in 10 years' time."

Radius has space in Crewe for at least 1,000 staff between its three offices, but is planning extra capacity for four or five years ahead with a new building.

Around 300 staff will be based at the new offices when complete, with building work due to start in September and take roughly a year to complete.

Designs for a high-tech office block in keeping with the main Radius headquarters have been drafted to house the international hub of the company's telematics division.

Radius Telematics provides vehicle tracking systems for businesses to manage their drivers more easily, with live vehicle locations on a map, automatic driver timesheets and activity updates.

"It isn't just about building an office, but about trying to create something a bit unique for the staff," comments the CEO.

"We're going to have 25 electric vehicle charging points and we will be looking at a sustainable approach to the build.

"It will have a roof terrace and there will be things like barista coffee stations, pizza ovens and communal work spaces."

lists the 100 current local job opportunities in sales and marketing, financial control, programming and IT as well as HR and operations.