A NEW media entrepreneur left school at the age of 16 without a single qualification - and now runs a business that is heading for a turnover of £2.5million.

Spencer Gallagher, 33, set up new media agency Bluhalo in his mother's garden shed in 1999 with the £6,000 redundancy payout from his job with a marketing company.

In the first year he managed a turnover of £29,000. In the second year he took on his first employee and turnover nearly tripled to £90,000... and kept growing. Last year, it hit £1.5m and Mr Gallagher is this year projecting £2.5m.

He said: "We have grown 300 per cent, year-on-year, and we are on target for £5m in three years' time."

The managing director also had another ambitious forecast, saying: "We are going to enter the Times Fast Track 100 in 2006 and I think we will come second because growth between 2003 and 2005 was 430 per cent."

From the garden shed, Bluhalo moved to 500-year-old barns in Winchfield in 2002, by which time there were six members of staff. Since then the company has expanded into a second barn and took a third in the new year. Now there is to be 3,500sqft added to bring the floor space up to 7,000sqft.

The staff head count has now topped 30 and, when the barn extension is complete, there will be room for 70 people.

Mr Gallagher said: "We are an agency you would typically find in central London, but we are creating London out in the sticks.

"Our goal is to be the largest agency in the country in five years and one making profit. This September we are opening an office in Manchester for our northern customers, then it will be Glasgow and then Europe, and on to New York."

Bluhalo has more than 1,300 customers and has just won an Air Miles account for online marketing. Other clients include OneTel and Gerald Online, an internet jewellery site set up by Gerald Ratner, as well as Goldsmiths Fine Jewellers.

Staff are a top priority for Mr Gallagher, who lives at Elvetham Heath - Bluhalo has already achieved Investor in People status.

He said: "I'm really proud of our team. We have a sickness rate of 0.9 per cent and have only lost three members of staff.

"We have virtually 100 per cent staff satisfaction and many of them come from Basingstoke. We like to grow a role for our people."

Bluhalo customers range from the one-man-band business to the big names, but the goal remains the same - to give creative and technical solutions for business. That can be as simple as building a website for £99, through to animated presentations and bespoke packages, including domain name registration, logo and stationery design and e-mail addresses.

And the secret of so much success? Mr Gallagher said: "I left school at 16 with no qualifications - I'm not an academic. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and you have to survive when you don't have exams.

"It's never an easy ride, whatever anyone tells you, but I reckon we are a top 50 company in the new media industry."