He may drive a posh car to work, wear jeans and a casual shirt in the office, and take 10 holidays a year, but 'millionaire playboy' is an image 37-year-old Simon Nixon isn't in danger of being tarred with. NICK MURTON found out why.

In little more than five years, a one-time aspiring dentist has forged an internet business with an estimated value of £500-£700m with a personal fortune of £200m.

His drive and business acumen have garnered him award after award. But while most in his position would have retired to their own personal island paradise, Simon Nixon told The Chronicle he has no plans to abandon his Chester home, Ewloe offices, or 10 hour days.

'I originally wanted to be a dentist or a doctor,' he said.

'Once a year we would stay with my uncle who had worked hard and had a nice house, sports cars - his children even had portable TVs in their bedrooms.

'I decided then I wanted to be a businessman. Money can be a great motivator when you are young.'

The annual brush with money would have a great impact on the youngster from Connah's Quay.

When picking his A-Levels Simon opted for science-based courses. He wanted to be a doctor or dentist 'as I thought they made a lot of money'.

But a two week spell at a High Street dental surgery soon put paid to dreams of a career in the health industry.

'It wasn't a nice experience,' he said.

'I switched to accountancy, and started a course at Nottingham University. I only lasted two years before setting out on my own as a mortgage broker.

'Back then there was no way mortgage brokers could compare packages.

'So I set up a fortnightly magazine Brokers' Update and started sending it off through the post. It was just photocopied sheets. Its popularity was huge after only four months. But about two years later readership started declining. Mortgage brokers had started using computers and wanted updates each day, not each fortnight.

'I persuaded my then-girlfriend's brother to abandon his IT course. He was nothing short of a genius. We produced a PC package, Mortgage 2000, from Chester Business Centre with three YTS trainees.

'Mortgage 2000 is now used by 40% of the industry.'

'We did this until 1999 when Freeserve introduced free internet access - which we had seen as a threat, but then we decided to embrace it by taking our mortgage comparison on-line. Money Supermarket grew from there.

Moneysupermarket.com - hosted from a business park in Ewloe, now has around 4,000,000 new visitors each month.

It is in his spacious office that the Chronicle conducts an interview with a man hailed Young Entrepreneur of the Year - and with some justification.

Moneysupermarket.com has recently expanded to offer cheap flight and car rental comparisons.

The company is valued at £70m in its Limited form. Venture capitalists fore-cast its value on the stock exchange at up to 10 times that figure.

Mr Nixon now says he is looking to expand overseas, specifically Germany and Spain, because 'Germans

are exactly like us when it comes to hunting for the best bargains, while the Spanish are starting to come around to that way of thinking.'

The value approach is not just a sales-pitch for Mr Nixon, who practices what he preaches and continues to fly on low-cost airlines like easyJet.

He admits: 'To be honest, the flight comparison was one of my proudest moments, because it was something close to my heart.

'I love travelling, but always look for value for money - this engine allows people to compare prices from travel agents and low cost operators in seconds.'