After announcing “record” financial results for Q4 and last year, pan-European online travel agency ebookers will seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange by the end of the month.
Currently listed on both Nasdaq (EBKR) and the Neuer Markt (eb6), ebookers.com believes an LSE listing will give it access to institutional funds that are not otherwise available. It plans to retain its presence on the other markets even though it hopes to start trading on the LSE by the end of March.
Sales worth $43.6m at ebookers.com were up four times in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year earlier. However, losses deepened from $3.4m to $9.3m.
For the full year in 2000, ebookers.com achieved gross sales of $154.1m and lost 20 cents on each share, excluding stock compensation and fund raising costs.
The whole picture is rounded off by the news that visits to ebookers.com`s Web sites in 2000 reached over 25 million, a 10 fold increase on 1999.
In a statement, CEO Dinesh Dhamija reminded investors that ebookers.com was on target and entered the financial year 2001 with a strong cash balance of $50.0m.
The whole picture, he said, was very different to those presented by other dot-coms, which unlike ebookers.com, demonstrated fast deteriorating cash positions.
“In 2001 we intend to increase sales through organic growth and also through considering acquisitions in key markets,” he said.
According to a PhocusWright research report, ebookers.com has become the top online travel agency in Europe, with a 20% market share.
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