Ebookers to list in London

Ebookers to list its shares in London

The online travel service ebookers plans to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

The company, which is already listed on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt for technology shares and the US Nasdaq index, aims to target institutional investors in London.

If we can't make a profit, no-one else can in travel

Dinesh Dhamijah
ebookers

Although the company will list its shares in the London market, it will not be raising money with a new offering.

Ebookers hopes to use customer awareness of the brand in the UK to attract investors.

Also on Monday, the company announced relatively strong financial results for the fourth quarter and the year.

A 'different breed'

Ebookers reported losses of £6.4m for the last three months of 2000, up from £2.1m a year earlier.

The full-year pre-tax loss, excluding stock compensation was £26.5m.

But the value of tickets sold rose faster than losses, with the company reporting sales of $36m for the fourth quarter, an increase on $9.3m reported a year earlier.

For the full-year, sales rose to $123.5m from $23m in 1999.

Dinesh Dhamijah, the chief executive of ebookers, told the BBC Breakfast News: "We're a different breed... if we can't make a profit, no-one else can in travel.

"We have been brought up on very low margins and we know how to cut costs."

Visitor rise

Ebookers had a cash balance of $50m as of 31 December, compared to $51.4m at the end of September.

The company has said it would be in profit by the fourth quarter of this year, or the first quarter of 2002.

Mr Dhamijah has been in the travel business for 20 years. Ebookers offers online shopping with a range of travel products and services.

Visits to ebookers.com's websites in 2000 totalled 25 million, a 10-fold increase on 1999, it said.

The company was first established in June 1999.