will this help to ignite some passion for qxl? they are into antiques as you wanted, this hot off the press:
October 20, 1999
QXL.com Announces Online Antiques Site with Hugh Scully; BBC
Antiques Roadshow Presenter Joins Online Auction House
LONDON, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- QXL.com (Nasdaq: QXLC; London: QXL), the pan-European auctioneer, today announced that Hugh Scully, the popular presenter of the BBC's Antiques Roadshow for over 20 years, is partnering with QXL.com to offer its members the opportunity to discover the value of personal items, collectibles or generation-old family heirlooms with virtual valuations and appraisals via the Internet. The partnership takes effect immediately.
The BBC's long-time presenter will host a new online valuation and appraisal service, from early 2000, that will allow users to receive online valuations for a fee. Such valuations could be used for insurance and probate purposes and will also help QXL.com members wishing to auction the appraised item to set a realistic reserve price that recognizes the true value of their goods. Users will be able to submit digitised photos of their items via e-mail and receive back a valuation from an expert also via email. This provides a meaningful way of authenticating items that are offered for sale through QXL.com's consumer-to-consumer auctions. Other features will include Hugh Scully's antique auction of the day, chat lines and a collector's club.
During his 20 years of working with the Antiques Roadshow, Hugh Scully has forged a number of relationships that will prove vital in establishing QXL.com's new service. He will be working with these contacts to provide members with the widest possible range of expertise when requesting a valuation.
"I am delighted to be playing a significant role in the online revolution," commented Hugh Scully. "I know from my long experience that there are many people with antiques and collectibles that could be worth hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pounds -- and most of the time they have no idea of their true value. QXL.com has already proved very popular and we will obviously be able to reach an audience of many millions around the world. I am looking forward to seeing what hidden treasures are sent for review."
"There is great demand from our customers for us to expand into the large market of higher value items," said Jim Rose, CEO of QXL.com. "The addition of a valuation service provided by such a respected member of the antiques world as Hugh Scully solidly meets this demand and is another example of our commitment to our members. It is consistent with our strategy to add quality, value-added services and will further strengthen QXL.com's position in the online auction business."
Under the terms of the agreement, Hugh Scully and Fine Art Productions Limited, a company controlled by Hugh Scully, have agreed to provide services to QXL.com for a period of five years in connection with the new online valuation service. QXL.com has agreed compensation to Fine Art Productions Limited of 700,000 pounds sterling for intellectual property rights in connection with this new online service, and 2.3 million pounds upon launch of the site for the services of Mr. Scully and his company, supplemented by an additional 10% profit sharing agreement in the online valuation service. Up to an aggregate of #2.0 million of the total consideration may be satisfied at the discretion of either the company or Fine Art Productions Limited by the issuance of the Company's ordinary shares, subject to six month lock up restrictions, based on the IPO price of QXL.com shares.
Background on QXL.com
QXL.com is a pan-European online auction community. QXL.com simultaneously conducts consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer auctions in four languages and currencies. The QXL.com online auction community facilitates trading 24 hours a day, seven days a week in an efficient, convenient and entertaining environment. QXL.com enables buyers to bid on merchandise and services from across Western Europe which are sold by QXL.com, QXL.com members and merchants. QXL.com also enables sellers to locate and trade with buyers in new geographic markets. A wide selection of merchandise and services is available on our online auction community, ranging from computer software and hardware, consumer electronics, household appliances and collectibles to travel-related items and sports equipment.
QXL.com provides access to the QXL.com trading community in English (http://www.qxl.com and qxl.co.uk , launched in November 1997), German (http://www.qxl.de , launched in October 1998), French (http://www.qxl.fr , launched in December 1998) and Italian (http://www.qxl.it , launched in June 1999). It recently listed on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
About Hugh Scully
Hugh came to the Antiques Roadshow in 1981 and for the next two years worked with Arthur Negus. When, in 1983 and at the age of 80, Arthur decided to retire, Hugh took over as sole presenter.
Born in Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire in 1943, Hugh spent much of his early life abroad, although he regards his roots as being firmly in the West Country. His career with the BBC started back in 1963 when he joined the Corporation as a freelance journalist. He worked on various news magazine programmes in the South West region and for several years was anchor-man on Plymouth's Spotlight South West. He was also a presenter on BBC's Nationwide. His interest in antiques led him in 1967 to become chairman of the radio programme Talking About Antiques and in 1970 he also became chairman on BBC's Collector's World.
About Antiques Roadshow Hugh says, "It's a delight to be associated with this, the most spontaneous programme on television. We do not have any idea what the day will bring, but we are rarely disappointed. The success of the programme is that it is essentially a conversation between two people with many millions of eavesdroppers."
Hugh now heads his own television production company, Fine Art Productions. Its many successful productions include The Falklands War, Thatcher: The Downing Street Years, The Wasted Windfall - Story of North Sea Oil; The Gulf War and a four part documentary on the Labour Party, The Wilderness Years.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that relate to the Company's plans, objectives, estimates and goals. The Company's business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with: only having a limited operating history; regulation of auctions and the Internet; probable variability in the Company's quarterly operating results; the Company's results of operations not being indicative of future performance; significant losses being incurred as a result of expansion of the Company's business; having a new and unproven business model; dependence on growth of online consumer-to-consumer commerce market; difficulty of selling merchandise purchased for auction at a profit; inability to forecast or respond to consumer demand; risks associated with development and growth of the Company's foreign language web sites; intense competition; systems and communications failures; failure to develop the Company's brand; failure to expand the Company's systems; failure to improve the Company's computer systems; risks associated with managing internal growth and retaining and recruiting personnel; risks associated with maintaining and managing relationships with our suppliers and service providers; international expansion; online commerce security; risks associated with not developing new services, features and functions; risks associated with intellectual property rights; Year 2000 compliance issues; fraudulent activity of our members and suppliers; seasonality; and risks associated with acquisitions. These and other risks and uncertainties, which are described in more detail in the Company's Registration Statement on Form F-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause the Company's actual results and developments to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any of these forward-looking statements.
/CONTACT: Alison Cabot, Communications Director of QXL.com, +44-181-962-7231, or alison@qxl.com; or Melanie Marshall or Cheryl Gale, both of Band & Brown Communications, +44-171-419-7000, or melanie@bbpr.com; or Sarah Marsland or Deborah Ardern-Jones, both of Financial Dynamics, +44-171-831-3113, or sarah.marsland@fd.com, all for QXL.com/
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