Thursday December 9, 7:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: ebookers.com
ebookers.com Continues European Expansion With Three More Acquisitions; $12.5 Million Added to ebookers' Annual Sales
LONDON, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Further enhancing its strategic position as Europe's leading online travel company, ebookers.com (Nasdaq: EBKR, Neuer Markt: eb6), today announced acquisitions of travel agencies in Finland and Germany, with combined annual sales of $12.5 million.
Consolidating its position as market leader, ebookers.com has acquired Helsinki-based Lloyd Tours, Finland's largest online discounted fare agency; and two German travel agencies, Take-Off Reisen, in Heilbronn, and Cosmos, in Bonn.
``These three acquisitions are yet another demonstration of our commitment to successfully executing our growth strategy throughout Europe and in particular Germany, which we communicated during our IPO. In one fell swoop we have gained an instant lead in Finland's Internet travel market, a country with one of the highest Internet penetration rates worldwide, and expanded our position in the large German market,' said Dinesh Dhamija, ebookers' CEO. ``Beyond the $12.5 million in new revenue, these acquisitions create and strengthen the necessary local-level relationships with airlines and customers alike. They also extend our first mover lead in Europe.'
Established in 1988, Lloyd Tours pioneered the online travel market in Finland in 1996 when it first offered discounted fares negotiated directly from the airlines. Its total annual revenue is approximately $9 million for the year ended 30 November 1999. It currently has a staff of 12. With 2.1 million Internet users, Finland's current Internet population is as large as that of Italy's.
Lloyd Tours' Managing Director, Ms. Marja Raanamo said, ``We are very excited about joining ebookers.com. They are already European leaders in online travel and they have a clear strategy for maintaining this prominent and pioneering position. Being part of a company like this in Finland, our further growth prospects are tremendous.'
In Germany, Europe's biggest travel market, the acquisitions of Take-Off Reisen and Cosmos further reinforce the position ebookers established in September this year through the addition of Teletravel Flugreisen GmbH.
With annual sales of $2 million (for the year ended 31 December 1998) and strong relationships with airlines through a different consolidator that complement those of ebookers, Take-Off Reisen enhances the company's ability to offer the lowest possible fares to German travellers. In addition to providing greater access to online customers, Take-Off Reisen also gives ebookers expertise in the German student travel market through specialised student and youth sections on their website.
Cosmos, which is IATA registered, has annual sales of $1.5 million (for the year ended 30 September 1998) and direct negotiated fares with over 30 airlines. These give ebookers direct access to negotiated deals with the airlines in Germany, like their other acquisitions in Europe. Although a purely offline travel agency, Cosmos will shortly become a subsidiary of Teletravel Flugreisen GmbH, and future plans include aggressively pursuing the online side of the business, while filtering out and converting traditional offline sales.
Mr Dhamija said, ``The acquisitions of Take-Off Reisen and Cosmos are another big step towards establishing a significant presence in Germany. The Germans take an average of 35 days per year holiday time and spend proportionately more than other Europeans on travel, so the market potential is enormous. Additionally, the student market expertise that Take-Off Reisen brings illustrates ebookers' commitment to catering to the special needs of different groups of travellers.'
``We are aiming to rapidly increase online sales of each acquired company within the next six months and are confident that this will help us to achieve the sales targets we have set ourselves for the next year, when growth from acquisitions will be in addition to our organic growth. We now have access for selling direct negotiated fares to 24 million Internet users in Western Europe, representing 62% of the current European Internet population.'
``We are also very confident of delivering our target sales in this current fourth quarter,' added Mr. Dhamija.
The company has been very successful in integrating the websites of its previous acquisitions, thereby enhancing customer experience. For example, following the French acquisition of La Compagnie des Voyages in August, and the subsequent site integration completed by October 1999, the French online newsletter, etourisme, on the basis of research covering 103 criteria and the top 20 leading French websites voted the ebookers.com website number two in France, ahead of rivals such as Degriftour, Havas Voyages, Leisure Planet, Promovac and Nouvelle frontiers.
Forward Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the company's ability to identify, acquire and integrate its potential subsidiaries across Europe, its ability to significantly increase its online revenues and sales volumes, to maintain and develop relationships with travel suppliers and strategic partners and to attract and retain customers, potential adverse changes in its gross mark up or in commission rates, unforeseen events affecting the travel industry, the impact of year 2000 issues, and the company's dependence on its ability to establish its brand. These and other risk factors are described in detail in the company's Prospectus dated 11 November 1999, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, USA and the German Prospectus dated 11 November 1999, filed with the Neuer Market, of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany.
SOURCE: ebookers.com
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