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Technology Stocks : EBOOKERS.COM (ebkr) - priceline/expdia of Europe -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: blankmind who wrote (69)	1/14/2000 3:39:00 PM
From: blankmind	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 85

Friday January 14, 6:45 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: ebookers.com plc ebookers.com Named Online Flight Booker for Asda/Wal-Mart Website Valuemad.com Gains Instant Unlimited Access to Valuemad.com's Visitors LONDON, Jan. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- ebookers.com, (Nasdaq: EBKR; Neuer Markt: eb6) Europe's No.1 online travel specialist, today announced that it has signed a landmark agreement to become the flight booking partner with Asda's Valuemad.com, the UK subsidiary of Wal-Mart. Valuemad.com is the Asda / Wal-Mart website targeting value-driven online customers. The site acts as an infomedia service that searches the Internet for the best bargains, resulting in savings to its shoppers of between 10-20%. In the case of ebookers.com savings on flights range between 15%-65% off published fares. Dinesh Dhamija, CEO of ebookers.com said, ``The internet is increasingly being recognised and utilised as a strong tool of ecommerce in the UK and Europe. Valuemad.com is at the forefront of this evolution, and now, through this partnership, all Valuemad.com visitors will have access to negotiated fares from over 70 airlines through ebookers.com. We are especially pleased that Asda/Wal-Mart recognise that ebookers' unique travel services offer their users value for money, site functionality and the customer support they require, and we believe that their core customer is ideally suited to the services we offer.' According to a November 1999 MORI poll, 11.5 million people are online in the UK and Fletcher research indicates that 29% of shoppers choose their site according to price more than any other factor. This provides an ideal forum for bargain-hunting shoppers to link into Europe's No.1 online travel specialist. Dhamija continued, ``I am confident that this strategic alliance will benefit the company via the European growth in online shopping. This is one of the many marketing initiatives we are currently undertaking for driving traffic to our websites and increasing sales across Europe.' According to a report by Gartner Group Inc (published 7th January 2000) the online travel industry is booming and online travel sales are predicted to increase 6 times by 2001, giving the Internet travel market a worth of $30 billion. The report also predicts that travel companies will either have to increase their Internet presence or make acquisitions to harness this growth. Over the past two months ebookers.com have made five acquisitions across Europe, in Finland, Germany, Sweden and Norway, enabling it to provide discounted travel from each of these countries, further strengthening the Company's position, extending its Pan-European presence to eight countries and reinforcing its status as the leading European Internet travel operator. 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 plc --------------------------------------------------------------------------------