QXL Ricardo: Web auction site pushes to be top in Switzerland, Denmark, Norway

[mandy]

ONLINE auctioneer QXL Ricardo showed signs of recovery today after it revealed a 53 per cent rise in revenues and a sharp reduction in losses.

The auctioneer - once tipped as Europe's answer to eBay - is expected to announce its first annual pre-tax profits since 2003 when it posted results later this year.

Revenues were 53 per cent higher at £3m and 21 per cent stronger than the previous quarter.

QXL operates in nine European countries and its strongest markets are in Norway, Denmark and Switzerland, where it is the market leader.

full article: http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/bu...e_top.html

full earnings report press release: http://www.qxl.co.uk/contents/uk/qxlmedi...3_2006.pdf

We also recorded another strong increase in our underlying Gross Auction Value, which grew to £49.0 million in the quarter, up 62% year-on-year and 28% over the previous quarter.
We have maintained our focus on those countries in which we are the market-leader, i.e. Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. We undertook significant branding campaigns in Norway and Denmark, which we expect to support our longer-term development in those markets. However, our principal marketing focus remains online marketing where we can target internet users more effectively and assess the returns on our investment more easily.

Poland
As announced on 13 January 2006, we remain in discussions on the proposal received last year from our major shareholders regarding the recovery of full control of QXL Poland Sp z o.o. and the associated acquisition of certain additional assets in Eastern Europe as part of a negotiated settlement of our ongoing legal claims in Poland. Due diligence on these businesses has commenced, but despite the progress that has been made, significant issues remain to be resolved and there can still be no guarantee that any agreement will result from the proposal.
In the meantime there have been further hearings in the various court cases in Poland. In the main civil case, we completed giving our evidence to the court on 11 January, but the next hearing is not now scheduled to take place until late March.

[mandy]

JAMES ROSE resigned as chairman of QXL Ricardo, the online auctioneer, yesterday, after less than a year in the position.

Mr Rose, an American, said that he was stepping down from the post to rejoin his family in the United States. As an executive at a sales and marketing company, he decided that he could not devote sufficient time to QXL, which is embroiled in a legal dispute involving its Polish business.

The company’s shares, the best-performing shares on the FTSE last year, rose 250p to £115 yesterday.

full article:  http://business.timesonline.co.uk/articl...43,00.html

QXL has 140 employees in the UK and Europe