euro adhoc: Lycos Europe N.V.
quarterly or semiannual financial statement /
First three months 2006: LYCOS Europe right on track to achieve full year break
even on net result basis
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
27.04.2006
- Total revenues remain stable and amount to EUR 29.9 million
- EBITDA nearly balanced with EUR (0.5) million (+ 92 percent) . Net loss continuously improves by 75 percent to EUR (2.0) million . Gross margin of 49 percent on high prior year level
Haarlem / Netherlands, April 27, 2006 - LYCOS Europe (ISIN NL0000233195), one of Europe's leading internet portals, today announced its results for the first three months of 2006. The first quarter of 2006 has been in line with the prospected financial guidance. With total revenues of EUR 29.9 million LYCOS Europe runs on the same revenue level as in the reference period of 2005 (Q1/2005: EUR 30.0 million). Paid Services & Shopping revenues rose by 14 percent to EUR 11.5 million (vs. EUR 10.1 million in Q1/2005), advertising revenues remained stable with EUR 8.6 million (vs. EUR 8.7 million in Q1/2005), Interconnect revenues dropped from EUR 10.9 million in Q1/2005 to EUR 9.7 million in the first three months of 2006 especially due to a price erosion as well as a consolidation on the Swedish access market. Taking a look on the result side, LYCOS Europe again achieved to improve its cost base to a large extent. The EBITDA result of EUR (0.5) million reflects an improvement of 92 percent compared with last year's first quarter of EUR (5.7) million. Net loss for the first three months of 2006 also diminished substantially and continuously by 75 percent to EUR (2.0) million vs. EUR (8.1) million in Q1/2005. LYCOS Europe was able to keep the gross margin of 49 percent at the same level as in the previous year (51 percent in the first three months 2005). The cost optimization measures of 2005 have all been fully deployed and will have an annual cost reduction effect of around EUR 30 million with a full impact this financial year.
LYCOS Europe succeeded in strengthening the reach of its pan-European portal and partner distribution network and gained around 5 million new unique users compared to last year (year-on-year), so that about 21.6 percent (28.6 million) of all European Internet users visit this network on a regular basis.
LYCOS Europe's cash, cash equivalents and other investments amounted to EUR 93.7 million on March 31, 2006, compared to EUR 105.1 million on December 31, 2005. The reduction is mainly influenced by extraordinary items such as prepayments connected to .eu domain market launch and repayments of short term debts. The adjusted operational cash flow amounted to EUR (2.6) million which is a pro forma improvement of 55 percent compared to last year's first quarter.
- ends -
"The Internet industry is creating new products based on much higher user participation at a tremendous speed right now. The importance of user generated content continues to increase. At the same time, to shop online, to communicate online, to share fun and experience online or to meet online becomes more and more common in our daily lives. LYCOS Europe has and will come up with products and services acting right in this direction and supporting this development. Backed by the financial improvements at hand and the profitability in sight, LYCOS Europe is right on track to maintain its leading position as an international portal provider and developer of Internet services", comments Christoph Mohn, CEO of LYCOS Europe N.V..
Christoph Mohn continues: "The positive direction of our financial results is mostly driven by cost reductions. Looking forward, this will be backed by further improvements in our revenues due to our product development and new trend-setting products coming out of the LYCOS Europe laboratories. The best example for this is the launch of our new search engine LYCOS iQ in the first quarter of the current year."
|In million Euro (except per |Three months |Three months |Change | |share data, change and gross |ended March 31, |ended March 31, | | |margin) |2006 |2005 | | |Total revenues |29.9 |30.0 |0% | |Gross profit |14.7 |15.2 |(3%) | |Gross margin |49% |51% |(3%) | |Operating loss |(2.6) |(8.6) |70% | |Net loss |(2.0) |(8.1) |75% | |Net loss per share in Euro |(0.01) |(0.03) |75% | |EBITDA |(0.5) |(5.7) |92% | |Cash, cash equivalents and |93.7 |114.8 |(18)% | |deposits | | | |
end of announcement euro adhoc 27.04.2006 07:27:09
Further inquiry note:
Kay Oberbeck
Director PR & IR Europe
Tel.: +49 (0)5241 8071055
E-Mail: kay.oberbeck@lycos-europe.com
Branche: Software
ISIN: NL0000233195
WKN: 932728
Index: Prime All Share, Technologie All Share
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