Lycos Europe closes 1Q with net profit of EUR 7.6 mln

Lycos Europe N.V., one of Europe‘s leading internet portals and online advertisers, today announced its results for the first quarter. It reported a net profit of EUR 7.6 million in the first three months 2007 and by this outperformed last year’s figure by 475% (EUR (2.0) million in first three months 2006). The main driver for this result was the successful sale of Lycos Europe’s Swedish access business.
The discontinued operations contributed EUR 10.6 million to the net result.

Total revenues in the first three months 2007 amounted to EUR 20.0 million compared with EUR 18.3 million in last year’s reporting period. The EBIT result deteriorated to EUR (3.8) million (vs. EUR (2.3) million in 2006) due to high Research & Development for new products like LYCOS iQ and Jubii. The gross margin slightly decreased to 60% compared to 62% in the first three months of 2006.

With a 58% share (EUR 11.6 million) of total revenues, the revenue stream of paid services & shopping has been the strongest contributor to total revenues, followed by advertising revenues with a share of 34 percent (EUR 6.8 million). Revenues from paid services & shopping as the strongest pillar grew by 35% compared with last year’s first three months. Revenues from online advertising decreased by 16 percent compared with last year’s reference period.

Interconnect revenues faced a 9% reduction which is mainly caused by an ongoing price drop in the German access market. On February 8, 2007, Lycos Europe announced to consider the sale of its German access business. The company started discussions with several third parties who are interested in analysing a possible take over of the access business.
Lycos Europe’s cash, cash equivalents and deposits amounted to EUR 104.3 million on March 31, 2007, compared to EUR 93.3 million on December 31, 2006.
Lycos Europe is one of the leading Internet destinations operating a network of websites in seven languages in Europe and the USA. The company’s combination of search, communication services, online communities,content channels, Internet access, shopping, homepage building and domain names registration addresses a wide range of target groups. The Lycos Europe Network provides an attractive medium not only for consumers but also for advertisers and e-commerce partners. Every month about 38 million users visit the Lycos Europe sites and also partner sites distributed by Lycos Europe. With a network of websites covering Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the USA, Lycos Europe has a large geographical reach in Europe and Northern America.