LONDON, August 1, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- QXL ricardo plc ("QXL" or the "Group") (LSE:QXL.L) (Nasdaq:QXLC) (Frankfurt:QXL.F), the pan-European online auction company, today announced results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2002.
Commenting on the results Mark Zaleski, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We have reached a key milestone in the first quarter, with the delivery of local operational profitability in Norway and Poland. I am pleased also with the growth in gross profit of 25% over the previous quarter, which is primarily due to solid growth in transactional revenues and reflects the success of our cost control measures, enhanced customer offering and continued focus on our community. We have continued to reduce our trading loss and expect further cost improvements within the next few quarters as we move further towards overall Group profitability."
First quarter ended 30 June 2002 and Recent Highlights
-- Local operational profitability reached in Norway and Poland -- Acquisition of Aucland.fr, a leading online auction site in France -- Agreement signed with Yahoo! Europe to provide cobranded auctions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden -- Exclusive cobranding agreement signed with Manchester United -- Gross profit increased 47% to 1.57 million pounds, compared to 1.07 million pounds for the quarter ended June 30, 2001 -- Transaction volumes increased 37% compared to the quarter ended June 30, 2001 -- Operating expenses decreased 50% to [Pounds]4.7 million, compared to 9.6 million pounds for the quarter ended June 30, 2001
Trading loss decreased 63% to 3.1 million pounds, compared to 8.5 million pounds for the quarter ended June 30, 2001.
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