QXL Ricardo halves its losses
ONLINE auction company QXL Ricardo cut its losses in the third quarter to end-December and said it sees profitable operations in a number of countries in the next two quarters.
The operating loss for the third quarter was £5.36m compared with £12.1m a year earlier. In the nine months to end-December, the operating loss was £20m and this compares with £40.2m for the same period a year earlier.
Gross profit increased 92% over the quarter to £1.4m. The third quarter pre-tax loss was £7.12m, down from a loss of £41.4m and the pre-tax loss for the nine months was £25.7m compared with £124.5m.
Third quarter turnover was £1.46m compared with £4.08m. Turnover for the nine months was £4.17m compared with £11.9m.
QXL chief executive officer Mark Zaleski said the group remains fully focused on continuing to improve its product and thereby enhancing customer proposition to enable all seller types, whether an individual or large business, to trade effectively.
The group today launched the QXL Co-Branding Programme to provide its partners with a simple solution rapidly to create an auction channel within their sites, which is operated by QXL, but which maintains their branding.
