Press release
Paris, May 25th 2012
Ciao's growth potential within LeGuide.com group
LeGuide.com clarifies the potential for value creation resulting from the integration of Ciao.
Audience share doubled and clear leadership in Europe
With 14.9 million unique visitors* for the websites of LeGuide.com (excluding Ciao) and 17.2 million unique visitors* for the Ciao websites, the new group, which has traffic overlap of only 10%, has a total unduplicated audience share of 28.9 million unique visitors*.
This makes LeGuide.com the clear leader in Europe, while the number two player has a total of just 14.9 million unique visitors*.
LeGuide.com and Ciao's audience share is highly complementary in the main European countries.
| Country | Audience share of LeGuide.com (excl. Ciao), in thousands of UV | Audience share of Ciao, in thousands of UV | Total unduplicated audience share, in thousands of UV | % duplication | Position |
| France | 6,995 | 2,919 | 8,827 | 89% | N°1 |
| Germany | 3,241 | 5,745 | 8,008 | 89% | N°1 |
| Spain | 1,307 | 2,880 | 3,733 | 89% | N°1 |
| Italy | 1,235 | 3,347 | 4,109 | 90% | N°1 |
| United Kingdom | 802 | 1,517 | 2,156 | 93% | N°3 |
| Other countries (Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, etc.) | 1,351 | 816 | 2,046 | 94% | - |
| TOTAL | 14,931 | 17,224 | 28,879 | 90% | N°1 |
Source: Comscore, March 2012
An integration plan well underway
To ensure Ciao's rapid integration within LeGuide.com, a dedicated integration team was set up before the acquisition was finalised. The commercial and organisational integration has now been finalised, and a unified commercial team is in place in Paris, Munich and London.
An integrated billing process and a unified process for integrating offers from e-merchants will be effective from July 2012.
Between now and the end of 2012, the group plans to optimise the commercial integration by grouping the merchant databases together, implementing a single pricing grid and aligning the marketing and commercial performances of the two entities.
Technical integration is expected to be finalised in the third quarter of 2013.
Potential for revenue and profitability growth
The acquisition of Ciao adds significant growth potential for the group, which can now draw on a positive size effect. The anticipated contribution in revenue for 2012 is €12m to €14m (over 9 months).
In terms of profitability, after taking integration costs into account, Ciao is unlikely to contribute to operating income in 2012. However, from 2013, the group's profitability should be in line with LeGuide.com's standards.
The acquisition of Ciao is a milestone for the group in its leadership strategy in Europe. LeGuide.com plans to boost this leadership in terms of both audience share and revenue through organic and external growth.
About LeGuide.com Group
LeGuide.com Group, an operator of online shopping guides, comparison websites, shopping search engines and platforms for consumer ratings, reached a total audience of 28.9 Million Unique Visitors*, including 8.8 in France* and 1.5 million on mobile**. With a team of 171 employees, LeGuide.com operates in 14 European countries through a multi-site strategy surrounding a brand portfolio, including LeGuide.com, Ciao, dooyoo.com and mercamania.com. The group lists 161 million offers from 76 200 e-merchants and has generated €28.2 million in revenue in its 2011 financial year. LeGuide.com has been certified as an "Innovative company" by OSEO (a French public agency that supports SMEs) and is listed on the Alternext board of NYSE Euronext Paris (ticker: ALGUI; ISIN code: FR0010146092).
*Source: Comscore, March 2012
**Source Médiamétrie/NielsenNetratings, February 2012
*** Unaudited figures
| LeGuide.com Olivia Fuchs +33 1 55 43 37 29 finance@leguide.com (mailto:finance@leguide.com) | Anaïs de Scitivaux +33 1 56 88 11 14 adescitivaux@actifin.fr (mailto:adescitivaux@actifin.fr) |
Pour plus d'information : www.leguide.com/finance (http://www.leguide.com/finance)
The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: LeGuide.com Group via Thomson Reuters ONE
