Australia’s largest locally-listed internet operation, ecorp, has reported a loss of A$24.2m ($15.7m) for the financial year to June 30, a figure which was in line with its prospectus forecast. Ecorp, a subsidiary of Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, incurred a loss of A$9.82m ($6.38m )from nineMSN, the internet portal it half-owns with Microsoft.
Ticketek, which it acquired in May and has yet to migrate to an internet business model, contributed revenue of A$3.66m ($2.38m) and was the company’s only profitable division. An abnormal item of A$6.53m ($4.24m) was described by ecorp chairman Daniel Petre as software development and costs associated with the Ticketek acquisition. ShareTrade Australia, which it bought in late April, generated sales of A$1.61m ($1.05m) as trading activity increased 38% but a major web site redevelopment led to a loss for the broking division.
Describing the result as so far, so good Petre said: It is still not clear what is going to happen in the long term in this market. The idea behind ecorp is to have a portfolio of AAA-class opportunities on the internet, he said. Ecorp will look for further opportunities in financial services, e-commerce and bringing overseas internet licenses to Australia, according to Petre who also said the online classifieds market will be targeted for development.
We are doing a fantastic job in boats, we are doing a good job in cars, but
that’s it. There may well be a strategy that increases our investment in classifieds quite substantially, he said, describing internet classifieds as relatively untouched in Australia. He said that ecorp is in discussions with international companies about opportunities.
