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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
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| Skyscanner expects expansion takeoff | Skyscanner expects expansion takeoff |
| (14 days later) | |
| Skyscanner, the flight search site, has doubled its revenues in the last year and is planning an aggressive recruitment drive in its home base in Edinburgh, its chief executive has said. | Skyscanner, the flight search site, has doubled its revenues in the last year and is planning an aggressive recruitment drive in its home base in Edinburgh, its chief executive has said. |
| Gareth Williams, also co-founder of the site, said on Thursday it hopes to expand tenfold in the next three or four years and has not ruled out a flotation on the stock market. | Gareth Williams, also co-founder of the site, said on Thursday it hopes to expand tenfold in the next three or four years and has not ruled out a flotation on the stock market. |
| Skyscanner is a free service which trawls the world's airlines for flights serving up users with results by time, price and airline. | Skyscanner is a free service which trawls the world's airlines for flights serving up users with results by time, price and airline. |
| It was started in 2001 and has survived despite the dominating presence of the likes of Expedia and Kayak, which floated earlier this year. | It was started in 2001 and has survived despite the dominating presence of the likes of Expedia and Kayak, which floated earlier this year. |
| Skyscanner, which takes a cut on each booking or a commission on each click through to an airline website which converts into a sale, is now turning over £3m a month in revenues. | Skyscanner, which takes a cut on each booking or a commission on each click through to an airline website which converts into a sale, is now turning over £3m a month in revenues. |
| Asked whether it would float, Williams said "possibly so", but he said it would be a function of the company's size, not an immediate goal. | Asked whether it would float, Williams said "possibly so", but he said it would be a function of the company's size, not an immediate goal. |
| "As a founder and CEO my day-to-day concern is just to get bigger. I think we have 10 times the size with us in the next three of four years. I don't see an IPO as a goal, I see it as a side effect," he told the Dublin web summit. | "As a founder and CEO my day-to-day concern is just to get bigger. I think we have 10 times the size with us in the next three of four years. I don't see an IPO as a goal, I see it as a side effect," he told the Dublin web summit. |
| His site attracts 14m uniques a month with 30m visits with a 28% click-through rate and a 20% booking rate. About half of visitors are repeat visitors. | His site attracts 14m uniques a month with 30m visits with a 28% click-through rate and a 20% booking rate. About half of visitors are repeat visitors. |
| Last year it was pulling in £1.8m a month and five years ago £180,000 a month. | Last year it was pulling in £1.8m a month and five years ago £180,000 a month. |
| Williams puts down the growth to the simplicity of the offering – it is offering raw data with click-through to airline sites – it is not intervening in the sale and will click through to an airline's website even where there is no partnership. | Williams puts down the growth to the simplicity of the offering – it is offering raw data with click-through to airline sites – it is not intervening in the sale and will click through to an airline's website even where there is no partnership. |
| Around a third of its traffic is to budget airlines – and he reports that Ryanair has described Skyscanner as one of the "good guys" – and about 60% of the traffic shorthaul. | Around a third of its traffic is to budget airlines – and he reports that Ryanair has described Skyscanner as one of the "good guys" – and about 60% of the traffic shorthaul. |
| The company has raised just less than £3m in equity funding. | The company has raised just less than £3m in equity funding. |
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