By Deborah Schofield, 17 August 2001 09:32
NEWS Scoot.com has confirmed that DMG Niche Publications is to buy its free ads newspaper Loot for £45m. The sale represents a massive depreciation of value for the classified advertising venture. Scoot bought the business for £190m around 15 months ago and subsequently predicted that it would generate annual revenues of £20m from the operation. Scoot has seen its share price plummet this year and recently announced it was unable to find the funds necessary to continue its loss-making operations. Scoot is now to be provided with a bridging loan of £10.5m under the terms of this latest deal which will enable it to repay debts and continue trading at least until October. DMG is a subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust and the deal must now be cleared by Scoot's shareholders and approved by the Irish competition regulators.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below