Yell plans huge British flotation

£2.1 billion equity?

[ritch_b]

From Business Day :

British directory advertising group Yell announced plans for a stock market flotation next week which is expected to be the biggest initial public offering in Britain yet this year.

Full article here [bday.co.za]

R.

[Bobby_Davro]

That is £2.1B valuation of the entire business, including the printed Yellow Pages I presume, rather than being specific to Yell.com

[edited by: Bobby_Davro at 2:32 pm (utc) on July 1, 2003]

[ritch_b]

It's the group as a whole, so one would assume it includes the printed side of the business - that's the side they seem to be concentrating on, with the web-based side of the business on the proverbial back burner.

R.

[peewhy]

I hope they reinvest the money to make things work!

[cornwall]

There is more info in this article from the Guardian [guardian.co.uk]

Cannot say that I think their UK web directory is anything to write home about. The Yellow Pages format does not really transfer to the web satisfactorally. Little or no traffic from it.

[ritch_b]

T'was mentioned last year that they would be concentrating on the core business, ie. printed directory rather than online services.

Whether this is still the case is anyone's guess.

R.

[peewhy]

When I started marketing and promoting websites way back in the dark and distant last century (1996), I ordered a couple of new phone lines, those type that would be non stop ringing with new clients!

Yellow Pages contacted me immediately to sell me some space ... and I had a budget to by.

There is no section for Internet Marketing sir!

I can put you in Computer Sales?

What about Periphials?

We're thinking about opening a section for Internet Designers (Not website designers!) but that will be in the 2000 special.

Would you like a free entry instead under advertising agents?

..... and I had money to spend but they didn't want to take it!

[Bobby_Davro]

Is it worth the valuation?

As mentioned, Yell.com gets a respectable amount of traffic, but is a second tier player in the UK, being on a parr with Lycos. I can't see that this is a major part of their business at all. I imagine that it is a just a tiny fraction of their printed directories business.

[ritch_b]

Traffic from Yell's online directory can be surprisingly high in a lot of categories and drive a fair number of targetted queries.

Two referrals a day from Yell for landscape gardeners in my area may not sound a lot, but converting one of these each week more than pays for the listing fee.

As ever, you pays yer money and makes yer choice.

R.

[tigger]

I paid for one for a client and the response has been naff, he won't be renewing it, far too expensive

[GodLikeLotus]

Yell.Com - I guess there may be some industries where a linked listing may work but I have yet to speak to anyone who thinks the £1500 for a banner is worth anything at all. I would ask yourselves 2 simple questions, would you actually search using Yell as oppossed to using a real search engine or directory and secondly, do you trust a company who charge their cutomers £70 for a co.uk domain name.

I do personally use Yell but only for their maps, its great if you have a meeting and need directions.

Think I will wait for Google to go public before I invest in a search engine or directory.