One Month Free Usage of Quickflix
Quickflix is a leading provider of internet based DVD rental in the Australian market. They have over 37,000 titles, home deliver and NO late fees! If you would like to use Quickflix free for 1 month, then check out the following link.
CAV Invests in CarAdvice
Classifed Ad Ventures, through its investment company, CAV Investment Holdings Pty Ltd, has take a stake in the Australian based online automotive site, CarAdvice.com.au. In the process, Simon Baker, the CEO of Classified Ad Ventures, has joined the Board.
CarAdvice has over 450,000 unique visitors per month and has just launched a classifieds section – clearly taking on CarSales.
Here is the announcement from CarAdvice.
CARADVICE TAKES ON CARSALES
Sydney, Australia 10th November 2009 – CarAdvice.com.au – Australia’s largest editorial only automotive site has embarked on an aggressive growth strategy and has the market leader, CarSales, firmly in its sights.
Firstly, Simon Baker, internet veteran and former CEO of the REA Group (realestate.com.au) has invested in the business and joined the board. He brings to CarAdvice a wealth of knowledge and experience in building online classifieds businesses.
Secondly, CarAdvice has just released its classifieds section of the site. Private sellers and dealers are now able to advertise their used cars to CarAdvice’s 450,000 unique visitors (source Google Analytics) at half the price charged by CarSales.
Lastly, six months of editorial improvements and 20% month on month growth have been rewarded with a strong increase in traffic. According to Google Analytics, nearly 450,000 people visited CarAdvice in October. In addition, new research conducted by Nielsen shows that CarAdvice is the 3rd most visited vehicle editorial site in Australia behind Drive and CarGuide and ahead of CarSales.
CarAdvice CEO, David Holmes, said; “CarAdvice has strong momentum and 2010 should deliver strong growth for the business. Over the last 2 years we have built a large and loyal readership for our motoring editorial. We now believe we can leverage this readership into the lucrative motoring classifieds market and take on CarSales in their core revenue area.
“The value of Simon’s online classifieds experience, our continued strong readership growth, and experienced team has positioned us to do well in the online car classifieds market and to chase the car manufacturers advertising dollars.
Car Advice is also positioned to do well in markets outside of Australia as 40% of its traffic being sourced from overseas with the US being the next largest country.”
Commenting on his investment, Simon Baker said, “We invested in CarAdvice as the business has significant growth potential – both in Australia and selected overseas markets. They have already done the hard work in building a large relevant online audience and this positions them well to take on the lucrative automotive classifieds and display advertising markets. In addition they have a strong, experienced and passionate management team. I am looking forward to working closely with the team.”
Quickflix Opens Tasmanian Distribution Centre
Online DVD rental company Quickflix Ltd has opened a new distribution centre in Hobart to serve its rapidly growing Tasmanian membership base.
The new Hobart distribution hub adds to a national network that already includes operations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
The Hobart hub will provide next-day delivery of Quickflix DVDs by Australia Post to most households in Tasmania.
Quickflix founder and executive director Stephen Langsford said the new centre also positioned the company well in the Tasmanian market for digital delivery.
Tasmania will lead the nation in the rollout of high-speed broadband under the National Broadband Network (NBN) initiative.
“We see this as an important market for us in which to build a significant online member base and be in the prime position to introduce a complementary movie-streaming service as demand increases, Mr Langsford said in a statement on Wednesday.
Quickflix Growth Accelerates in the September Quarter
Quickflix Limited (ASX: QFX), Australia’s leading online DVD rental and movie subscription company today announced continuing strong growth in subscriber numbers as its paying subscriber base increased eleven percent in the three months to 30 September 2009 to 33,059. This rate of growth, which exceeded that of the previous quarter, was in line with the Company’s expectation. Highlights for the quarter were:
• Paying subscribers of 33,059 at 30 September, up 11 percent in the quarter (+31 percent YOY)
• Revenue receipts of $1.74 Million and operating payments of $2.18 Million
• Net operating and investing cash outflow of $0.44 Million for the quarter
• Successfully completed a $1.2 Million rights issue following the $0.75 Million placement in June
• Net cash at bank at 30 September 2009 was $1..75 Million
Momentum is building from the solid base established in the last financial year. Quickflix has increased its investment in growth to acquire new subscribers and expand its content library following completion of the recent capital raisings, supporting further momentum growth.
A combination of factors is driving subscriber growth. Organic search traffic is increasing with growing brand awareness and the conversion of all web traffic to sign-ups is also increasing. New partnering activities have also contributed to growth. The introduction of new subscriptions in prior periods including lower price points and capped plans improves retention and long term subscriber profitability whilst reducing the rate of growth in revenue and fulfilment cost in the short term.
The outlook for the coming quarter is continuing strong growth with the Company targeting a further 10 percent increase in paying subscribers.
Netflix in the US Delivers Strong Growth – Good Lessons for Quickflix
Netflix in the US has just released its quarterly results. Netflix announced strong quarterly growth in both revenues and in profit. As Netflix and Quickflix have similar models, it is interesting to see how Netflix is performing in the US.
This article is courtesy of the Los Angeles Times and was published on the 24th July 2009.
Quickflix Ends FY with Turnaround Performance
Quickflix Limited (ASX: QFX) posted its results for the June quarter today concluding a year in which the Company performed strongly in a very challenging economic environment.
Highlights for the year were:
• Paying subscribers as at 30 June, 2009 were 29,910 up 17 per cent for the year with most of the growth coming in the last two quarters;
• Revenue receipts grew by 12 per cent to $6.9 Million whilst operating payments were down by 14 per cent to $7.4 Million;
• Net cash outflow reduced from $4.95 Million in the previous year to $1.48 Million for the year ended 30 June 2009; and
• Net cash at bank at 30 June 2009 was $1.19 Million having recently successfully completed a $0.75 Million private placement.
In the June quarter, Quickflix repeated the solid growth in paying subscribers of the previous quarter. This was all the more pleasing as it was achieved on minimal marketing spend, Quickflix Managing Director Simon Hodge said.
“Our service offering is in the sweet spot for Australian householders looking for affordable quality entertainment. As a brand we also have early mover advantage as increasingly consumers turn to online” Mr Hodge said.
In addition to the private placement which raised $0.75 Million in June, Quickflix has recently announced a fully underwritten 1 for 6 rights issue to raise a further $1.2 Million to fund its expansion.
Founder and Executive Director of Quickflix, Stephen Langsford said: “The outlook for the coming quarters is very positive. The capital raised from the recent private placement and the announced fully underwritten rights issue will fund the next step change in our subscriber numbers and build on our momentum”.
hippo.com.au Expands Regional Management Team
Niche jobs website, hippo.com.au, today announced the appointment of its Area Managers covering its operations across Australia and greatly improving its communications and services to the industry.
The appointment of an Area Management team is one of the first steps in the company’s aggressive growth plan since being acquired by Classified Ad Ventures Pty Ltd in April.
The team’s expertise is in online classified advertising and customer service with New South Wales being covered by Jodie Gray; Tatiana Majalica, Victoria and Tasmania; Jacqui Voss, Queensland and Misty O’Connell-Lever, South Australia and Western Australia.
CEO of Classified Ad Ventures and hippo.com.au, Simon Baker, views the appointment of the team as one of the most important steps in the company’s growth.
“Providing the best possible service and advice to our customers and the industry is paramount to our future success, so it is therefore logical that we get these people on the ground as soon as possible” said Baker.
“The team we have put together are very experienced in this advertising space and I am extremely confident that our customers will see quickly the benefit of their knowledge”
In addition to this move, hippo.com.au have already implemented a new look and branding to the site with plans for additional functionality and improvements well underway.
hippo.com.au has historically targeted the 15 – 24-year-old demographic (often-called Gen Y) for part-time and casual jobs nationally. hippo.com.au ’s vision connects employers looking for young people to work for them with the many young people searching for part-time and casual work that suits their lifestyles.
In consultation with its customers and feedback from the market, hippo.com.au is extending its reach to include part time vacancies for 15 year olds right through to 67 years of age. Part time jobs include casual, flexible, job share and basically anything other than full time employment.
Over 100,000 Australians have registered with hippo.com.au. Hippo converts this personal information into a detailed resume that employers can access or have emailed to them as candidates apply for positions. Major employers such as Coles, Kmart, David Jones and Salesforce all use Hippo to help ensure they find the right candidate for the role. hippo.com.au also integrates with many third party HR and ad posting systems for employer convenience.
Classified Ad Ventures Takes 4.8% Stake in Quick Flix
Classified Ad Ventures, through its investment arm, CAV Investment Holdings, has taken a 4.8% stake in the ASX listed online DVD rental site, QuickFlix. This investment was part of the $750,000 capital raising just completed by the company. Here is the full ASX announcement.
Quickflix has successfully completed a private placement to raise $750,000 at an issue price of 5c per share. The placement was strongly supported, attracting a number of high quality, new shareholders to the Quickflix register. New shareholders include CAV Investment Holdings, the investment fund of Simon Baker, who from 2001 to 2008 was CEO and Managing Director of the ASX-listed REA Group Ltd (ASX: REA) which operates the successful Australian and international online real estate businesses including www.realestate.com.au.
This new funding will enable Quickflix to increase its marketing activity in attracting new subscribers and take advantage of its existing strong growth momentum. The board is delighted to welcome our new shareholders to the register.
New Hippo Jobs Site Launched
Today Hippo launched a new look and feel to their site. The new look and feel brings a more professional edge to the site while maintaining the appeal to the primary 18-25 year old audience.
The aspiration is to expand the appeal of the site to a broader audience and therefore to cover part time and casual jobs for 18 – 80 year olds rather than the current target audience of 18 – 25 year olds.
This is the first in a range of site modificatons to be launched over the next 3 months.
iProperty.com beefs up Senior Management Team
The iProperty.com Group (www.iproperty.com), Asia’s leading network of property portals owned by IPGA Limited (ASX: IPP) (www.ipgalimited.com), has announced the addition of two key management team members – Denise Chu from Monster.com.hk and Matt Allanson from REA Group (Realestate.com.au).
Denise Chu, former Sales Director at Monster.com.hk, has been appointed as General Manager of its Hong Kong operations – the GoHome.com.hk network (www.gohome.com.hk). Meanwhile, Matt Allanson, former National Manager of Major Accounts (Commercial) at the REA Group, joins the group as Regional Head of Business Development and will be working with each country manager and all sales teams to drive up sales revenues across the group.
Prior to joining iProperty.com, Denise headed the sales team at Monster.com.hk. During her tenure there, she was responsible for developing and leading a team to grow its online sales footprint in new and existing markets. She was also in charge of expanding the business across the Greater China Region as well as driving regional and global deals for the company. Some of her notable achievements at Monster.com.hk include achieving the title of ‘Top Performer in year 2007’ and successfully developing a new sector in 2006 which generated strong revenue growth for the Hong Kong business. Denise holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a major in Accounting and Finance from the University of Hong Kong and a Master’s Degree in Communication and New Media from the City University of Hong Kong.
As the National Manager of Major Accounts at REA Group, Matt worked specifically on its commercial property portal helping to build it into a dominant and profitable market leader. Some of his key achievements during his tenure there include working across the merger and business migration of www.propertylook.com.au; controlling strategic and exclusive partnership agreements with CB Richard Ellis, Colliers, Knight Frank, Jones Lang LaSalle and Savills; online brand development. With more than 10 years of experience in new media under his belt, Matt Allanson has a deep history in growing internet based retail, wholesale and property businesses, has been a fulltime representative level Sportsman and is currently studying an MBA at Deakin University. The REA Group is the operator of Australia’s biggest residential and commercial real estate websites, and own online real estate properties across the world.
Patrick Grove, Executive Chairman of the iProperty.com Group said, “Both Denise and Matt are star players in their fields, with stellar track records and a wealth of very relevant experience. I am confident that the addition of these two veterans to the team will be instrumental to bringing the Group to the next level, helping us achieve our aggressive growth targets and further consolidating our position as Asia’s dominant No. 1 online property group. We are very excited to have Denise and Matt on board and warmly welcome them to the iProperty.com family”.
Both Denise and Matt will be reporting directly to the group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ken Tsurumaru.
The iProperty.com Group is Asia’s No. 1 online property group, with leading property websites in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India and the Philippines. Its network of websites attracts over one million unique visitors every month. It is part of Australian Securities Exchange-listed IPGA Limited (www.ipgalimited.com), (ASX: IPP). In 2009, the iProperty.com Group made history by winning the highly prestigious CNBC Arabiya Asia Pacific Property Awards in the “Best Property Portal” category for six of its websites – Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Philippines and iLuxuryasia.com.
