iCar Asia Limited consolidates market-leading position in 2013
February 27th, 2014
iCar Asia Limited (ASX:ICQ), owner of ASEAN's number 1 network of automotive portals, today released its results for the financial year ended 31 December 2013 demonstrating strong growth in key operating metrics of listings, audience &leads. The key highlight was the earlier than expected monetisation of car dealers in Malaysia, with close to 1,000 accounts signed in December 2013.
The company ended the year with a cash balance of approximately AUD12.48m.Total income for the group was approximately AUD1.75m against a loss from ordinary activities of approximately AUD6.85mresultingfrom a continuing investment in operations and the growth of key operating metrics.
Investment during 2013 was focused on growing critical key operating metrics delivering strong results and establishing clear leadership in Malaysia and Indonesia:
Malaysia
Carlist.my, iCar Asia’s Malaysia business, saw excellent growth across its key metrics in 2013 with a tremendous increase in car listings and their quality. This resulted in growth in unique viewers and hence lead volume delivered to car sellers.
Dealer Monetisation:
During December 2013 Carlist.my commenced its dealer monetisation program with close to
1,000 dealers signed to a paid feature subscription plan within the first 30 days. This represents
30% of the car dealer market agreeing to pay for the Carlist.my service. Said Mr. Damon Rielly,
CEO iCar Asia, “The rapid dealer sign up to our paid service is a testament to the great work the
team has done in growing the Carlist.my listings, audience, and leads over 2013.”
Indonesia
iCar Asia’s Indonesia business, Mobil123.com,continued to grow its leadership position in
market through 2013. The “listings first” strategy deployed resulted in more than 200,000
vehicles being listed for sale at the end of 2013 and markedthe business as the clear leader in
Indonesia. The parallel focus on the quality of listings on site also drove the enormous growth in
key operating metrics throughout the year.
Thailand
iCar Asia acquired Thaicar.com in Thailand in March of 2013. Since that time, the business has
experienced exceptional growth in listings and audience as a result of the deployment of a
“listingsfirst” strategy for the Thailand market, with a total listings of cars for sale on
Thaicar.com growing from 23,000 at the time of purchase to over 100,000 at the year’s end. In
addition, a focus on developing a mobile optimised service has propelled the growth of the
Thaicar.com business through the year.
Partnerships & Acquisitions
In 2013, as well as the acquisition of Thaicar.com in Thailand, iCar Asia acquired Malaysia’s fastest growing automotive website, LiveLifeDrive.com, growing that site’s audience by over 315% throughout the year to over 915,000 unique visitors in the month of December.
iCar Asia also welcomed Australia’s leading automotive classifieds company, carsales.com Ltd, as a strategic shareholder in March 2013. carsales.com Ltd purchased 19.9% of the company.
Mr. Damon Rielly, CEO of iCar Asia Limited, commented, “2013 was a landmark year, and we maintained a laser-like focus on growing our key operating metrics in each country. This focus has resulted in us consolidating our market-leading positions. Our early achievements in signing up car dealers to paid subscription packages in Malaysia is a testament to and validation of the great success we have had in growing or core metrics and delivering value to car sellers in our markets. We are in a tremendous position to continue to execute on the ambitious strategic milestones we have set ourselves in 2014. Our continuing focus is to ride the momentum we have to position iCar Asia in each of its markets to execute on the tremendous opportunity that the online automotive classifieds industry presents. Our vision is to become the region’s largest & most trusted digital automotive marketplace, and our entire team is extremely motivated and extremely excited to make it happen.”
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About iCar Asia Limited (www.icarasia.com)Listed on the Australia Securities Exchange, iCar Asia (ASX: ICQ) owns and operates ASEAN’s No.1 network of automotive portals. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the company is focused on developing and operating leading automotive portals in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. iCar Asia is continuously working to capitalise on its market-leading positions, with its online properties currently reaching approximately 12million car buyers and sellers in the region every month.iCar Asia Network of websites:
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