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CEO of First Property explains why they are not about to burst with the internet bubble Full article published: 08/08/2002     BEN HABIB is the Chief Executive Officer of First Property Online PLC


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TWST: Could you begin with a brief overview and historical sketch of First Property Online (London:FPO.L)?

Mr. Habib: The Company was setup just over two years ago and its core aim and the products that it offers are designed to streamline commercial property transaction. We have five products that are set out to do this. The first product is obviously the marketing of property particulars online. We go one step further than any of our competitors, in that we also provide detailed legal and all other information on properties, the principle being that you can't fully understand the property unless you can read about it, which includes legal and other information. The second product is an online bidding system, which people can use to expediently and transparently establish the price for the selling and purchase of the property. The third product is perhaps the most advanced from the market perspective, in that is seeks to provide a streamline conveyancing process using standardized certificates of title. The fourth product is bespoke loan quote, backed up by valuations for every property that's on the website and we also provide that, and we have teamed up with Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Dunbar Bank and United Bank of Kuwait, as well as their approved valuers. Our fifth product, which is perhaps the most exciting from F Prop's prospective, is a guaranteed sale service, whereby we will undertake to buy properties that are on our website as the buyers of last resort, should the vendors fail to sell them on the market at a higher price than the price that we underwrite them at.

TWST: What can you highlight on the Company's agenda for the next 12-24 months?

Mr. Habib: Our key aim now is, and has been for the last year, is to become profitable. A lot of the online businesses, and I am sure you know all the online businesses that have not had a view to profitability, have not survived, irrespective of how much capital they might have raised. I am pleased to say that we are making a big stride in that direction, so the next 12-24 months as a watershed for the company, whereby we establish our existing product lines and concentrate on generating revenues from them.

TWST: What are the benchmarks investors should use over the coming period to track and monitor your growth?

Mr. Habib: The two things they should be looking at is the acceleration in our revenue line and simultaneously measuring that against the strength of the balance sheet, so if the balance sheet can hold steady while our revenues accelerate, that's our aim and for marks out of 10 that would be 10/10. Mr. Habib: The essential message is that we are not a first generation online business. We are really a second-generation business. We don't use the net purely as a marketing tool, which traditionally is a very low-margin high volume business. We do use it as a marketing tool, but we also use it to generate revenue for higher margin low-volume product, which differentiates ourselves from just about every other online property businesses that I know and enables us to make healthy profits and that is the key differentiating factor.


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This interview is a small excerpt from a comprehensive interview published in The Wall Street Transcript on 08/08/02. For more information call (212) 952 7400. The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does not make stock recommendations.

Copyright 2002, Wall Street Transcript Corp.

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