LetsBuyIt lists at half original value

Letsbuyit.com, the beleaguered e-tailer, is today expected to list on Germany's technology-rich Neuer Markt after a series of delays and with the shares priced at about half the level of the original range.

Letsbuyit.com, the beleaguered e-tailer, is today expected to list on Germany's technology-rich Neuer Markt after a series of delays and with the shares priced at about half the level of the original range.

The company, which operates a collective shopping site where prices fall in response to high demand, will issue 17.8 million shares, or about 20 per cent of its capital, at 3.5 euros (£2.14). The price range for the float was slashed last week due to a lack of demand. The original bookbuilding range was between six and seven euros, but this was later revised downward to between three and four euros.

The issue price values the company at about 310m euros and the initial public offering will raise the group's cash reserve by at least 62.5m euros.

A spokesman for LetsBuyIt said the proceeds were only half what it had hoped to raise but would enable it to stay in business until the middle of next year.

LetsBuyIt expects to post its first profit in 2003. Last year it lost 24.4m euros on sales of 2.2m.