China's Ctrip To Buy UK Flight Search Firm Skyscanner For £1.4 Bln

(RTTNews) - Chinese online travel giant Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (CTRP) on Wednesday said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire UK-based travel search site Skyscanner Holdings Ltd. for about 1.4 billion pounds or $1.74 billion. Ctrip also reported higher third-quarter revenues, despite weak profit, and said it expects significant revenue growth in the fourth quarter. Ctrip shares gained around 7 percent in the extended trading.

Ctrip's purchase consideration for Skyscanner consists of cash mainly, the remainder consisting of Ctrip ordinary shares and loan notes.

The boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2016.

Following the acquisition, Skyscanner's current management team will continue to manage its operations independently as part of the Ctrip group.

Edinburgh-based Skyscanner is a travel metasearch company that enables users to compare prices from hundreds of travel sites when searching for flights, hotels, and rental cars. It serves 60 million monthly active users and available in over 30 languages.

Gareth Williams, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Skyscanner, said, "Ctrip is the clear market leader in China and a company we can learn a huge amount from. … Ctrip and Skyscanner share a common view - that organizing travel has a long way to go to being solved. To do so requires powerful technology and a traveler-first approach. In taking the next step to achieving our goal, Skyscanner will remain operationally independent and our growing global team will continue to innovate and deliver the products travelers know and love."

In its third quarter, Ctrip's attributable net income was 24 million yuan or $3.59 million, compared to last year's net income of 2.42 billion yuan. Earnings per ADS were 0.05 yuan or $0.01, compared to 6.63 yuan last year.

Excluding share-based compensation charges, net income attributable was 581 million yuan or $87 million, compared to 2.5 billion yuan in the same period in 2015. Adjusted earnings per ADS were 1.15 yuan or $0.17.

Net revenues increased 75% to 5.57 billion yuan or $835.55 million from last year's 3.18 billion yuan, primarily due to the consolidation of the financial results of Qunar Cayman Islands Limited.

Looking ahead, for the fourth quarter of 2016, the Company expects the net revenue growth to continue at a year-on-year rate of approximately 70-75%. This forecast reflects Ctrip's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

On Nasdaq, Ctrip shares lost 2.10 percent in the regular trading and settled at $40.99. In the after hours trading following the news, shares gained 6.98 percent to $43.85.