Lycos Europe claims to top the portal lot

Lycos Europe claimed victory in Europe as losses deepened due to a marketing splurge and it predicted profitability by 2004.

The portal's operating loss for the six months to December was £108.5m with a net loss of £101.5m. Sales leaped to £36.2m from £8.6m for the comparable period the previous year. The joint venture between German publisher Bertelsmann and Terra Lycos claimed market leadership in Europe, with 1.5 billion page views in December 2000. It expects to generate dramatic cost savings from the integration of its acquisitions. The company expects its cash mountain of £284.6m to see it through to profitability.