Ebookers banks on success of its 'Irish experience'

Ciaran Lally is under pressure. The 33-year-old Dubliner was promoted to managing director of Ebookers UK and Ireland last month, when owner Cendant announced it was considering selling its sprawling travel distribution services unit after 2005 losses at the Ebookers group dented earnings at the US conglomerate.

Cendant's travel business stumbled badly last year when Ebookers, which the company acquired for $330 million (€261 million) in late 2004, saw bookings fall 40 per cent below expectations, led by the UK division. Chief executive Henry Silverman attributed the declines to problems at its website, which "doesn't work as well it should".

New York-based Cendant announced plans last October to break itself up into four publicly listed companies focused on its travel, car rentals, real estate and hotel and hospitality divisions, because it believed Wall Street had failed to recognise the value of the combined entity. Last month, Silverman said it would put the travel business on the block after several parties expressed interest.

"It's fair to say there have been tentative enquiries made about the business but no decision has been made to date," says Lally from the Ebookers office at the Irish Life Centre on Dublin's Lower Abbey Street.

"The reality is, from Ebookers's perspective, it doesn't matter what happens. We still need to bulk up marketing in the UK, and the market is still so young that the strategy will remain the same."

Cendant last year earmarked $40 million for an overhaul of Ebookers's technology, particularly for the UK site. While the UK accounts for about half of Ebooker's revenue, the company is present in 15 countries, including the Republic. It appears Lally's track record in just over a year at the helm of Ebookers Ireland earned him his new post. In contrast to the UK, Ebookers's Irish bookings doubled last year. The company now expects to post gross sales of €50 million in 2006, and predicts sales will grow at a rate of 20-25 per cent a year until 2009.

Spending last year concentrated on converting visits to the site to actual bookings, Lally now plans to focus on building demand. When he joined as managing director of Ebookers Ireland in January 2005, he "wasn't happy with the layout of the site. The product and content wasn't where it needed to be, and the marketing was more offline focused. We spent all of last year getting the basics right.

"We have had huge success in Ireland in the past six months. This year, we are stepping up the marketing spend, and focusing more on sourcing partners.

"We're now taking market share, and at the moment we are posting triple-digit growth in flights and hotels, year on year. Growth is accelerating faster than in previous years."

Lally's achievements have paid off. His successful strategy in Ireland made the rest of Ebookers's management sit up and take notice. Throughout 2005 he shared "the Irish experience" with the UK division, leading Ireland to take on a greater leadership role.

Lally has come a long way from the small accountancy practice in Santry where he started his career. After qualifying as a certified chartered accountant in 1993, Lally moved to London.

Like many Irish professionals in the early 1990s, he had planned to work there for six months - and ended up staying eight years. Lally spent three years working as a finance director at a private business college while studying for his MBA in strategic management. He was keen to get into investment banking after getting his MBA, and went on to work at Merrill Lynch and GE Capital for four years.

During his time at Merrill, he was involved in the takeover of Mercury Asset Management. "When I joined Merrill, I was only the third member of the management team, as Merrill was only just setting up in the UK," he says. "I got exposure to an area I never would have in Dublin in the mid-1990s. It gave me experience in complex areas such as foreign exchange and derivatives."

By 2000, Lally had married and decided it was time to move back to Ireland. He joined an internet start-up called Globogift as director of finance and operations. The company set up partnerships with department stores such as Macy's in New York and bought gift certificates at a discount before selling them to customers online. The department stores then delivered the gifts, along with a personal message from the customer.

In 2004, Lally decided to leave Globogift after its head office moved to Boston. While Lally sold his stake in the company, he was eager to remain in e-commerce, so he took up the post as managing director of Ebookers Ireland. Lally plans to remain in Dublin for his new position and will spend up to three days a week in the UK. He expects the technology on the UK site to be up and running in the fourth quarter. "There is a lot of pressure to deliver. But we are only going to be able to deliver in the medium to long term."