Reply.com Files for IPO (RPLY)

Reply! Inc., an operator of a proprietary auction marketplace that facilitates online locally targeted marketing, has filed today for an initial public offering.  While no financial terms were disclosed, the IPO is for up to $60,000,000 in common stock. The joint book-running managers were Jefferies along with Piper Jaffray and co-managers were Needham & Company and ThinkEquity.  The company has noted that “RPLY” will become its stock ticker on NASDAQ.

Reply.com operates a proprietary auction marketplace that facilitates online locally-targeted marketing which aggregates customer prospects for advertisers from many online traffic sources and categorize those customer prospects.

In the quarter ended December 31, 2009, it generated over 4.9 million enhanced Clicks and over 700,000 leads and served over 5,000 advertisers. In the year ended December 31, 2009, Reply.com generated $34.3 million in revenue, $2.5 million of net income, $4.9 million of operating income and $7.3 million of Adjusted EBITDA.  The 2009 data compares to $23.3 million in revenue, $3.2 million of net loss, $2.5 million of operating loss and $1.3 million of Adjusted EBITDA for its year ended December 31, 2008.

This is one of many niche web-based businesses we had expected could be on the IPO docket down the road sooner or later.  Many companies of this size get acquired before they make it to the IPO process.

JON C. OGG