Cupid's arrows carry continued good news on revenue growth

REVENUE growth has further accelerated at Cupid, prompting the Edinburgh-based operator of online dating websites to raise its expectations for the full year.

In a short trading update released yesterday, the Aim-listed company said it was successfully integrating a string of acquisitions into the group.

In November, it revealed that revenue had been growing by more than 30 per cent during the first nine months of 2010.

The company - which changed its name from EasyDate after a spat with EasyGroup founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou - said it now expects its full-year results to be even higher.

Chief executive Bill Dobbie told investors: "We are delighted with the excellent progress Cupid has made in its first six months as a public company.

"Cupid continues to grow rapidly as it successfully integrates the acquisitions it has made; in addition, global expansion is progressing well and remains an important element of the group's strategy."

Dobbie said the firm would continue down the acquisition trail but also grow its niche websites and expand into new geographic regions.

In December, the company bought the Flirt.com dating website for about 800,000, having operated it under licence from its previous owners since August. During that time, revenues grew from zero to 250,000 per month.

The takeover followed the purchase in September of the Cupid.com internet domain for 4.4 million.

The group also paid 200,000 for PlanetSappho.com, a lesbian dating site, and 25,000 for Spanish-language site Granamor, which is aimed at people looking to get married.

The European market for internet dating is currently worth some €550m (457m) a year, while, in the US, the market will be worth $2 billion (1.3bn) a year by 2012.

Cupid is due to report on its full-year results on 8 March.