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Cyber shop tycoon floats from Lakes By Tom McGhie

DOMINIC Allonby will be worth Ł17 million on paper when his online shopping centre is floated on the junior Ofex stock market on Tuesday.

But this is not just another example of a public school city type becoming a dot.com tycoon.

For Allonby, 37, has built his company, eDirectory from scratch in deeply unfashionable Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, on the edge of the Lake District.

In an area of high unemployment and rooted in heavy industry, eDirectory is a shining example of how high-tech firms can grow outside the hothouse South-East.

From his office with its breathtaking views of the Isle of Man and mountains of the Lake District, Allonby says, " It does not matter where you live or work in our line of business. We love it here and we want to stay and we have no intention of moving south."

The final transformation of his three-year-old business, which claims to be the largest managed online shopping centre, comes with the Ofex floatation. The company is raising Ł3 million through an offer of 10 million ordinary shares at 30p each, giving it a market capitalisation of Ł30 million.

Allonby owns more than 50 percent of the company and will be joined as a paper millionaire by other directors of the company. But he dismisses the idea that he will suddenly become super-rich.

"This is all paper money and of course we are not real millionaires yet", he says. "None of us have any illusions. We just want to grow the business."

The eDirectory website has almost 150 retailers online. It offers a complete shopping mall experience to the surfing shopper who can wander round the site pilling goodies into a cyber shopping bag. It is possible to buy anything from packet of seeds to an upmarket car. And each purchase gives eDirectory a small commission.

Allonby says "We already have more than 20,000 products ranging from food to giftware to sportswear, and at the other end of the scale, main car dealerships for Audi, VW, Rover and Honda."

Allonby is undeterred by the collapse of boo.com and expects to be making a profit by 2001-220 and generating significant operating profits in 2002-2003.

"Our business plans are robust. We are turning over Ł20,000 a month and this year will have a turnover of Ł673,000."

A key part of the development of company is the creation of a giant database, ProductFinderTM, that will exploit 1.2 million hits a month on the eDirectory website.

When it is fully operational in 2002, it will allow cyber shoppers to describe the item they seek and will then give them a range of options in their chosen price range from among 6 million products.