AN INTERNET entrepreneur has sold his online company, which he built up from nothing, for £1 million.

Chris Fryer, 38, of Bootham, York, who specialises in providing various travel-related products over the internet, has sold his company, Woosh Ltd, to Gatwick based APH Limited.

The £1 million deal was brokered by York accountants Garbutt & Elliott.

Chris, who is married to Lizzie and a father-of-two, was born in Ripon and brought up in Helperby, near Boroughbridge. He formerly worked for travel company JMC in Bradford as a systems support analyst.

He set up Woosh in 2002 when he spotted a gap in the market. He knew there was a huge demand for travel-related products, such as car rental, travel insurance and flight tickets which could be satisfied online.

He said: "By 2002 the internet had really taken off and the second dotcom revolution was in full swing. There was a lot of nonsense being talked about the kind of money that could be made online, but I knew if I applied sound business principles to my venture, I had a fair chance of success.

"The key to this success was to ensure that the internet search engines picked up my websites early. In that way I would attract sales from the casual customer - and I would hang on to these sales if I provided what that customer needed."

His plan worked. By the beginning of this year, Woosh was worth £1 million and, with the help of Garbutt &Elliott, he began to look for a buyer.

"APH was the obvious choice, as they were in the same line of business, and we are able to reach a deal which satisfied everyone," said Chris.

Russell Turner, of Garbutt and Elliott, said: "We adopted a proactive approach to this deal, approaching APH with a view to selling Woosh to them. There was a synergy there.

"The negotiations were complex and tough, but the deal ultimately went ahead. We were especially pleased that our advice for structuring the deal in a tax-efficient manner helped Chris to pay the minimum amount of tax."

York solicitors Denison Till advised Chris on the legal aspects of the sale. Valerie Stevenson, associate, said: "We were really excited to be involved in this sale of such a successful online travel business. There were challenges in structuring the transaction due to the online nature of the business, which I was able to resolve through the legal documentation"

Now Chris is looking to make another million with another "middleman" dotcom he set up eight months ago. Called UK-Online-finance.co.uk, it scours the market for best mortgages and medical insurance.

"I will be using the same principles which made Woosh such a success," he said.

Updated: 10:59 Thursday, July 07, 2005