Scoot, the struggling online directories business, has received a number approaches for Loot, the classified advertising newspaper it bought last year.

The company's adviser, investment bank Merrill Lynch, is understood to have entered into discussions with potential buyers of various parts of the business, though Loot is viewed as the prime asset. Interested parties include Trader, a French rival to Scoot which lost out in the bidding for the newspaper last summer.

The approaches come after Merrill was given the mandate 10 days ago to "conduct a review of all strategic options" for Scoot, interpreted by many as hanging a "for sale" sign over the business. The review was announced alongside a widening of the group's losses last year to £71.5m. Scoot was worth £2.5bn at its peak last year during the dot.com boom, but is now valued by the market at £89m.

There is some suggestion that there may have also been an approach for the entire group. Scoot disclosed at its recent results that it has only £31m left in the bank, which would last for less than a year if losses are not stemmed.

Scoot paid £190m for Loot, which also has an online division, nine months ago. If a deal were struck with Trader.com it is understood Scoot would still have access to Loot content in Britain for its websites.

The disposal of Loot would see the loss of the only part of the company making any money - about £100,000 since the acquisition. Reports yesterday said Loot would fetch £75m.

The acquisition of Loot last June resulted in a £40m windfall for the newspaper's founder David Landau. The takeover was funded by Vivendi Universal which increased its shareholding in Scoot to 22.4% as part of the deal.

Scoot though has so far proved to be a poor investment for Vivendi which bought into the company at 230p a share.

The shares are worth 12p and one of the few things to enliven the price over the past 12 months has been persistent rumours that Vivendi would snap up the rest of the company.

Trader.com is listed on Nasdaq and owns a number of classified advertising titles including La Centrale in France and the Melbourne Trading Post.