World Online staged Europe's largest Internet flotation to date in Amsterdam yesterday, but its stock price failed to hit the stratospheric heights seen during other recent issues, ending barely above its opening level.

"The whole atmosphere around ISPs [Internet service providers] has really soured since last week and a lot of people now see basic ISPs as dead meat," said one analyst.

The stock closed at €43.20, just above its €43 issue price, after opening at a 16.7 per cent premium in a float raising €2.9 billion and ranking it in the top three European Internet groups by market value.