Lastminute.com sees low losses in weak period for industry

Chairman of web travel giant Lastminute.com, Allan Leighton, has said the online travel retailer would continue its acquisition spree as it announced reduced losses in the first quarter.

Leighton said that the group had continued to make significant progress in the three months to the end of December, usually the travel industry's weakest period.

Losses before interest, tax and one-off items fell to £1.1m (€1.62m), an improvement on the £1.6m (€2.36m) for the comparable period last year.

"The group has continued to make significant progress in what is our seasonally weakest quarter.

We expect to see sustained improvements throughout our business as we move forward during the remainder of the financial year," said Leighton, who is also chairman of the British Post Office and a BSkyB director.

Lastminute.com, which sells flights, holidays, tickets and gifts, became emblematic of the dotcom boom and bust.

But it recovered to lead consolidation in the sector, racing to build size and volume to protect itself from larger predators.

The company said today the number of items sold through its website had soared by 72% year on year, partly as a result of a string of acquisitions, instigated in the past two years in an effort to boost revenues and improve its margins.

The company last year announced its first annual profit, before tax and other exceptional items, and has seen its share price continue to rise.

Lastminute.com has established itself, alongside Ebookers, as one of the two prominent British travel sites.

Speculation has continued to mount that Lastminute itself could be a takeover target for US giants including Expedia, owned by Barry Diller's InterActive, and Sabre Travel-owned Travelocity.