Lastminute.com chairman Allan Leighton today promised the online travel retailer would continue its acquisition spree as it announced reduced losses in
the traditionally weak first quarter.Mr Leighton said 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, an improvement on the £1.6m recorded in 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 Mr Leighton, who is also chairman of the 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, while its total transaction value was up 68% to £146.6m.
It also said its dynamic packaging software, allowing customers to construct their own package holidays from a broad range of flight, accommodation and car hire options, was starting to take off. During January, Lastminute sold £4m-worth of holidays in this way, compared to £1.3m in the same period last year.
Mr Leighton said the company was still on the lookout for more travel companies to buy. "The acquisition pipeline remains strong and we anticipate further activity during the coming months," he said.
Lastminute has £61.3m in the bank including, it revealed today, a £30.3m war chest for further acquisition activity.
Using the money raised from its high profile flotation in 2000, just weeks before the dotcom crash, it has bought a range of complementary travel businesses and rivals including Travelprice.com, Travelselect.com, Destination Holdings and Holiday Autos.
Its latest purchase was last month's £12.1m capture of hotel booking agent First Option, a deal that saw the company's kiosks and shops in railway stations and airports being rebranded as Lastminute.com.
In the past two years Lastminute has been on the acquisition trail in an effort to boost revenues and improve its margins.
The strategy appears to have worked as the company last year announced its first annual profit, before tax and other exceptional items, and has seen its share price continue to rise. The milestone also coincided with the departure of co-founder and dotcom high flyer Martha Lane Fox.
It has established itself, alongside Ebookers, as one of the two prominent UK travel sites.
But 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.
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