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Internet retailer and on-line travel company Lastminute.com reported narrowing losses for its third quarter as its total value of transactions doubled.
The UK-based company said its net loss for the three months ended 30 June 2002 came in at STG8.73 million, or STG0.0458 a share, compared to a net loss of STG12.6 million, or STG0.0732 per share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue, which hit STG8.34 million in the third quarter, was almost double what the company reported a year earlier.
The firm's gross margin narrowed to 12.9 percent in the quarter from 14.1 percent a year earlier, due to lower profits on flight sales and the increasing popularity of other low-margin products and services, Lastminute.com said in its results. The business' operating loss narrowed to around STG8.87 million compared with the STG13.7 million figure the company reported this time last year. At the end of the third quarter, Lastminute.com had cash of STG41.5 million.
"These results demonstrate the further shift towards group profitability and positive cash-flow," claimed Lastminute.com chairman Allan Leighton. "All metrics show underlying improvement and development."
Indeed, other important figures released by the company said that total transaction value for the quarter grew by 108.4 percent year-on-year and 49.8 percent sequentially to STG61 million. Additionally, the Internet business said its customer conversion rate improved to 20.7 percent from 12.4 percent in Q3 2001 and from 18.3 percent in Q2 2002, and cumulative customer numbers since inception are now at record levels, in excess of 1 million. Finally, Lastminute.com said it had around 5.6 million subscribers at the end of Q3 2002, compared with 3.5 million at the same time last year.
The business offered little guidance looking forward, only saying, "As we enter our seasonally strongest fourth quarter, we are well positioned to deliver continued business growth and move towards overall Group profitability and positive operating cashflow."
The seemingly good figures come in the wake of a series of acquisitions by the company that included its purchase of Destination Holdings for STG12 million, which operates the Travel4Less group of Web sites. The company also bought Travelselect.com for STG9 million. Just last month, Lastminute.com announced its intention to buy Travelprice.com in an all-share deal worth STG32 million.
"The integration of Travelselect and The Destination Group is progressing well and will be completed by 30 September 2002," commented Brent Hoberman, chief executive officer. "This quarter has been key in terms of the strategic acquisitions which will add considerably to shareholder value and create a step change in the scale of the business."
Shares of Lastminute.com, which have more than trebled in value this year, were up STG0.025, or 2.6 percent, at STG0.98 in opening trading in London, giving the company a market value of STG202.3 million.
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